Aaron’s moment of thundering silence (Shemini) – by Yael Unterman

I love to traverse my year through the prism of the biblical characters, but I find myself a little harder pressed to do so in the book of Leviticus. The middle book  of the Torah contains primarily technical material relating to sacrifices and other priestly activities; this is not the wonderfully rich narratives in Genesis where I am spoiled for choice.

Yet priests are people too. And some of them we have been following for a while now… well, primarily Aaron the High Priest. Precisely how long depends on whether we choose to begin his story from his implied presence as a small child in the narrative around Moses’ birth (he’s not explicitly mentioned there – but where else would a 3-year-old be?), or alternatively from when he is named and becomes his illustrious brother’s right hand man, 80 years later.

Aaron is a somewhat enigmatic figure. Hailing from the most important Jewish family who ever lived (sorry Rothschilds), caught between his two spiritually colossal siblings, prophets and leaders Miriam and Moses, yet also destined for greatness himself, Aaron somehow manages, despite the major role he plays, to remain partially in the shadows.

Read the full article on the Times of Israel