Today’s class has been dedicated for a Refuah Shelemah for Susie Bibi - Shefiah Shoshana Bat Sarah
This week’s Parasha starts off with the words אחרי מות שני בני אחרון
After the two sons of Aharon passed away....
The main theme of the Parasha is Yom Kippur and the Kohen Gadol entering the Holy of Holies. There is seemingly no need to mention these deaths here.
One simple reason for it is that when you want someone to be careful of something, you tell them, “Watch out so that doesn’t happen to you like it happened to him.”
The two sons of Aharon died because they went into the Holy of Holies without permission, so we mention them here.
Another reason brought down for mentioning it here is that מיתת צדיקים, the passing of the righteous, is a kaparah similar to Yom Kippur.
Furthermore, it says that when one cries over righteous people that passed, it brings a great kaparah. That’s why on Yom Kippur, we read about the passing of the two sons of Aharon. It says that we should arouse ourselves to tears, and it’s a great protection.
Many Sephardic communities sing a special song that describes the death of the sons of Aharon and describes the importance of mourning over Sadikim.
It’s important to note that the sons of Aharon were great Sadikim
In fact, it says after they passed away, that Moshe Rabbenu told Aharon he hadn’t been sure who’d be the Sadik that would pass away on Opening Day, which would teach the people a lesson about how careful you have to be upon entering the Mishkan. He said he thought it would be either himself or Aharon, but when it turned out to be Nadav and Avihu, he realized that they were even greater Sadikim ..
So they were very great Sadikim that were merit to מקדש שם שמים - to do a kiddush Hashem. We don’t know the ways of Hashem, but the Zohar tells us that when Pinehas killed Zimri, the souls of Nadav and Avihu joined Pinehas, and were really one larger soul. Eventually they became Eliyahu HaNavi and lived forever. So, we can’t overestimate who Nadav and Avihu were, and the great reward that they got.
That being said, our main point is actually what Rashi discusses about the passing of Nadav and Avihu, where it says that G-d will become holy through honorable ones. Rashi says that when people see that a great Sadik passes, they make the following kal v’ homer: “If this is what happened to the Sadik, imagine what happens to someone that is not as righteous?! ” and learn a lesson.
Rav Shach asks why do it that way? Why not just have a wicked person die, and then the people can say, “Look what happens when a person is wicked?”
Why do we have to learn from the righteous?
He gives a very powerful answer:
The wicked don’t have the merit to be a means to cause other people to repent and become stronger. You need merit to do that. When a person passes away in a way that brings people to grow stronger in religion, they had to have a merit for that.
I’d like to add something to this, that I saw recently from Rav Eliyahu HaKohen of Izmir, who lived in the 1700s. He wrote over 30 sefarim. He lived in the same town as Rav Chaim Pilaggi. Rav Chaim quotes him, and he may even have been Rav Chaim’s teacher. He wrote a sefer called Shevet Mussar and another called Hut Shel Hessed Al HaTorah, in which he writes about a plague that took place during the time Bilaam, when the people sinned with the daughters of Moav. It says that the magepha/plague, was בעדת ה׳ -It was in the “Congregation of G-d.”
Rav Eliyahu of Izmir is bothered by this. The people that passed away were seemingly sinners. Why call it a “Congregation of G-d.”?”
He answers with the following rule:
כל מי שמת ממגפה
Anyone who dies in a plague
נמחלים לו כל עוונותיו
All of their sins are forgiven
These are very powerful words.
We are now in a plague. Corona is a plague.
Rav Eliyahu says that even if the people sinned, they are now considered in the עדת ה׳ - the covenant of Hashem.
If you look in the newspapers, many, many of the people that passed away, if not all, were very special, righteous people.
What’s going on?
Obviously, they were supposed to pass away now anyway. But Hashem chooses people that will cause us to arouse ourselves in teshuva. And He chooses people that are zoche to this concept of Mehilat Avonot, that their sins are forgiven.
This is a very big Rabbi saying this! And he says
נמחלים לו כל עוונותיו
ALL of their sins are clean.
Why? Because when a person passes away and is separated from people, and doesn’t have proper honor and respect at his funeral (as happened with the people in the times of the cholera epidemic), that shows that Hashem is totally cleansing him in this world.
He brings a proof from the Gemarah in Sanhedrin, that says that if there is any rain or mud at the funeral, it’s a sign that Hashem wants to take the last advantages in this world, where a lack of Kavod is a big kaparah. So rather than suffer in the next world, they are getting their last kavod taken away in this world. He says that if that small rain on the casket is enough to cause forgiveness, surely someone that passes away in the time of a plague, where they don’t get the proper honor, or the proper respect is also forgiven.
And furthermore, he says that it doesn’t only apply to someone who died from the plague. It also applies to somebody who died during the time of the plague. If they had a heart attack, but it was during the time of the plague, that person is also forgiven, because he also missed out on the kavod and respect.
When Bnei Aharon passed away, it looked horrible, and we cried over them for years and years, thousands of years, in fact, for which they still give us a kapara on Yom Kippur. One might think, “Oh no, they died so young!”
But they are still alive, and they come to every Brit Milah as Eliyahu HaNavi. We can’t understand the ways of Hashem. We have no idea how He is working everything out, always for the best. Even in a situation that is difficult and hard, like we’re in now, we have to understand that this is all planned.
There was a young lady who’s mother passed away, and she told me the following Dvar Torah gave her hizzuk:
It says that regarding Chayeh Sara, that Sara “lived 127 years, these are the years of Sara.” The commentaries ask why it says that she lived 127 years and then says it again?
Because you might have thought that it looked like she passed away early, due to the sudden shock of hearing the news that her son Yitzhak was to be slaughtered. But that was not the case. It was decided on the day she was born, that she would live 127 years. It just looks like the shock was the cause of death.
But we must believe that no one dies if it’s not the right time. It may look a certain way, but if anything, it’s a zechut for them, because if they would’ve passed away in a regular way, people might not take it to heart, necessarily. However, when so many people pass away in such a difficult way, it makes a huge impact on people, and it makes them strengthen themselves.
G-d chose special souls that can bring this about.
This topic might have been be a little heavy; My apologies. But I felt that our audience could understand.
Have a Shabbat shalom