An Astounding Silence

Torah Thoughts on Parshas Shemini by Alan Gershman

"וַיֹאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל אַהֲרֹן הוּא אֲשֶׁר דִבֶּר ה' לֵאמֹר בִּקְרֹבַי אֶקָדֵשׁ וְעַל פְּנֵי כָל הָעָם אֶכָּבֵד וַיִדֹם אַהֲרֹן"  וַיִקְרָא י':ג'

“And Moshe said to Aharon, ‘Of this did God speak, saying: I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me, thus I will be honored before the entire people.’ And Aharon was silent.”  Vayikra 10:3

After the death of Nadav and Avihu, the Torah tells us "וַיִדֹם אַהֲרֹן", that Aharon  responded with silence to what happened to his sons. This is in contrast to what the Torah tells us when Sarah died, that Avraham came and mourned for his wife and cried for her – "לִבְכּוֹתָהּ" – with a small ‘Kaf’ - to teach us that he did mourn and cry, but not excessively. So why here was Aharon silent?

The Gur Ayreh explains that Aharon had been weeping loudly, but fell silent when Moshe comforted him by acknowledging the saintliness of his sons, and that they had sanctified Hashem’s name. This is why it says "and Aharon was silent” only after the pasuk says "בִּקְרֹבַי אֶקָדֵשׁ" – “I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me.”

Rashi tells us that Aharon received a reward for his silence. And what was his reward? It was that the subsequent command, regarding the prohibition of drinking wine prior to going into the Ohel Mo'ed, was given to Aharon alone and not to Moshe – “And God spoke to Aharon, saying...”.

The Ba’al HaTurim, Rabbi Yaakov Ben Asher, who was an expert in Gematria and finding similarities between pesukim in the Torah, writes that in all of Tanach there are only two places where the word “Vayidom” is written. Once is in this parashah – Vayidom Aharon – and the second place is in Sefer Yehoshua (10:13) when relating the story of Yehoshua’s war with the five kings of Canaan, where it is written “Vayidom HaShemesh” – “and the sun stood still”. This comes to teach us that the ability of Aharon to remain silent was something that was beyond the normal way of the world. Just as the “Vayidom HaShemesh” is extraordinary, and is against the ways of nature, so, too, Aharon’s silence with regard to the death of his sons was above and beyond the natural ability of a man.

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Alan Gershman graduated from FYHS in 1979. He learning at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh for 2 years, then returned to HTC to learn in the Beis Midrash & serve as a Dorm Counselor, while pursuing his engineering degree at UIC. Alan has a long family history at HTC – past & present. His grandfather helped found the Shechita class in the 1930s, his father received Semichah in 1954, and both of his sons are graduates of FYHS and HTC (and his daughters from TI). Currently, his son Yonatan is in HTC’s Semichah Program and is the FYHS Dorm Supervisor. Alan lives with his family in West Rogers Park.