Between Hope and Humanity
by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ob"m
It should have been the great day of celebration. The Tabernacle, Israel's first collective house of worship, was complete. All preparations had been made. For seven days, Moses had performed the inauguration. Now, the eighth day had arrived. The Priests, led by Aaron, were ready to begin their service.
Then, tragedy. Two of Aaron's sons, Nadav and Avihu, brought "strange fire, which [God] had not commanded them." Fire "came forth from the Lord" and they died. There follow two scenes between Moses and Aaron. The first:
Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of when He said, 'Among those who are near to Me I will show Myself holy; in sight of all the people I will be honored.'" Aaron remained silent.
Moses then commanded the bodies be removed, and he forbade Aaron and his remaining sons to engage in rituals of mourning. He gave them further instructions to prevent such tragedies in the future, and then checked whether the sacrifices of the day had been performed. He discovered that Aaron and his sons had burned the sin offering, instead of eating it as prescribed:
When Moses inquired ... and asked, "Why didn't you eat the sin offering in the Sanctuary? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the community's guilt by making atonement for them before the Lord. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten (it) in the Sanctuary, as I commanded."
Aaron replied, "Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the Lord have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?" When Moses heard this, he approved.
The psychology of these exchanges is enthralling. Moses tries to comfort his brother, who lost two of his sons. According to Rashi, Moses said, "Now I see that [Nadav and Avihu] were greater than you and me."
It's as if Moses said to Aaron: "My brother, do not give up now. We have come so far. I know your heart is broken. So is mine. ... Don't give up. Your children died not because they were evil but because they were holy. ..." But despite Moses' words of consolation, Aaron was silent, lost in grief.
In the second exchange, Moses is concerned with the community, whose sins should have been atoned for by the sin offering. It's as if he said: "I know you are in grief, but you're the High Priest. The people need you to perform your duties, whatever your feelings." Aaron asks in reply, "Would the Lord have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?" Perhaps these words mean: "I know that in general, a High Priest is forbidden to mourn like an ordinary person. But had I acted on this day as if nothing had happened, would this not seem as if I were heartless, as if life and death meant nothing, as if the service of God meant a renunciation of my humanity?" This time, Moses is silent. Aaron is right, and Moses knows it.
In this exchange, a momentous courage is born: the courage of an Aaron, who has the strength to grieve and not accept any easy consolation, and the courage of a Moses, who has the strength to keep going in spite of grief.
Complete article
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