Pirchei Avos (1:12)
In our collective conscience there is certain lexis which evokes positive or negative feelings before our intellect examines its essential meaning.
For example, when we hear the words genocide and murder we automatically conjure up images of horrific injustice heaved upon mankind. Anything associated with those words we view as evil and abhor. On the other hand, when we hear the words peace and harmony we are filled with a warm longing for everything to be all right.
Peace is a universal aspiration. We beseech the Almighty for it three times a day in the silent prayer established at the beginning of the Second Temple Era by Ezra’s Rabbinical Court, The Men of the Great Assembly.
Peace is our dream and hope as Henry Timrod, The Poet Laureate of the Confederacy wrote, “Not all the darkness of the land, can hide the lifted eye and hand; Nor need the clanging conflict cease, to make thee hear our cries for peace”. We are brought to tears and our hearts well with emotion at the prospect of its fruition.
This is because our souls intuit the truth that God’s blessing is peace as it says ‘the Lord will bless his people with peace (Psalms 29:11).’ (Talmud, Megilla 18a) Therefore, the ‘peace-process’ is automatically good and war is bad.
Upon further reflection this approach to any issue is tenuous. Let’s crystallize the point in our minds. One can draw an analogy. A surgeon has to commit a violent intrusion into the human body. He cuts it open during a surgical procedure. It is obvious that the loss of blood, cutting of the flesh and the experience of trauma are necessary measures in achieving the ultimate goal which is the health or survival of the patient.
The surgical process is an oddity to our emotional sensitivity. The result is an interesting quirk; we hurt in order to heal. In the words of our sages, in a different context, “Rabbi Shimon the son of Elazar said, ‘If the elders tell you to demolish and the youngsters to build, demolish and don’t build. This is because the demolishing of elders is building and the building of youngsters is demolishing.’”(Talmud, Megilla 31b)
As a matter of fact the doctors themselves possess an innate propensity toward hurting others. However, they channel this proclivity for the best, as our Sages put it, “He who is born during the hour of Mars will be a man who spills blood. Rabbi Ashi said, ‘He is destined to be a spiller of blood in some way whether he becomes a blood-letter, thief, ritual slaughterer, or one who performs circumcisions.’”(Talmud, Shabbos 147a)
If any act is to be defined as moral or otherwise it must be pursuant to the circumstances and the context of the situation in which it is performed. Therefore, peace is an impossible without delineating the methodology that one needs to employ towards its realization.
Failure to reflect upon this truth can have ominous consequences as our Sages point out in their criticism of Saul, “Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Levi said, ‘Anyone who becomes merciful when one should be cruel in the end will be cruel when they should be merciful.’”(Midrash Rabbah, Ecclesiastes 7:16) The portentous purport of this reality is the appointment of the head of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, as a Nobel Peace Laureate. He was hardly the poster child for anything to do with that concept.
Ironically, agreeing to be peaceful without correction of one’s actions does not lay the bricks on the road of peace.
In this Mishnah, Hillel teaches us how to achieve peace. One needs to seek peaceful resolution between belligerent parties. One needs to love and be generally concerned for the welfare of one’s fellow human beings. One needs to imprint one’s influence on the parties involved in such a way that they become more observant.
Therefore, declares Hillel, be a student of Aaron, the High Priest. How can we be a student of Aaron? Embody his deeds. That is the true measure of a student. (Rabbi Yonah of Gerondy, ad locum) What are his deeds? He understood that it is not enough to value and love peace as a noble ideal. One has to pursue it in action as we utter the words of King David during the Shabbos morning service “seek peace and run after it”. (Psalms 34:15) How did he pursue peace? Maimonides instructs us in his great work, the Mishnah Torah. (Hilchos Deos 5:7) Whenever he observed a dispute between two individuals, he would approach each one unbeknownst to the other and say the following. Observe your friend and see how he regrets and beats himself up because he wronged you. He told me that he wants to make amends. As a result, when they would meet each other, they would kiss and make up. (Avos DeRebbe Nosson 12:3)
This simple recipe was acutely effective because he truly loved his fellow man as Hillel affirms with his next words. The substantiation of his true love for his fellow man is that he was able to bring people closer to religious observance. Whenever, he observed that someone would not be up to par in their commitment, he would show extra affection towards that individual. That person in turn would say to themselves, if this righteous sage becomes aware of my wrongful activities he will distance himself from me. As a result, that individual would retract from their wrongful actions as the prophet Malachi (2:6) testified about Aaron, “The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many away from iniquity.” (Ibid)
Aaron was very success in his endeavor to achieve peace. A testimony to this is how people reacted after his passing. An indication that a person is truly righteous is the conduct of people at the time of their death. Everyone will cry with heartfelt tears and tell of praise of the deceased. (Rashi, Shabbos 143a).
This was the case with Aaron as the Torah informs us, “And when the entire congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel.”(Numbers 20:29) This is in contradistinction to what it states about Moses, “And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.”(Deuteronomy 34:8) The words “the entire congregation”, in reference to Aaron, indicate the men and the women because he made peace between men and couples. However, in reference to Moses it states, “And the people” to indicate that only the men wept for him. (Rashi, ad locum)
It is an amazing insight into the difference between Moses and Aaron. Moses was a seeker of peace in the most challenging of moments like the inflammatory quarrel with Korach and his assembly as it says, “And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.”(Numbers 16:25) “Reish Lakish said, ‘From here we learn that one should not hold steadfast to a dispute (Talmud, Sanhedrin 110a). This rule applies even if you are right and the other person is wrong. One must diffuse conflict as soon as possible. (Shemiras Halashon, Sec. 1. chapter 17)
Nevertheless, it is Aaron who becomes our teacher about how to achieve peace because of his love for people, concern for peace, and its pursuit. We all value peace but being the students of Aaron is the only way to achieve it.
