Rav Yissocher Frand quoted a Medrash which teaches how Aharon HaKohein would bring people closer to the Torah. How did he do this? “He did not make forbidden that which was permitted, and he did not make permitted that which was forbidden.” Aharon did not compromise. He told things as they were. His secret was that he was consistent and straightforward, and he knew that people like consistency.
He knew that people are not necessarily interested in Heteirim, finding ways to make things permissible, and yet, they are also not necessarily interested in stringencies, Chumros. People are interested in the straight truth. The Medrash explains that the way Aharon attracted people, was to learn Torah with them. If we would appreciate the value of the Torah itself, those doing outreach would be able to reach so many more people.
Rabbi Frand relates a story that he heard from a prominent individual who works in Jewish Outreach. When this person was newly married and learning in a Yeshivah in Eretz Yisroel, he couldn’t afford an apartment in the desirable sections of Yerushalayim. Therefore, he bought one in what was then an outlying section, in a building where he was the only observant, religious Jew. All of the other residents were Israelis who were not religious.
He went over to them and started building relationships, and he invited every one of them to come once a week to his apartment to learn together. After trying, he finally got several people to come learn, but he had not picked a topic to learn with them. What would he learn with non-religious Israelis? In a certain sense, non-religious Israelis are even more removed from Judaism, and have more negative attitudes towards Jewish learning, than unaffiliated Jews in America. So, he considered his options.
Maybe he should do something philosophical, like Rambam’s Moreh Nevuchim, or a work that discusses the Jewish faith in comparison to others, like the Kuzari. He didn’t know what he was going to learn with them. He went to Shacharis the next day, and there, as Hashgachah Pratis, Divine Providence, would have it, he met the famous Rav Uri Zohar. Rav Uri Zohar was Israel’s foremost entertainer. He was a comedian, a television gameshow and radio talk-show host, a movie star, a film producer, and an icon of modern Israeli secular society. Then, in the middle of his career, he turned towards religion, and eventually, he became a fully observant Jew, leaving his prior lifestyle behind him.
This man approached Rav Uri Zohar and asked him what he thought he should learn with his neighbors. Rav Uri asked him, “What are you learning in Yeshivah?” The young man responded that he was learning Masechta Bava Kamma.
Rav Uri Zohar told him, “Then learn Bava Kamma with them!” The young man looked at him incredulously and said, “Bava Kamma? The ox that gores a cow? The Pit? The Ox? The Fire that damages? Will this turn people on to Judaism?”
Rav Uri responded, “My dear friend, you don’t believe in Torah! If you can question and doubt that learning Bava Kamma with them is going to bring them back or not, then you don’t fully believe and appreciate the power of Torah. Learn pure, untainted, unmodified, Torah, like the Arbah Avos Nezikin, the four major types of damages that are taught in Bava Kamma. You do not need to learn philosophical works with them. Learn about the ox that gores the cow. It does something to the Neshamah! It is mystical! It is magical! It is the nourishment that the Neshamah thirsts for, and a teacher needs nothing more!”
The young man listened, and he was able to reach many people in this way. To this day, when he begins learning with young adult students, he learns Masechta Bava Kamma with them. This is what this Medrash taught about Aharon. He returned sinners to learning Torah, because the power of pure Torah will always prevail!
Reprinted from the Parshas Toldos 5786 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
