In this week’s parsha, Aharon HaKohen dies on the first of Av. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, 787) says: Moshe, Aharon, and Elazar ascended Hor HaHar, but Moshe was ashamed to tell Aharon, “Your time has come to depart from the world.” He instead said to him, “Aharon, my brother, would you like to know what is written about Avraham?” Aharon said, “Yes.” Moshe then said, “וְאַתָּה תָּבוֹא אֶל אֲבֹתֶיךָ בְּשָׁלוֹם – And you shall go to your fathers in peace,” but Aharon did not get the hint. Moshe then said to him, “Aharon, my brother, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu were to tell someone after a hundred years that he would die, what would he say?” He said, “צַדִּ יק הַדַּ ין – The Judge is righteous.” “And if He told you today, what would you say to Him?” He said, “The Judge is righteous and faithful to me.” Moshe then said to him, “Since you have accepted this upon yourself, let us ascend to the top of the mountain, for so Hakadosh Baruch Hu told me.” Aharon followed him, like a lamb led to slaughter. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to the ministering angels: “You were amazed at Yitzchak when he went up to the altar and did not refuse. Come and see the great one following his younger brother to accept death.”
Aharon doesn’t ask “why,” doesn’t request to say goodbye to his family – nothing! To die? Everything is perfectly fine – no problem! Therefore, the Tiferet Shlomo says, he is the only one whose date of death is recorded in the Torah. To eternally mark a person who accepted his death with joy!
Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to accept His decrees with joy and without questions. Who was the first to be able to ask questions? Avraham Avinu, who was first told that through Yitzchak his descendants would be defined, yet now he’s being told to slaughter him on the altar. And what happened in the end? They took a ram and offered it in place of Yitzchak. Hakadosh Baruch Hu took the ashes of the ram and placed them before Him – what are those ashes? Those acts and ashes are to teach you not to ask questions! This They grant us merits to this very day! Sefer Divrei HaShira says, it is for this reason we call it the “ashes of the Parah Aduma” and not the “waters of the Parah Aduma” – so that we do not ask questions about Hakadosh Baruch Hu!
