The end of the pasuk mentioned in the previous devar Torah says: “Vayidom Aharon” (...And Aharon was silent). (Vaykira 10:3). This is an incredible thing. Aharon HaKohen lost his two oldest sons who were tzadikim, and yet his reaction was silence.
The Ba’al HaTurim writes that the word “Vayidom” appears only twice in Tanach. It appears once here in Parshas Shemini, and once more in Sefer Yehoshua (10:13): “And the sun was silent (vayidom hashemesh) and the moon stood still...” Klal Yisroel were in battle with the Emorites and wanted to pursue them, however it was getting dark. Yeshosua miraculously made the sun stand still. The sun did not set that day and the Jews were able to pursue their enemy.
Ostensibly, the two vayidoms have different meanings. One means that Aharon was silent and the other means that the sun did not move. On the face of it, the identical words do not mean the same thing in these two places. Vayidom hashemesh means the sun kept on shining. How is that analogous to Vayidom Aharon, which means Aharon kept quiet? What is the connection between these two different uses of the word vayidom?
The Ba’al HaTurim addresses the connection, but R’ Frand brings the following explanation he saw in the sefer Kol Aryeh (by Rav Yehudah Aryeh Klein, who was a Rav in Pressburg). There is a Gemara (Chullin 60b—which Rashi brings in Parshas Bereshis 1:16) that when the Ribbono Shel Olam created the sun and the moon, they were of equal size. The Medrashic story is well known: The moon complained that co-equal kings are not practical. One needs to be larger and one needs to be smaller. Hashem thereupon commanded the moon to make itself smaller. The sun remained its original size, and it is thereafter referred to as the “Maor hagadol” (the large illuminator) in the sky.
The Kol Aryeh says that it is a bit strange to call the sun Hamaor hagadol just because it was now bigger than the moon, because the sun did not get larger. It only remained the larger of the two luminaries by default. The Kol Aryeh suggests a different reason why the sun is known as the Maor hagadol: When the moon said to the Ribbono Shel Olam that it is not right to have two kings of the same size, the sun should have immediately popped up and said “Wait a minute! You are telling me that I should be smaller? Maybe you should be smaller!” At the very least, the sun could have demanded that they both go to a Din Torah over the issue.
Instead, the sun was silent. Vayidom hashemesh. The sun didn’t say anything. The Kol Aryeh says that is why the sun is called Hamaor hagadol. When someone is hurt, as the sun was (which is the natural reaction to the moon implying ‘you shouldn’t be that size; you are too big!”), and does not respond, that is very praiseworthy. Therefore, both vayidoms do indeed refer to silence.
The Kol Aryeh points out that this explanation enables us to understand the following Gemara very well (Shabbos 88b): “The Rabbis taught – those who suffer insult but do not insult in response, who hear their disgrace but do not reply, who perform G-d’s will out of Love and are happy even in suffering, regarding them the pasuk states, ‘But they who love Him shall be as the sun going forth in its might’ (Shoftim 5:31)” We say that the person who silently hears his insults is loved by the Almighty “like the sun in its might”.
Where do we see that? The Kol Aryeh says this is where we see it. The sun should have stood up for itself when the moon proposed that one of them be diminished in size. Vayidom hashemesh. The sun was silent. The ability to keep quiet and walk away when insulted by another is the strength the sun demonstrated during those first days of creation.
The Kol Aryeh says that this is what the Baal HaTurim means when he says that there are two vayidoms in the Torah. Vayidom Aharon and Vayidom hashemesh. Where did Aharon learn this capacity to stay silent after the Ribbono Shel Olam took away his two children? He learned it from the shemesh. (R’ Frand)
