Perashat Ahare Mot 5776

Perashat Ahare Mot 5776

Throughout our lives we always encounter situations and circumstances in which we find ourselves paralyzed to respond and react. At times, we are not prepared to react and respond, because we do not know or we may not be equipped to respond. At times, the best reaction is silence and acceptance. 

In Perashat Ahare Mot, as its name indicates, “after the death” of the two children of Aharon, we learn of the aftermath of the reaction of Aharon to the death of his two children. The Torah records Aharon’s reaction as ״וידם אהרן״ - Aharon was silent.  After such a tragedy Aharon could not find words to explain or understand a tragedy of such magnitude. He accepted his destiny and the destiny of his children. 

This week we commemorated Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day; a day that has been set to memorialize the six million Jews that were humiliated, demonized, persecuted, violated, tortured, enslaved, starved, and ultimately killed and annihilated by the Nazi Regime and its sympathizers. It was a tragedy that left many Jews and non-Jews alike silent, because there are no words to explain and understand its magnitude. For years, the survivors would not speak or share their story with anyone; not even with their loved ones. They could find no words, expression or reaction that could convey their feelings. People ask, “how could G-d have allowed the Holocaust to happen?  We will never know the answer. It is something that cannot be fathomed by mankind. There is absolutely no rational explanation that can satisfy anyone. Only G-d Himself can answer this question. To Paraphrase a Rabbinical leader of the previous generation, “It is not my task to justify God on this. Only God Himself can answer for what He allowed it to happen.” 

What I, and we all, can and should ask, is, “how could mankind stoop to such a level of evil and cruelty to commit such heinous crimes, and why the rest of humanity did practically nothing to stop such crimes?” That is the question that humanity can, and ought to, answer. They owe it to the Jewish People, they owe it to the world, they certainly owe it to themselves and their children, and ultimately they owe it to G-d Almighty Himself, as to why they stood by idly and did nothing to stop the killing Nazi machine!  

There is a Spanish proverb “Tanto peca el que mata la vaca como el que le agarra la pata.” Which means “Both sin; the one that kills the cow as much as the one that holds her legs [when she is being killed]. As much as we hold accountable the Nazi regime, the Church for fomenting anti-Semitism, or the Anti-Semite population in Europe for the tragedy of the Holocaust, we ought to hold accountable the rest of humanity that could have done something and did nothing, or appeared to do something, “too little, too late.”

More than 70 years after the tragedy, not only humanity has not learned the lesson, but has now taken upon itself the legacy of the Nazi regime and its sympathizers, to repeat and perpetuate the persecution, humiliation, demonization, delegitimizing, with the ultimate goal of ridding the world of Jews and destroying the State of Israel. The rest of humanity, again, is practically silent. The greater tragedy today is, that some of our own coreligionists not only also remain silent, but abet and aid the enemies of the Jews and Israel. 

To them, we cannot remain silent! That is not the right reaction or response. We ought to ask them again and again, as to why they are acting like that? We ought to raise our voices and express our disapproval, and indeed, outrage, at their behavior and attitude. We ought to condemn their behavior; we out to thwart their intentions and we ought to stop them, period!

I am however, optimistic that a Jewish people and nation will always remain, despite all of our enemies, even those from within. We will always survive since G-d is on our side. But WE also have to be on our side; that is also what is so important. 

Let us join hands and defend our people and the State of Israel. We can make a difference. We have to speak up for what is right and not what is politically correct. We have to defend truth and overturn falsehood. We have to pursue justice and not just seek fairness. 

We owe it to ourselves, to our children and to the future of the Jewish People.