Chayei Sarah - The Social Activist

(29) the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days.

Hillel and Shammai received from them. Hillel would say: Be like the students of Aaron: Love peace, and pursue peace, and bring peace between one person and another, and between husband and wife, [love all people,] and bring them closer to Torah. He would also say: One who pursues a name, loses his name. One who does not increase, diminishes. One who does not learn, deserves to die. One who makes use of the crown, passes away. He would also say: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? Love peace. How so? This is to teach you to be a person who loves peace among all the people of Israel, just as Aaron loved peace between everyone, as it says (Malachi 2:6), “A Torah of Truth was on his mouth, and no crooked thing was on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and righteousness, and he pulled back many from sin.”
(Rabbi Meir would say: What do we learn from “he pulled back many from sin”?) When Aaron was walking down the road, and he came upon a wicked person, he would wish him Shalom. The next day, when that man wanted to sin, he would say: Alas! How will I be able to look Aaron in the face; I will be so embarrassed when he wishes me Shalom. And so this man would stop himself from sinning.
Similarly, when two people were fighting with one another, Aaron would go and sit next to one of them and say: My son, look at the anguish your friend is going through! His heart is ripped apart and he is tearing at his clothes. He is saying, How can I face my old friend? I am so ashamed, I betrayed his trust. Aaron would sit with him until his rage subsided. Then Aaron would go to the other person in the fight and say: My son, look at the anguish your friend is going through! His heart is ripped apart and he is tearing at his clothes. He is saying, How can I face my old friend? I am so ashamed, I betrayed his trust. Aaron would sit with him until his rage subsided. When the two people saw each other, they would embrace and kiss one another. And that is why it says (Numbers 20:20), “And the entire House of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days” [after his death]. (Another interpretation:) Why did Israel weep for Aaron for thirty days? [(Both women and men.)] Because he always judged fairly. How do we know this? For he never said to a man or woman: You have disgraced yourself. That is why it says that the entire House of Israel wept for him. But with Moses, who would chastise them with harsh words, it merely says (Deuteronomy 34:8), “The children of Israel wept for Moses.” And also, how many thousands in Israel were named after Aaron! Because if not for Aaron, they would never have come into the world. For he would bring peace between husband and wife, and then they would come back together, and would name their first child after him. But there are those who say that the reason the entire House of Israel wept for him for thirty days is because anyone who saw Moses our teacher sitting and weeping, how could they not weep? (And some say:) Anyone who saw Elazar and Pinchas, the two high priests, standing and crying, how could they not weep? At that time, Moses asked to die as Aaron had died, because he saw the great honor Aaron was given at the funeral procession, with rows and rows of angels eulogizing him. But did he actually say this to someone? No, he just said it to himself. Yet the Holy Blessed One heard his whisper, as it says (Deuteronomy 32:51), “And you will die on the mountain that you go up on, and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor.” From this you learn that he asked to die as Aaron had died.
At that time, [God] said to the Angel of Death: Go, bring me the soul of Moses. The Angel of Death went and stood before him, and said: Moses, give me your soul. But he scowled at him [and said: The place I sit, you have no right to even stand – and you ask me to give you my soul? So he scowled at him] and chased him away with a rebuke.
The Holy Blessed One said again to the Angel of Death: Go, bring me the soul of Moses.
Finally, the Holy Blessed One said to Moses: Moses! You’ve had enough of this world. The World to Come has been prepared for you since the six days of creation. As it says (Exodus 33:22), “God said, here is a place near Me; stand on that rock.” The Holy Blessed One took Moses’ soul and stored it under the Throne of Glory. (As it says [I Samuel 25:29], “And the soul of my master will be bound up in the bond of life.”) And when He took it, He did it with a kiss. As it says (Deuteronomy 34:5), “[Moses died…] by the mouth of God.” And not only Moses’ soul is stored under the Throne of Glory, but also the souls of all the righteous are stored there! As it says (I Samuel 25:29), “[If anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your life], the soul of my master will be bound up in the bond of life.” Could it be that the souls of the wicked are there, too? The verse continues: “but He will fling away the lives of your enemies like a slingshot.” [(To what can this be compared?) It can be compared to someone who takes a stone and places it in a sling;] even though he flings it from place to place, he does not know where it will land. So it is for the souls of the wicked, which cast about and go wandering the world, and have no place to rest.
