By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — When the Torah speaks about Moses and Aaron, it sometimes puts Moses first and at other times, Aaron. For example, in Ex. 6:26 Aaron comes first: “It is the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said….” and in the very next verse it is Moses: “….these are the same Moses and Aaron.”
The classical commentator Rashi explains why: “There are times that Aaron comes before Moses, and other times that Moses comes before Aaron, in order to teach others that their words had equal weight.” In other words, when they approached Pharaoh, he could not pay attention to one and ignore the other, believing that one was the “boss” and the other a subordinate.
Rabbi Chaim of Brisk accepted Rashi’s explanation and then took it a step forward. He noticed that most of the time that Moses came first in the text was when God was communicating with the two of them. Aaron’s name usually came first when the two of them were communicating with Pharaoh. The order was sometimes reversed, as Rashi points out, to teach us that each communication was equally important. Communication between human beings is just as important as communication between human beings and God.
Some people are offended by their perception of a lack of decorum in synagogues. They do not understand the buzz of quiet conversation that sometimes goes on (yes….even on the bima!) during the service or when the Torah is carried through the congregation. They see it as a sign of disrespect.
I have the opposite sensitivity. Jews come to a synagogue not only to pray but to be with each other. I am always worried when I look out in the congregation and see people quietly staring off into space. I interpret it as not only as a disconnection with each other, but with God.
In Hebrew a synagogue is called a Beit Haknesset, a House of Gathering, and not a Beit T’fillah, a House of Prayer. A synagogue is a place where conversation with one’s fellow human beings is equally as important as one’s conversation with God.*
*Though not necessarily during the service!!!!
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted at leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com