Our parsha begins with the eighth day of the inauguration service. After the long inauguration service was completed, Aharon was nevertheless distressed, as Rashi teaches: “Once Aharon saw that all the offerings had been brought, and all the acts [of the Mishkan service] had been performed, but the Shechinah had not descended to [Bnei] Yisrael, he was distressed, and said, ‘I know that the Holy One, Blessed is He, has become angry with me, and because of me the Shechinah did not descend to [Bnei] Yisrael’…”
Rav Yerucham Levovitz seems to note as follows: Aharon demonstrated the opposite of typical human nature. Human nature is to pin the cause of misfortune on other things as opposed to one’s own wrongdoings. Especially when misfortune comes upon the community, it is very easy for one to blame other people instead of taking personal responsibility for it, while it’s very possible that one’s own wrongdoings brought about this community-wide trouble. When Aharon saw that the Shechinah had not yet descended on Bnei Yisrael, he did not blame this on any person but instead took sole responsibility and blame for it (See Da’at Torah, Shemini, 9:23).
We may add that, in theory, perhaps Aharon could have potentially reasoned that there were many other people who, had done far more wrongdoings both in a qualitative and quantitative sense, but yet, Aharon seems to have not made such a calculation, but instead blamed this community-wide misfortune solely on himself. Additionally, we perhaps see that Aharon took such a degree of blame that he did not merely view it as a possibility or assume that he was the responsible one for the misfortune, but rather he felt certain about it, as he said, “‘I know that….”
We might see this from the prophet Yonah as well. Yonah boarded a ship with others, and during the journey at sea, the verses state: “Hashem cast a mighty wind toward the sea and it became such a mighty tempest in the sea that the ship threatened to be broken up. The sailors became frightened and cried out each to his own god…he (Yonah) said to them, ‘Pick me up and heave me into the sea and the sea will calm down for you, for I know that it is because of me (i.e., my wrongdoing) that this terrible storm is upon you.’” Despite the fact that the sailors were idol worshippers, Yonah seemingly did not blame the calamity on them, but instead took sole responsibility and blame for it. Additionally, we perhaps see that Yonah did not merely view it as a possibility or assume that the calamity was because of him, but rather felt certain about it, as he said, “‘I know that…”
Both Aharon and Yonah were outstanding people, which might show that it takes a certain level of greatness to view and respond the way they did. During troubling times, while a natural response might be to avoid looking within one’s own character and actions and taking responsibility, blaming other people or things instead, we perhaps can learn from the above that the ability to reach the level of being able to take the blame and personal responsibility for such occurrences may reveal a person’s uniquely lofty character.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
