YEARS OF AHARON
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE (Bemidbar 33,39)
Rambam in Halacha (Chanukah 3, 12), brings that the 123 years of Aharon’s life are a sign for the 123 times the word חללוי' that the Jews answered the leader during the recitation of Hallel.
Life of Aharon “lover of the Jews” expresses the unity that the Jews seek in Hallel.
The Amount of Couples Aharon Counseled Daily
וכתב את האלת האלה הכה בספר ומחה אל מי המרי
The Kohen shall inscribe these curses on a scroll and erase it into the bitter waters (5:23)
From here the Gemara learns how great it is to create Shalom Bayis between husband and wife, so much so, that HaShem allowed His name to be erased to bring harmony between them. The Kohen in the desert was Aharon.
R’ Moshe Aharon Stern points out an amazing thing about Aharon, who loved peace and pursued peace. The Kallah Rabasi writes that at Aharon HaKohen’s funeral there were 80,000 boys with the name Aharon who followed his coffin. They were children of couples whose marriages were saved due to Aharon HaKohen. As a sign of gratitude these couples named a son after Aharon.
This means that throughout the 40 years in the desert, Aharon helped on average 5 to 6 couples a day (5.6 x 355 x 40 = 79,520)! The Moneh Mispar adds that in reality, the number of couples was probably much more, being that there were probably many girls born who simply could not be given the name Aharon.
Aharon Omed haTefilah
When Aharon Hacohen died the Targum ben Oziel describes how Moshe cried over him. Moshe said "woe is to me that my brother Aharon who was העמוד התפילה (the one who stands and prays for others) has died". The question is why does Moshe specifically pick this attribute to describe Aharon. Obviously, Aharon davened for Kial Yisroel, but if we do not find in the Torah any mention of this, why would Moshe choose to describe him as such?
When Aharon died the pasuk tells us that everyone cried over his death. The Meschech Chochmah says that from here we see that during the entire 40 years that Kial Yisroel was in the desert, no one killed someone else even unintentionally. The Halacha is that if someone kills unintentionally, he has to go into Gulus, during the time in the desert, such a person would have to go the Levite camp). Such a person would only go free when the Kohen Gadol would die. Now, if there had been someone in Galus, he would go free with the death of Aharon, as Aharon was the Kohen Gadol. This person would be happy and not sad. Therefore, if the pasuk tells us that everyone cried, it has to be that no one was in Galus.
Chaza”l tell us that the reason that such a person goes free with the death of the Kohen Gadol, is that the Kohen Gadol should have davened for the protection of Kial Yisroel; and if he would have prayed properly the killing never would have taken place.
This being the case we can now see from this pasuk how Aharon was the one who was constantly praying for Klal Yisrael. We see that for the entire 40 years the Midbar that Aharon protected Kial Yisroel. If that is the case, we can now understand very well why he was considered the omed hatefilah in his generation.
