CAN YOU BE SILENT? SPEAK UP!

This week's Torah portion, Acharei Mot, opens with the tragic episode of the death of Aaron's two sons, Nadav and Avihu, the two priests of Israel.

On the day the Tabernacle in the desert was erected and Aaron's four sons were inaugurated as priests, the two oldest children entered the Tabernacle, “came close to G-d,” and passed away.

As the Or Hachaim explains:

Theirs was death by Divine “kiss” like that experienced by the perfectly righteous it is only that the righteous die when the Divine “kiss” approaches them, while they passed by their approaching it… Although they sensed their demise, this did not prevent them from drawing near to G‑d in attachment, delight,  fellowship, and love, so their souls ceased from them.

Indeed, the Torah records Moses’ words to Aaron immediately following the tragedy:

“When G‑d said, ‘I shall be sanctified by those close to Me,’ I thought it referred to me or you; now I see that they are greater than both of us.”

The deepest desire of a righteous person is to sanctify the name of G-d in our world. We call this Kiddush Hashem: Living, and dying, in a way that creates an explosion of holiness and goodness in the world.

The Talmud relates the famous story about Rabbi Akiva:

At the time the Romans were tearing off Reb Akiva’s skin, he was saying the Shema Yisrael. His students asked him, isn’t this too much to handle? Reb Akiva answered: all my life I yearned to fulfill the Mitzvah of giving one’s life for G-d. Now that I have the opportunity, should I not seize it? His soul departed at the word Echad.

So when G-d told Moses, “I shall be sanctified by those who are close to Me,” Moses thought that this refers to him and Aaron, the two individuals chosen by G-d as His messenger and His high Priest. He and Aaron were overjoyed. For a person whose entire life is about attachment to G-d, that is his or her greatest source of joy, to live and die with and for this oneness.   

Nadav and Avihu were yearning for the day they would merit to be the leaders of Israel and chosen for the sanctification of G-d’s name.

Indeed, the death of Moses and Aaron some 39 years later was also a sanctification of G-d’s name Moses and Aaron followed in the footsteps of Nadav and Avihu, who were the first ones to achieve this extraordinary merit.

I must tell you, friends, the Kiddush Hashem—the sanctification of G-d’s name which transpired over the past seven months is unique and extraordinary; one that has touched tens of millions of lives.

We will never grasp why October 7^th happened and so many innocent lives were lost just because they were Jewish.

These are the mysteries of life. Even Aaron himself, after hearing those powerful words from Moses: What was Aaron’s response? The Torah says: “Aaron was silent.”

Today, too, there are no words. How can this happen? Why did it happen? How can the guns of the despicable terrorist murderers snuff out the souls of angels the children and the young people who came to celebrate?  

Yet what moves me today so deeply is the explosion of holiness and goodness that this heinous terror attack on Israel has generated among the Jewish people in Israel, in the United States and Europe, and the entire world. The Jewish Nation has generated a Kiddush Hashem—a sanctification of G-d’s name which has left, and will yet leave an impact, beyond what any of us can imagine.

It began, of course, with the first moments of the attack.

On the final day of Passover, we read the Haftorah of the day Isiah chapter 11, which speaks of a new, bright Messianic world:

And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; a calf and a lion cub shall lie together, and a small child shall lead them.

And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw.

They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea…

Here is the God of my salvation, I shall trust and not fear; for the strength and praise of the Eternal the Lord was my salvation…

Look at any country in the world today where antisemitism has flourished in the past or the present, and you will see in these regions’ terrible abuses of all minorities; you will observe tyranny, bloodshed, and violence.

When antisemitism flourishes, the soul of America is in danger. The spirit and future of America are in danger.

Hate will destroy not only the Jews but all good peoples, of all faiths. And of no faith.

Martin Niemoller once said:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Every home in the US, every school in the US, and every community in the US must begin inculcating each child's moral and ethical values. The value of life! The value of kindness. The value of love. The value of living a decent, kind life. We must revive our nation with the powerful values our country was built on that every human being is sacred; that each of us was carved in the Divine image; that we are responsible to each other and our Creator; that we have not only rights, but also duties.

We must act decisively before it is too late. And we must unite, all Americans, people of all faiths, or no faith. We must put our differences aside and fight this new evil the oldest hate in the world: the hate of antisemitism, which claimed millions of lives just 70 years ago.

Our nation needs to reclaim its spiritual and moral soul. Each child needs to be given an education about character development. About responsibility. About what it means to be a mentch! The world is not a jungle. We are accountable. The Creator of our universe wants one thing above all else: we treat each other kindly!

I have a message today:

1: We must not duck or fear. We must fight antisemitism with every fiber of our being and not tolerate a bit of it.

2. We can’t allow our haters to win. In the presence of such terror, we must be more Jewish! We need to get more involved in Judaism. Come to shul more often. Embrace more Yiddishkeit in your life. Live more Jewishly. Increase in goodness, kindness, and good deeds. Take on another Mitzvah in your life.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky