Aaron Breaking Stereotypes

 One would expect a priest to be aloof, especially a High Priest.  We are talking about the Jewish High Priest, who spends almost all his time in the Temple (or the Sanctuary in the desert), a spiritual person whose entire life is devoted to holiness.  Perhaps we might think that he spent his days with other, like minded holy men, as the stereotype goes.  Yet we find that the first High Priest, Aaron, was not aloof at all.  When the Torah describes Aaron’s death in the Parsha we read this week, it states (Bamidbar 20:29):   The whole congregation saw that Aaron had expired, and the entire house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days. Rashi comments:  the entire house of Israel: [both] the men and the women, for Aaron had pursued peace; he promoted love between disputing parties and between man and wife.  Every person in the nation was familiar with Aaron. 

 

Aaron did not remain purely in the rarified atmosphere of the Mishkan, tending to the sacrifices and answering the lofty questions that great scholars might pose, teaching the young kohanim how to do their work.  He spent a large amount of his time among the people, listening to them, hearing their issues and empathizing with their pain.  He devoted himself to bringing peace to couples with marriage problems, mediating between disputing partners, and helping people deal with their day-to-day challenges.  He did this with everyone, including those whim others may have rejected.  As the Mishna describes him (Avot 1:12):  a lover of peace, a pursuer of peace, one who loves the creatures and draws them close to Torah.  What does “creatures” mean?  Are we not talking about people?  Why not say “one who loves people?”  In the great book of Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad movement, writes that this word was picked by Hillel, the author of the Mishnaic statement, to convey a powerful message.  Creatures, or creations, as the Hebrew word “briyot” can be translated, is referring here to people about whom there is nothing good to say, except that they were created by Hashem.  Yet Aaron, the man charged with the holy service in the holy Temple, reached out to these people with great love.

 

This is why the entire congregation mourned him.  He was there for them unconditionally.  He cared for them and helped better their lives.  Instead of preaching to them and rebuking them, he showed them love and did them favors, and this way they were drawn naturally to come back to Torah observance.

 

Hillel says in the aforementioned Mishna:  Be among the students of Aaron.  Each of us is encouraged to show love for every person.  If you see someone behaving in an inappropriate way, rather than judging them or putting them down, do them a favor.  Show them love, and then you will be able to influence them in a loving and positive way to improve their behavior.  This is the way of Chabad that the Rebbe ingrained in us, and showed by example.  And as it says in Tanya, if the person does not change their ways, we have not lost the Mitzva of love for your fellow.  It is love that enables us to influence, and it is love that will bring Moshiach’s revelation.