AVROHOM YAAKOV
“And G-d spoke to Moshe after the deaths of the two sons of Aharon.” (16:1)
Why does the Torah, which is about to describe the service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur in the Beis HaMikdash, reference the date when Hashem gave the rules over to Moshe?
Rashi, based on the Midrash, explains:
“Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah illustrated this by a parable: It may be compared to the case of a sick person whom the physician visited. He (the physician) said to him: “Do not eat cold things nor sleep in a damp place!" Another physician came and said to him: “Do not eat cold things, nor sleep in a damp place so that will not die as Mr. So-and-so died!" Certainly this (the latter) put him on his guard more than the former; that is why Scripture states “after the death of the two sons of Aharon."
Since the Torah was instructing Aharon about the tasks that he would undertake in the holiest area of the Temple on Yom Kippur, Hashem was warning Aharon to be careful and He bolstered the warning by providing a practical scenario when people (Aharon’s sons) did not do the right thing and died.
IT IS SAID that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” In providing a concrete historical example of the ramifications in taking the wrong course of action, the hope is that poor decision making is avoided.
Of course, despite the best explanations and most pertinent examples, there are still those who choose to ignore all the lessons and will take the wrong-headed approach.
Instead of destroying terrorists and punishing their supporters, they seek to mollify them. Rather than supporting allies, they try to restrain them down while enemies can act with impunity. Seeing the negative effect of open national borders in the past, just means that any restrictions on immigration should be removed? Witnessing the destruction of the family unit as being a key cause in the rise of crime, why not accelerate the disintegration of families?
The list goes on and on, leaders totally ignoring what has happened the past based on some current political calculation or sheer stupidity.
The past counts, and the Torah goes out of its way to tell us to learn from it or risk the same consequences that befell those who didn’t do the right thing.
