Parashat Massei recalls the passing of Aharon the High Priest and the brother of Moses and Miriam. He passed away in the last year of the Israelites journey through the wilderness on the 1st day of Av. Aharon’s exact date of passing is the only documented in the Pentateuch explicitly. It also works out that almost every year, the 1st day of Av falls in either the week before or after we read parashat Massei!
Let us go through some of Aharon's defining character traits and see those that correspond to the sefirah of crown (keter). [In the original class, Rav Ginsburgh also surveyed the character traits corresponding to the intellectual sefirot: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. See class from 14th of Av, 5777].
PLEASURABLE LOVE OF DELIGHTS
Aharon, with his love of peace and pursuit of peace, represents the epitome of love between souls. Chasidic thought speaks of several types of love. The first type is known as simple, natural love of the heart. This is what is referred to as the sefirah of loving-kindness, pushing a person to do good unto others. This is Abraham's love, the man of loving-kindness. It is also referred to as “worldly love” (אהבת עולם), love that is revealed when we meditate upon God's Presence in reality, in the world, focusing on the goodness that He does for all. This is the most basic level of love.
The next type of love is referred to as “great love” (אהבה רבה), which has no bounds. It corresponds to the mother principle—the sefirah of understanding. It precedes the Six Days of Creation and therefore is infinite. This is the love usually identified with Aharon. Although the High Priest’s love is based on Abraham’s love, because it is a derivative of and comes after the Giving of the Torah, it allows Aharon (and anyone else attaining it) to reach an even higher level than Abraham.
The third and highest level of love is the type associated with the sefirah of crown and the super-consciousness and is called “love of delights” (אהבה בתענוגים). This phrase comes from the Song of Songs in the verse, “How beautiful and how pleasant you are, O’ love of delights” (מה יפית ומה נעמת אהבה בתענוגים). This love is pure delight and pleasure, which is described in Kabbalah as stemming from the place in which God takes delight in Himself. This type of love represents the connection between a bride and a groom which symbolize the connection between the soul’s root and God.
AHARON AND LOVE
There is a special connection between Aharon and love. The values of the four letters that make up “Aharaon” (אהרן) are 1, 5, 200, and 50. Their total is 256 or
