Aharon to our Modern Biblical Heroes - Tehila Gimpel (Parsha Shemini): The Land of Israel Fellowship

Sunday of last week was the funeral of Maya and Rina D just two two days later on Tuesday was the funeral of their mother Lucy Leia these horrible you know tragedies just came as the thought shocking like like you said Jeremy third set of siblings killed after you need brothers and the pelly brothers and you know shortly after that horrible tragedy right on the last day right before the last day of Passover two siblings from tavaria were killed in a flash flood as well I I've had so many people and no one I know can even remember any time in the last decade in Israel's history a time like this where there were so many multiple family members specifically siblings being killed consecutively like this um you know it's just it's it's just you know it's like Hashem is saying something to her and you know on this week of pesach when we're you know burying another set of siblings killed for no reason other than being Jewish what was so insane was that I saw how as you said Jeremy the Torah portion was the Torah portion of Schmidt which is essentially the old Torah portion that speaks of a family losing two sons two brothers our own sons and you know and and the the similarities go even deeper because just like Israel now losing beloved siblings on what's meant to be our happiest time the holiday of our freedom Passover Aaron lost his two sons and what was meant to be the happiest day for his presence was going to appear to the nation and you know in fact not a lot of people noticed this um the ceremony that we read about in this past tour portion of the of the sanctification of the Tabernacle actually happened in the month of Nissan that we're in right now the even Essa says the sons of our own died on the eighth day of Nissan and what that actually means is that the Shiva the seven days of warning actually ran into Passover and so you know so it's like we're we're seeing like that this week's Parsha it doesn't just Echo what happened but it also takes place in the same season that we're in I wanted to look to the parser to try to illuminate the wafer a little bit here and there so many you know they're you know there are 54 portions in the Torah the odds of varying two sets of siblings in Israel on the same week that this Torah portion comes out are so small it just can't be a coincidence and then I thought to myself well where should I look where should I look well what's even what you know another kind of thing that that took place was that on the day of the funeral of Rina and Maya it was also the 30th anniversary of the passing of reviews uh rosalovich was the great scholar and leader of American modern Orthodoxy in the 20th century he was known to American Jews because of greatness and stature simply as the rabbi go to an American Orthodox Jew and you said the rub says the Rabbi says they'll know exactly who you're talking about you're talking about Russell because he was a Visionary scholar philosopher uh he led the way for religious Zionism and Modern Life as a Jew in the world after the Holocaust he led the way for women getting Torah education uh and so many more things so because of his his anniversary of his passing came out in the same day as the funeral I wanted to look to his writings and see if he had something um if you had something on this week's portion that could that could help us sometimes when you don't know what to say um it's better to just be silent and kind of let the great sages speak for us I want to let the Rob uh the robber of Celebration speak instead of us instead of me excuse me what Rob salovich it was so remarkable is that russellaveiche actually speaks about this and commenting on this week's Torah portion rosalovich says that Aaron the high priest was met with disaster on the most joyous day of his life when the Tabernacle was dedicated he was inaugurated to his office and two of his sons died so rev solovicic says that debt is this you know like is the hardest thing to face and the even harder to lose a child and even harder to lose two children and the brother says even harder to lose her children in in a situation we can't possibly understand in a situation where they were seemingly trying to come close to Hashem and you know they were seemingly righteous people and this is so difficult to understand and what happens afterwards is so it's so staggering when you read the Torah portion of this past week because you would think that in all of this there'd be like a moment you know just give give Aaron a moment but abortion goes on to say that Moses said to Aaron you mustn't mourn they were not allowed to set a tear it says because like because they were more than just individual people ref sullivanick says the priests constituted a community of the anointed who were consecrated exclusively to the service so that right to you know more on the death of a child was not given to God and his son was their commitment to them was Ultimate and all-inclusive now what does that mean what does that mean for us what does that teach us it says you know it was television asks what does that mean like psychologically he says that Hashem wanted Aaron to disown the strongest emotion in man the love for a child and this is listen to russellaveiche's words it's just mind-blowing he says is that possible as far as modern man is concerned I would not dare I thought he says he goes I don't know if any modern person can live up to the challenge that Hashem put to Aaron with respect to biblical man he says we read that aren't indeed active the Divine instruction it says in reversibly yes they did it according to Moshe said Aaron was able to set aside his individual feelings and just be completely dedicated to Hashem our celebrations we learn from that that as you said what he calls the covenantal community the community that lives in Covenant with Hashem he says usually we look at as something soft and loving and that's what it usually is usually and we talk about this a lot here on the fellowship how the Jewish law works so much in accordance with our nature and Hashem deals with us so kindly but sometimes he said the Allah makes demands upon us like the demand that Hashem makes upon Aaron to set aside his personal feelings and continue the ceremony in in for for all of the nation sometimes the Jewish law the Torah law makes demands upon us that that seem just so difficult but they take us through the you know to the higher level than we need to get to and then here's where I this is where I you know I just couldn't help but make the connection he says let me bring you an example of how this could happen to a person in Modern Life how there could be an Aaron situation like what we had in our Torah portion in our everyday life he says let me bring you an example and I really I couldn't I got chills down my spine when I saw do one