Shabbat Shemini - Shabbat Parah

“And Aharon was silent"

Aharon accepted Hashem's decree. Thus, he became the stardard bearer of he whose faith in Hashem dominates personal emotion. In Avot D'rabbi Natan, it is recorded that when the venerable sage Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai lost a son, his students all came to comfort him. Each one cited another great individual who had lost a child. To each he responded, "You are not comforting me. You are, instead, giving me more to cry about." In the end,Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was the one who comforted him. He presented the following analogy: A king once deposited a very special object with a trusted subject. Every day, the man would anticipate the moment he when he could return the precious object and no longer have to bear the responsibility. He was apprehensive that he might not return it to the king in perfect condition. How happy was he when the awaited day arrived, and he was able to return a perfect item to the king. "So, too," Rabbi Elazar told Rabbi Yohanan, "Hashem gave a precious deposit. You nurtured it. You taught him Torah, and he left this world sinless, a pious scholar who took leave of his earthly abode much in the manner that he arrived, perfect. You should feel good that returned the "King" His deposit in such exceptional condition.

What a remarkable thought! However, no one should ever be tested in such a tragic manner, but this is a profound understanding of tragedy.
The tragedy that befell at Mosad Harav Kook two weeks ago in Yerushalayim was no less but maybe more than that of Rabban Yohanan, where young men and teenagers were in the middle of their Torah studies and were cut down by a murderer. The parents, within their grief, displayed an unbelievable strength of character and belief in Hashem, that was beyond comprehension. Understood only in the context of "And Aharon was silent" This has been the reaction of horrible tragedies through our history. The belief in the ultimate God, who will bring ultimate justice to our people in the ultimate day. May Hashem comfort those families among all of us and may Hashem redeem us in the coming month as He did to our forefathers in the month of Nisan, Amen.