The month of Nisan is coming to a close as we will be reciting the Blessing for the New Month (ברכת החודש) this coming Shabbat. During this past month we celebrated the Holiday of Pesach, we did not say tachanun and eulogies were not offered at funerals. These expressions of joy are consistent with the elation we feel as the spring season is a harbinger of hope, peace and well-being. With all the preparations before, during and after Pesach many feel a heightened level of spiritual connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
And yet, just a week after the Chag we are commemorating Yom Hashoah v'hagvura- a day of remembrance and mourning for the Kedoshim and remembering the heroism displayed by many through acts of religious resistance, adherence to human dignity, and even the picking up of ammunition for aggressive defense. At Sha’arei Bina we chose to focus this year’s program on the “Gvura” and we ask ourselves (although no one can possibly know, nor should we ever dare judge) how we would have reacted? What are the lessons we can apply to our quotidian lives?
Next week, we will once again be trn emotionally between the deep mournings of Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, and great celebrations on Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. Freedom has come with a heavy price. Our joy is great, but for too many the sorrow is even greater.
We can’t help but ask, Why? Where was Hashem? What should our response to tragedy be?
I don’t think that anyone can answer the Why? Or the Where? But we can surely find within us, individually and collectively the answer to the What...what do we learn from these experiences?
As we study this week’s parsha, Shmini, we can learn perhaps from Aharon, Kohen Gadol, role model of אוהב שלום ורודף שלום a lover of peace and a pursuer of peace, what our response to tragedy can be.
Rabbi Ari Kahn, of Aish HaTorah writes “Aharon witnesses the horrific death of his sons; instead of rejecting G-d or harboring destructive ill will toward God, Aharon accepts G-d's decree.”
Various meforshim, commentaries, explain Aharon’s reaction, וידום אהרון, with different nuances. What does it mean, that Aharon was Silent? The Rashbam and Chizkuni see his acceptance as outward behavioral. Aharon restrained himself from a public display of mourning, and not that he ever stopped mourning his sons. Other meforshim, such as Seforno, explain the silence as inward, that in fact Aharon accepted Hashem’s decree and was somewhat comforted by it. And still others, Onkelos and the Rambam, explain that Vayidom was a silent prayer. Rabbi Kahn writes “The Rambam sees a lonely Aharon receiving a revelation as he utters praise to God, his religious conviction able to withstand any assault. Like Eliyahu in the desert, Aharon understands that the word of God is contained in silence, in solitude….Rashi (and Maharal) see the silence as the vehicle that elevated Aharon to this new spiritual stratum. Aharon is able to hear the voice of the Divine which one can not hear when speaking.”
Rabbi Kahn concludes that “Aharon's heroic response to tragedy, his ability to contain himself, to resist the more human impulse to build walls and barriers, transported him beyond the noisy, physical plane. His silence allowed him to be like the Sun in the sky, like his brother Moshe, and to hear the Word of God.”
Perhaps this then should be our response to personal and national tragedy. Silence is stillness, it is comfort in knowing that we are not in control, but rather we put our faith in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It is knowing that there is a reason for everything, although it is beyond our mortal grasp. We, like Aharon, should be the light unto the world, spreading love and peace. If there are lessons to be learned from the Holocaust and from Yom Hazikaron, we need to remember that within all of us is that spark of Godliness. It is our obligation to reduce the noise level of hatred and bigotry. It is not to remain speechless, nor dormant and inert, but to find stillness and a closeness to Hakadosh Baruch Hu through ethical behavior, acts of dignity and living a Torah true life.
May everyone enjoy a Shabbat Shalom and a Chodesh Tov.
Rochelle Brand, Ed.D
Head of School
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