{"id":49432,"date":"2019-02-14T14:48:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T12:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=49432"},"modified":"2022-05-24T15:49:50","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T12:49:50","slug":"the-absent-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-absent-role\/","title":{"rendered":"The Absent Role"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[620,576,397,368],"acf":{"old_id":"49432","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1031","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Why is it that Aaron is deemed more suitable for the priestly role than his brother?","content":"<p>This week\u2019s parsha, <em>Tetzaveh<\/em>, is the only portion in the book of Exodus in which Moses\u2019 name is absent.\u00a0In the Talmud (Zevachim 102a), Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says that Moses himself was going to be consecrated as a priest and Aaron as a Levite but Moses\u2019 refusal of God\u2019s request in Exodus 4:14-16 led to Aaron himself becoming the priest rather than his brother.\u00a0This anger of God at Moses\u2019 rejection of his planned role leads God to avoid addressing Moses by name here.\u00a0Moses remains \u201cyou\u201d in these chapters (Ex 27:20, 28:1, 28:3).<\/p>\n<p>So why is it that Aaron is deemed more suitable for the priestly role than his brother?\u00a0Much of this week\u2019s portion catalogs the priestly vestments.\u00a0 Why so much focus on externals: the outer garb rather than the inner qualities?\u00a0 <em>Sefer Hachinuch <\/em>(99), a medieval listing of the 613 commandments and which verses in the Torah elicit them, says that the command of wearing priestly clothes is from the verse, \u201cthey shall make sacred vestments\u201d (28:4).\u00a0The rationale given is that \u201ca person is impacted according to his thoughts and intentions, and the one who acts as agent for atonement [i.e., the priest] must attach all his thoughts and intentions to divine service, therefore he wears special clothes for it.\u201d The explanation continues that seeing these special garments will better give the priest the \u201carousal in his heart\u201d that will enable him to think of God.\u00a0In other words, the garments are a costume which enables the priest to properly assume his role in the drama of atonement.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A rabbi recently told me a story of his asking an older rabbi for advice when he was first beginning his career.\u00a0 He asked his mentor how it was that an experienced rabbi could possibly transition between officiating at a joyous event like a wedding or a <em>brit milah<\/em>, and later that same day, bury a person or make a <em>shiva <\/em>call. The older rabbi told his younger colleague, \u201cYou have to be a good actor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The younger rabbi had not expected it, and yet there is truth that we all need to play roles at times, just as the priest is carefully costumed for his role as atoner for the people.\u00a0Perhaps Moses, who we know to be the \u201cmost humble of all men\u201d (Numbers 12:3) felt himself unable to play a role, unable to do something not purely in his emotional range.\u00a0I think of Moses as like Cordelia in Shakespeare&#8217;s\u00a0<em>King Lear<\/em> who was unable to \u201cheave my heart into my mouth\u201d (i.i.92-93).\u00a0Both were unwilling to dissemble whether it accrued to their benefit or not.\u00a0Aaron, who we know as a &#8220;pursuer of peace&#8221; (Pirkei Avot 1:12). was someone more willing to play a role, to compromise and do what is necessary to atone for others and to bring them together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Aaron was capable of dressing himself in the physical garments of the priest and playing that role where Moses is absent from the drama of the priesthood, its vestments and preparations for its service that <em>Tetzaveh<\/em> discusses.\u00a0 Moses humility enables him to absent himself so that the most suitable one for the role, his brother Aaron, can perform it best.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56407,"id":56407,"title":"jud19-beham-hans-sebald-moses-aaron","filename":"jud19-beham-hans-sebald-moses-aaron.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud19-beham-hans-sebald-moses-aaron.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/family-reunion\/jud19-beham-hans-sebald-moses-aaron\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud19-beham-hans-sebald-moses-aaron","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56406,"date":"2019-05-29 20:05:48","modified":"2022-09-20 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