Vayidom Aharon

Vayidom Aharon-Should we expect better of ourselves?

As Rav Soloveitchik z"l pointed out, that when Aharon hakohen was faced with the death of this sons Nadav and Avihu the Torah says "vayidom Aharon"-Aharon was silent, still. If Aharon HaKohen, the great orator, whom God chose to be the mouthpiece of Moshe Rabbeinu, who was the "man of the people", undoubtedly an articulate, well loved individual with no lack of words, and yet when faced with the death of his two sons, had nothing to say, but shocked acceptance, how then can we seek to find words that are sufficient to react to such a tragedy? "Machshevosai lo Machshevosaichem"-the plan of the Aibeshter is not like our plans. He makes cheshbonos that are incomprehensible to bnei odom. We can only react with the stunned silence of acceptance and do our best to console the grieving family, her co-workers at the school in Rockville where she was an "institution" and not merely an employee, the kehilla that knew her as their rebbetzin, the many women who counted on her for the mikveh in Potomac and so much more.
May her memory be a blessing for us, inspire us to be m'kayem mitzvos b'laiv shalem, and may we merit a Geulah shlaimah b'mehaira.
-A colleague and parent at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, Rockville, MD