Shmini
How can we hold the silence?
Reflection by US Community Manager Carrie Watkins:
"Parshat Shmini tells the story of the death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, when they bring an `aish zara` an alien, or foreign fire, into the newly constructed Mishkan. Our parsha then bears witness to one of the more powerful, and harrowing, moments in the Torah. Moshe tries to give some kind of explanation of the events to Aaron, and `vayidom aharon` (10:3) and Aaron was silent.
The Torah emphasizes this silence by calling our attention to it, and then echos it by saying nothing more.
Notice for a moment how it lands in your body and your heart and your mind, to read the pasuk - And Aaron was silent.
As you might expect, our commentators are anything but silent on the subject. Some say it means Aaron wasn’t crying. Others say he was. Some say his silence was bravery. Rashi says Aaron later received a reward for his silence. Abarbanel said it meant Aaron’s heart became like a lifeless stone. Ramban said that the silence was made up of quiet and tears together. Sforno says Aaron was feeling comforted.
What did you think? What was your first reaction when this story and that silence landed in your system?
In truth, we don’t know. We never really know what’s going on in someone else’s internal world, a fact that becomes all the more poignant when someone is moving through something very challenging, like Aaron losing his two sons.
Mindfulness practice is not just a personal endeavor. We practice mindfulness in the interpersonal realm, as well, in our relationships with others. The multitude of commentaries in this week’s parsha reminds us that while it’s fully ok and human to have the commentator's impulse to posit where someone else is coming from, we should never assume. Mindfulness can teach us to allow space for complexity, for not knowing, for silence, within ourselves and in our relating to others.
Wishing you a Shabbat of being with yourself and others, without needing to know."