Of all the role models in this series, Aharon may be the one I admire most without reservation.

A man of peace. A man of integrity. For forty years, the steadfast, ungrudging support of a younger brother chosen to lead in his place, despite being the elder by three years. If strength can mean never once needing to be the one in charge, Aharon had it in abundance.

There are many great leaders in Tanach. Some inspire awe. Some command obedience. Some change history.

But only one has the Torah tell us that when he died, the entire nation wept.

Not merely בני ישראל. Not the elders. Not the men. Not the women.

כֹּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל.

The whole house of Israel.

That phrase appears in this week’s parasha when Aharon dies on Hor HaHar. It is striking because the Torah records the deaths of relatively few people at all, and fewer still with such emphasis on the reaction of those left behind.

The obvious question is why.

Moshe was the redeemer of Israel. Through him came the plagues, the splitting of the sea, the manna, and the Torah itself. Yet when Moshe dies, the Torah speaks only of בני ישראל mourning him. Here, for Aharon, it says כֹּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל.

What did the people see in Aharon that made them feel his loss so universally?

The answer may begin surprisingly early in the parasha.

The first major subject of Chukat is the Parah Adumah. The command is precise:

וּנְתַתֶּם אֹתָהּ אֶל אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן

“Give it to Elazar the priest.”

Ramban pauses over the omission.

He offers three possibilities. Perhaps Aharon was simply too elevated, describing him as “the holy one of the Eternal and His pious one.” The service of the High Priest belonged at the centre of holiness, in the Mishkan itself, while the Parah Adumah was........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)