example that he chose to bring because it's like as if he was speaking to us right at this moment he says let me give you an example we know that the law the law is that a festival suspends the morning when one of your relatives passes away meaning like if you're one of your relatives passes on one of the three festivals on you know some code or on Passover around then it suspends the morning process and he says you know mourning is where you face the depth of your sorrow and the festivals are where Hashem you must be joyous on the festival it's like what to Greater contracts could there be and he says he says you have to listen to these words those let us visualize the following concrete situations he wants to bring us an actual example of how you can be in an Aaron situation a situation like iron faces our Fortune he says let us visualize the following situation he says a mourner who has buried a loved wife or mother returns home from the graveyard where he left part of himself he is in a mood to question the validity of our very Universe the house is empty dreary every piece of furniture reminds him of the Beloved person he buried every corner is full of memories the Jewish law addresses itself the lonely mourner whispered to him rise from your morning cast the ashes from your head change your clothes light the candles recite over the cup of wine the kiddish praising Hashem for giving us festivals of gladness and a sacred season of joy as if nothing had transpired as if your beloved person over who you are grieving we're still with you he says even though the Jewish law can sometimes be like tender and understanding sometimes it is demanding of obedience and he says the Jewish law suggests to man broken in body and spirit carrying the burden of an absurd existence that he changes in the cast off his brief and choose Joy and then he says I want to repeat the question is such a metamorphosis of an individual fossil the question representative is trying to figure out is can is this something that only Aaron only biblical man can do or is it something that people like us can do he says can somebody make that leap from hopelessness to joyous trust can somebody replace the experience of monstrosity with the highest meaningfulness and he says I have no right to judge can't judge then he says he kind of finishes cryptically he says but I know of people who have attempted to perform this greatest of Miracles and he said if somebody is able to do this this is the greatest of Miracle of the Russians and you know when I read that I got such I got such chills because you know the Torah is being brutally honest with us you think Victoria's being brutally honest of the Journey of life will break us and everyone's at the level that they're at and they'll be tested the level they're at but from that you can rise up and achieve this metamorphosis and that would be the greatest Miracle or what struck me most is that he says you know this is saying that I know a Biblical man could do but he kind of leaves it as an open question so I have to share with you a message that you got on WhatsApp from a friend of Jeremy's who was in the synagogue with Rabbi Leo D with the father who lost his wife and his two daughters it was the last night of passover the funeral was at two o'clock so imagine we're talking about a matter of just a few hours after his beloved wife's funeral just three days after his daughter's funeral and because of the holiday he wasn't allowed to mourn her rough sullivania envisioned God forbid a situation where somebody buried their wife on Passover he envisioned a situation where Aaron buried two children he didn't dare to imagine a person facing those two things at the same time and so this this gentleman wrote to us he said I prayed next to the D family on the holiday after such difficult days for our community as the holiday began the D family came to the synagogue upright and head of heads held high in the morning I came a few minutes before the prayer service the D family was already there Rabbi Leo sees me and comes to me to offer a warm loving hug and blessed me with a happy holiday but still in the synagogue everyone can feel the tension between sorrow and joy the prayer leaders struggled to find the proper balance it was so hard and then comes the best of hollow prayer there was the Psalms that we joinishly sing on every Festival the first Psalm no one sings it and then I thought maybe the prayer leader feels it inappropriate to start singing maybe he'll sing the next song the next song comes and speaks of Israel leaving Egypt the prayer leader doesn't sing and everyone's Hearts begin to sink and feel the morning and I begin to understand that this last day of the holiday we're not going to be singing the prayers we're going to just be saying them quietly to ourselves in sorrow and in pain and in tears but then at that moment he writes Rabbi Leo gets up from his place goes over to the prayer leader Rabbi Leo gently puts his hand on him hugs him and Whispers something in his ear and then the prayer leader looks like a rabbi looks at Rabbi Leo and immediately starts singing in a tune that uplifted the spirit of every person to the highest Heights and from there on WE sang the entire rest of the prayer we sang together every word what did the rabbit what did Rabbi Leo say I went to the prayer leader after the service and I asked if he would share with me what Rabbi Leo had whispered in his ear he said he whispered in my ear please make it joyous and so it was you're right joyful and a little sad but mainly mainly comforting he finishes this letter that he wrote saying the nation of Israel lives so you know I don't have words of wisdom make it make sense um you know make of that letter what you will and I don't know why things are so but I can only Marvel and invite all of us to Marvel at the miracle that is the nation of Israel that through the worst suffering are birthed forth people of such character that they literally rise they literally are able to rise to the level of our Biblical Heroes to the nobility of our Biblical Heroes that are great sages could only wonder and envision the possibility of their existence so I don't know you know I don't know how to comfort Us and how to comfort anyone but but you know the the the all I can do is be grateful that there are people like Rabbi Leo and like other Heroes of Israel that stand with their heads high and carry for all of us the burden of the responsibility and the difficulty of being uh of being a Torah believer in the world that we live in that has so much evil as you said Jeremy but they just fine so much brighter than any of that so may the Merit of the righteous people the righteous people of the Bible and the righteous people of biblical proportions that are being born today like the path for all of us for our final redemption in May Hashem wipe the tears for every face foreign