Parashat Shemini- The Search for Serenity
The Torah in Parashat Shemini tells of the tragedy that struck Beneh Yisrael on the day of the Mishkan’s inauguration. Nadab and Abihu, the young sons of Aharon, offered an unwarranted offering in the holiest chamber of the Mishkan, and were killed. This day, which was to have been the most joyous and festive day for Beneh Yisrael, as God took residence among them in the newly constructed Mishkan, ended in calamity.
Aharon reacted to this painful tragedy by remaining silent: "Vayidom Aharon" (10:3). This does not only mean that he did not question God’s justice. Rather, it means that his composure remained fully intact despite the sudden death of his sons. Immediately after this incident, we read, God appeared to Aharon and spoke to him, conveying to him Halachot relevant to the Kohanim’s service in the Mishkan. The Sages tell us that a prophet cannot receive prophecy in a state of depression or melancholy. The experience of prophecy, hearing God’s word, depends on (among other things, of course) the prophet’s mood. He must be generally happy and content in order to receive prophecy. Feelings of sadness and frustration preclude the possibility of beholding a prophetic vision.
If Aharon received a prophetic vision on the day his two sons died, this means that he remained in full control of his emotions despite what had just transpired. Somehow, he managed to feel happy about life and the world even after enduring such a painful personal tragedy.
At first glance, Aharon’s ability to fully retain his composure and even his feelings of joy might strike us as cruel and insensitive, as though he didn’t care about his sons. Or, we might think that Aharon was too stunned to react, that his silence was the result of denial or shock. But this is not true. The Torah describes Aharon’s reaction with the word "Vayidom," which appears in only one other context in the entire Tanach – in the Book of Yehoshua (10:13). There we read that during one of the battles fought by Yehoshua when Beneh Yisrael entered the Land of Israel, he ordered the sun stop in the middle of the sky, to allow his army to complete the battle before sundown. The verse states, "Vayidom Hashemesh" – "the sun stood." If Aharon’s reaction to his sons’ death is described with the same word, then we may presume that his reaction resembled that of the sun upon hearing Yehoshua’s command. The sun stopped in deference to the will of God; it suspended its normal course because this is what God wanted. Similarly, Aharon remained silent and composed out of a sense of subservience to the Almighty. He truly believed, as difficult as it was to comprehend, that it was God’s will that this tragedy should befall him, and so he remained silent. His silence was not borne out of indifference; it was the result of his unbridled devotion to the will of God.
We should not delude ourselves into thinking that we can reach Aharon’s level of faith and acceptance in times of tragedy. Nevertheless, his reaction can provide us with a very meaningful and applicable lesson. Many people today look for tranquility in their lives. They expect everything in life to proceed smoothly without any bumps. This is a product of modern society, which emphasizes comfort and glorifies the easy, trouble-free life. But anyone who aspires to a completely tranquil life will invariably meet with frustration. Nowhere is it written that life is supposed to be simple and tranquil. Life presents all people with challenges, problems and complications of all different kinds. We should not be looking for tranquility, because life is not meant to be tranquil. What we should be looking for instead is serenity and peace of mind. Rather than expecting life to be easy, we should expect ourselves to accept life’s challenges without losing our composure. And this comes through faith, through the belief that God runs the world and knows what He’s doing. This faith is what enables us to remain calm and composed when difficult situations arise, and to remain happy and content even when life isn’t as easy as we would have ideally wanted.
This is perhaps the practical lesson we can learn from "Vayidom Aharon" – the need to focus on our quest for serenity, rather than on the futile attempt to achieve tranquility.
