[Avodah] Yosef and his brothers

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Richard Wolberg _cantorwolberg at cox.net_ (mailto:cantorwolberg at cox.net) 

>>This  is not at all uncommon throughout the Torah.  When Yitzchok is   
about to be sacrificed, the Torah doesn't say a peep about how he   
reacted; when Aaron loses Nadav and Avihu, he too, is  silent.<<




>>>>>
In both those cases the Torah does say a peep, but -- you have to  pay 
attention to catch it.  
 
In the case of the akeidah,  here is the relevant passage (using the  A/S 
translation):  "And Avraham took the wood for the offering, and placed  it on 
Yitzchak his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife, AND THE TWO  OF 
THEM WENT TOGETHER.  Then Yitzchak spoke to Avraham his father and said,  
'Father--' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.'  And he said, 'Here are the  fire and 
the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering?'  And Avraham  said, 'G-d will 
see the lamb for Himself for the offering, my son.'   AND THE TWO OF THEM 
WENT TOGETHER."
 
Rashi picks up on the significant repetition of that sentence, "Vayelchu  
sheneihem yachdav."  After Yitzchak asked his father "Where is the lamb?"  and 
heard his father's answer, he understood that he himself was the lamb who  was 
about to be slaughtered, and nevertheless he kept going without hesitation,  
"together" -- as Rashi says, "belev shaveh."  The A/S translates "belev  shaveh" 
as "with an equal heart -- i.e., with the same enthusiasm" but that  doesn't 
quite capture the poignance of Rashi's actual words "belev  shaveh."  The 
pasuk says it delicately but does say it:  Yitzchak knew  where he was going and 
went with the same heart as did his father Avraham -- a  heart willing to make 
the ultimate sacrifice for Hashem. 
 
In the case of Nadav and Avihu, the pasuk /does/ say what Aharon's  reaction 
was.  It actually says, "Vayidom Aharon." 
 
 "Vayidom" is a verb, it means doing something.  It doesn't  mean, "there was 
no reaction." It means Aharon did something -- he silenced  himself and 
stopped himself from showing any outward reaction, consciously  choosing to accept 
Hashem's will without complaint.
 
There are not one, but two, references to Aharon's grief in the pasukim  
following. See Vayikra (P' Shmini) the whole of Perek 10.  One reference is  when 
Moshe tells Aharon and his sons to carry on with the avodah and not to show  
any outward signs of mourning, and he also says, ""Veacheichem kol bais Yisrael 
 yivku es hesereifah asher saraf Hashem"  -- obviously meant as comfort --  
i.e., don't think your sons will not be mourned, just because you as the 
kohanim  are forbidden to mourn right now.  All of Klal Yisrael will mourn for  
them."
 
The other reference is in the same perek (10:16-20), when Moshe shouts at  
Aharon's remaining two sons, Elazar and Isamar (clearly angry at Aharon too but  
doesn't address him directly), angry that the goat from the chatas was burnt 
and  not eaten.  He is angry because he is fearful that they too may die -- 
you  can tell from the flow of the pesukim that his emotion is similar to the  
emotion a parent might feel after losing a child c'v when another child does  
something even slightly dangerous -- the over-reaction, the anger that 
expresses  fear of loss.  
 
Anyway, although Moshe yelled at the sons, it is Aharon who  answers, and he 
says, "Hen hayom....VATIKRENA OSI KA'EILAH, veachalti chatas  hayom,  hayitav 
be'einei Hashem?" 
 
"When such things happened to me today, if I ate the  chatas, would that be 
good in Hashem's eyes?"  IOW he is supposed to carry  on with the avodah 
despite the deaths of his sons, but he is not actually  supposed to eat the 
meat--that already gets to his private mourning rather than  the public avodah.  
 
"Vayishma Moshe vayitav be'einav." -- Moshe heard and  realized that Aharon 
was right.
 
The words "Vatikrena osi ke'eilah" definitely evoke an  awareness of Aharon's 
grief despite his conscious decision to say nothing.


--Toby  Katz
=============



**************************************See AOL's top rated recipes 
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20071218/041ef821/attachment-0002.htm>