Bad Things

I heard a nice dvar Torah from Rabbi Kaplan this weekend that I wanted to share. In this week’s Parsha there was a dispute among various elements of the Bnai Yisroel. Some felt that Aharon did not deserve to be the Kohain Gadol. They felt that Moshe was unfairly appointing his relatives to important positions. The dispute was centered on, who appointed Aharon as the Kohain Gadol. Was is Hashem, or did Moshe do this on his own?

A test was agreed upon by all parties with signs determined that would tell all who was correct.

The Torah tells us that the ground opened up and swallowed Korach, Dasson, and Aviram, along with their entire families. But still people felt that the conflict was not resolved. Then a fire came down from heaven and killed the 250 men who each felt that they should be Kohain Gadol. But still the people were not convinced. Then there was a plague that killed thousands. But, the people still were not sure.

Finally Moshe setup sticks of wood in the ground near the Mishkan. One stick for each tribe. In the morning the stick which represented Aharon and the tribe of Levi had sprouted almond leaves, almond buds, and ripe almonds (all at the same time). This event convinced the masses that Hashem had truly chosen Aharon and that Moshe was not merely peddling influence.

Why did the tragic events which obviously were Hashem’s response to the conflict, not convince the masses, but the stick spouting almonds finally put the issue to bed?

There are some people within every religion that attempt to explain why bad things occur. American soldiers died because of homosexuality, Katrina wrecked Louisiana because of a breakdown in morals, Ariel Sharon is ill because of Gaza, Israeli soldiers died in Lebanon because they were not observant, the Holocaust occurred because of… (I am sorry; I can’t even repeat this one).

The lesson we learn from the episode in this week’s Parsha is that we do not have a right to create moral equivalencies. Just because something bad happens to a group or to an individual does not allow us to explain why it occurred. Even if it seems obvious. We don’t know, and cannot know why G-d punishes people or groups. Our job is to accept bad things as G-d’s will, but not to explain why an individual or group suffers. (Writer's addition - How we view bad things that happen to ourselves is different. I think that Rabbi Kaplan was referring to how we view bad things that happen to others).

But when something positive happens, then we can create an equivalency. When the stick sprouted almonds we had the right to equate it to Aharon’s merit.