Rabbi Howard Morrison

Talk about highs and lows - Our Parsha begins with the highest of highs. Aaron and his four sons are inaugurated as Israel's officiating priests. The celebration extends over an eight-day period. For the first time, the people bring various sacrifices for the Kohanim to offer on the altar, which are accepted by God. What a period of time that had to be, worth witnessing if we had a time machine.

Then, almost without warning, the Torah text switches gears. Two of Aaron's sons, Nadav and Avihu, bring a strange offering which God had not commanded of them. No detail as to the wrongdoing is provided. Nadav and Avihu die on the spot.  Our commentators are left to offer guesses and conjecture. Were they drunk? Were they disrespectful of Moses and Aaron? Were they wrong to innovate a ritual that was not sanctioned by divine authority? as well as other guesswork.

What the Torah text does provide is the stillness and shock in a parent's response. The Torah is completely silent about a mother's response to the sudden deaths of two children. All we know in a father's response is the statement, "Vayidom Aharon - Aharon was still, silent, in shock, dumbfounded." It is not clear how to translate "Vayidom."

This year, I can only imagine that expression as an apt response to parents who learned that their sons and daughters died on October 7^th at the hands of human animals.

This year, I can only imagine that expression as an apt response to parents who learned that their sons or daughters were taken hostage and who are still missing in captivity.

This year, I can only imagine that expression as an apt response to parents who learned that their IDF children have died trying to protect our nation called Israel.

This year, I can only imagine that expression as an apt response to parents who learned that their children died in other acts of evil and terror.

In just over two weeks, we will celebrate Pesach. Our cups of wine will be diminished not only during the recitation of the ten plagues but throughout the Seder. The fifteen verses of Dayyenu will not feel complete because we are at war; we still have some 134 Israelis missing in captivity; the evil of Hamas has exacerbated local forms of anti-Jewish evil throughout the world and certainly right here in the GTA.

This year, our Seder will truly have the feeling of "Ma Nishtanah," feeling very different. Will you light at an extra candle for the loss and carnage? Will you have a separate chair like the one on this Bimah with pictures of hostages? Will you incorporate additional readings and prayers at your table? On the shul website, we are equipping you with some ideas.

Consider the following, in the spirit of today's Parshah, where Aaron had no words:

"I have no words - Words fail and we stand in shaken silence. Words fail and we stand in despairing tears. And then, because we are human, and because we love life, we try to summon words (CCAR Passover Haggadah supplement - on our website)."

"Nothing left but tears - I must be made of water. I have nothing left but tears. . . . Oh, this heartbreak, silence howling. Oh, this heartache, terror prowling. I must be made of water. I have nothing left but tears. (CCAR Passover Haggadah supplement - on our website)."

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Howard Morrison