The Holy Blessed One said again to the Angel of Death: Go, bring me the soul of Moses. He went back to the place, and looked for Moses, but could not find him. He went to the Great Sea and said to it: Did Moses come here? And it said: I have not seen him since the day that Israel passed through me. He went to the mountains and hills and asked them: Did Moses come here? [They said to him: We have not seen him since the day that Israel received the Torah on Mount Sinai. He went down to the Underworld and to Oblivion said to them: Did Moses come here? They said: We have heard his name, but we have never seen him. He went and asked the angels: Did Moses come here?] They said to him: God knows his path and his place. God stored him away for the World to Come, and no living creature knows where. As it says (Job 28:12–14, 22), “Where will wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding? No human knows its measure, and it cannot be found in the land of the living. The Deep says, it is not in me, and the sea says it is not by me…. Oblivion and Death say: in our ears we heard a rumor.” Even Joshua was sitting in despair over Moses [for he did not know where he was], until the Holy Blessed One said to him: Joshua, why are you in despair over Moses? For “Moses My servant is dead.” (Joshua 1:2). Pursue peace. How so? This teaches that a person should pursue peace in Israel between everyone (in the way that Aaron would pursue peace in Israel between everyone, as it says [Psalms 34:15], “Turn from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar would say:) If a person stays quietly in his place, how can he pursue peace in Israel between everyone? [Rather, he should go out from his place and into the world and pursue peace in Israel,] as it says, “Seek peace and pursue it.” How does this work? Seek it where you are, and pursue it in some other place. Even the Holy Blessed One made peace in the heights, for He did not call ten angels Gabriel, ten angels Michael, ten angels Uriel, and ten angels Raphael, in the way humans do, calling ten people Reuben, ten people Shimon, ten people Levi, and ten people Judah. For if He had done as humans do, when He called one of them, they all would have come, and then become jealous of one another. So instead, He called only one angel Gabriel and one Michael, and when He calls any one of them, [that angel] comes before Him, and He dispatches the angel wherever He desires. And how do we know that they revere one another, and respect one another, and are humbler than human beings? Because when they open their mouths to sing a song, one of them says to the other: You should begin, for you are greater than I, and then the other one says: No, you should begin, for you are greater than I. This is not the way it is with human beings. Every person says to another: I am greater than you, and the other person responds: No, I am greater than you.
And some say they spoke in groupings [of angels]. One grouping would say to the other: You all should begin, for you are greater than we, as it says (Isaiah 6:3), “And this one called out to that one and said….” Love all people. How so? This teaches us that a person should love all people and not hate anyone. For so we find with the people of the Generation of the Dispersion,1See Genesis 11:1–9. that because they loved one another, the Holy Blessed One did not want to wipe them off the face of the earth, but instead only scattered them to the four corners of the world. But the people of Sodom, because they hated one another, the Holy Blessed One took them out of both this world and the World to Come, as it says (Genesis 13:13), “And the people of Sodom were very wicked and sinful against God.” “Sinful” – this is sexual transgression; “against God” – this the desecration of God’s name; “very” – this means that they sinned intentionally. From this you learn that because they hated one another, the Holy Blessed One took them out of both this world and the World to Come.7. And bring them closer to Torah. How so? This teaches us that a person should prevail upon others and bring them under the wings of the Divine Presence, just as Abraham prevailed upon those around him and brought them under the wings of the Divine Presence. [And not only Abraham, but also Sarah, as it says (Genesis 12:5), “Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot, and all of their possessions, and the souls they had made in Haran.” But even if everyone in the world got together, they would be unable to create even one mosquito! So what does it mean when it says, “the souls they had made in Haran”? It teaches us that the Holy Blessed One considered it as if they had actually made new souls.
When a person does not give part of what he earns to his fellows in this world, then he will not be given anything in the World to Come, as it says (Ecclesiastes 4:1), “Look at the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter. Power is in the hand of their oppressors, and they have no comforter.” Why does it say “they have no comforter” twice? This refers to people who eat and drink in this world, and their sons and daughters are successful, but in the World to Come they have [nothing and they have no] comforter. For if a person has something stolen from him in this world, or if someone he knows dies, then his children, siblings, and other relatives come and comfort him. Could it be that the same is true in the World to Come? That is why the verse then says (Ecclesiastes 4:8), “He has neither son nor brother.”
So, too, with someone whose sexual transgression produces a mamzer [a child born of certain forbidden sexual relations]. They say to him: Empty one! You have ruined yourself and you have ruined him as well! [For this mamzer would have wanted to study Torah with the rest of the students] who sit and study in Jerusalem. But this mamzer would go with them only up to Ashdod, and then would stop there and say: Woe is me! If I were not a mamzer, I would have gone to sit and study among the students whom I have been studying with until now. But because I am a mamzer, I cannot sit and study among these students. For a mamzer cannot enter Jerusalem at all, as it says (Zechariah 9:6), “The mamzer will stay in Ashdod, (and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.” [Hillel] would also say: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? That is, if I do not earn merit during my lifetime, who will earn it for me? And when I am only for myself, what am I? That is, if I do not earn merit for myself2Either by leaving a legacy or by correcting misdeeds., who will earn my merit for me?) If not now, when? That is, if I do not earn merit during my lifetime, who will earn if for me after my death? And so it is said (Ecclesiastes 9:4), “For a living dog is better off than a dead lion.” “A living dog is better off” – this refers to a wicked person who is still alive in this world. “Than a dead lion” – he is better off than even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they lie in the dirt. (Another interpretation of “a living dog is better off”: This refers to) a wicked person who is still alive in this world; if he repents, then the Holy Blessed One will receive it. But when a righteous person has died, he can no longer add to his merit. He would also say: If you come to my house, I will come to your house. My legs will bring me to the place that my heart loves.
If you come to my house, I will come to your house. How so? These are the people who come for the morning and evening prayers at the synagogues and study houses. The Holy Blessed One blessed them in the World to Come. This is like what it says (Exodus 20:21), “In every place where I have My name mentioned [I will come to you and bless you].”
My legs will bring me to the place that my heart loves. How so? These are the people who leave their silver and gold and go up to the festival to encounter the face of the Divine Presence in the Temple. The Holy Blessed One will protect them in their encampments, as it says (Exodus 34:24), “No man will covet your land when you go up to appear before the face of the Eternal your God [on one of the three pilgrim festivals].” He would also say: If I am here, everything is here. I am not here, who is here? Turn it over, and turn over [in it. For everything is in it.] And in all matters, the reward is in proportion to the struggle. There is a story of Hillel the Elder, that he was walking on the road, and he came upon people who were carrying wheat. He said to them: How much would a se’ah3A se’ah is a grain measure, roughly equivalent to 1.9 gallons. cost? They said to him: Two dinars. He came upon another group, and asked them: How much would a se’ah cost? They said to him: Three dinars. [He said: But the first group told me it was only two!] They said to him: You stupid Babylonian! Don’t you know that the reward is in proportion to the struggle? He said them: You fools! (And empty ones!) Because I constantly instruct you [that the reward is commensurate with the toil], you are replying so [i.e. in kind]? Thus Hillel the Elder did to them to bring them back to good behavior.
It was also he who saw a skull floating on the water and said to it: Since you drowned others, you were drowned. And those who drowned you will also be drowned. He also used teach four things in the Babylonian tongue: One who pursues a name, loses his name; One who does not serve the sages, deserves death; One who does not increase, loses; and One who makes use of the crown, perishes, and then it is lost to him.
One who pursues a name, loses his name. How so? This teaches us that a person should not seek to be known in the state, for eventually they will begin to take note of him, and then kill him and take his money.
He who does not serve the sages, deserves death. How so? (They tell) There is a story about a person from Beit Ramah who conducted himself with great piety. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai sent one of his students to go check up on him. The student went, and found him putting oil on a stovetop, and then taking it off and putting it on beans. The student said to him: What are you doing? He replied: I am a high priest, and I am eating the priestly tithe in a state of [ritual] purity. The student said: But is that stovetop impure or pure? He said: Does it say anywhere in the Torah that a stovetop can be impure? The Torah speaks only of an oven becoming impure, as it says (Leviticus 11:33), “Everything in it becomes impure.” The student replied: Just as the Torah speaks of an oven becoming impure, so it speaks also of a stovetop becoming impure, as it also says (Leviticus 11:35), “An oven and a stovetop must be smashed; they are impure.” And if that is so, you have never eaten the priestly tithe in a state of purity in your entire life!
He who does not add, loses. How so? This teaches us that if a person learns only one tractate – or even two, or three – but does not keep adding to them, in the end he will forget even those he did learn.
He who uses it as a crown, perishes, and then it is lost to him. How so? For anyone who uses the Ineffable Name of God has no share in the World to Come.

(1) שמע בקולה HEARKEN UNTO HER VOICE — we may infer that Abraham was inferior to Sarah in respect of prophecy (Exodus Rabbah 1:1).