21 Apr ACHAREI MOT: DON’T BE SILENT ABOUT THE ANTISEMITISM THE HOLOCAUST BEGAN WITH PROPAGANDA

In Germany they
came first for the
Communists, and I
didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a
Communist. Then
they came for the
Jews, and I didn’t
speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they
came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t
speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t
speak up because I was a Protestant. Then
they came for me, and by that time, no one
was left to speak up.—Martin Niemoller
As the Jewish world still grieves from the
heinous mini Holocaust of October 7th, 2023,
all the soldiers slain in Gaza, and the innocent
souls that were in Hamas captivity; as we are
alarmed and disgusted by the horrific display
of antisemitism in the elite US universities
and the world over; as many survivors and
their families commemorated Yom Hashoah,
Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remember
the 6,000,000 who perished in the Holocaust;
as Jews in Israel continue to be threatened by
nations determined to destroy it; as abuse and
injustice often take root in our own
communities due to the silence of good
people—let us reflect on a stirring Midrash on

this week’s parsha.
The Fateful Conversation
This week’s parsha, Acharei Mos, relates (for
the second time, after the first time in Shmini)
the tragic episode of the premature death of
Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu.
On the day the Mishkan in the desert was
erected and Aaron’s four sons were
inaugurated as kohanim, the two oldest
children entered the Mishkan and did not
come out alive.
The Talmud relates the inside story to explain
the cause of their death:
“It once happened that Moshe and Aaron
were walking along the road, Nadav and
Avihu (Aaron’s two sons) were walking
behind them, and all Israel was walking
behind them. Said Nadav to Avihu, ‘When
will these two old men die, and you and I will
lead the generation?’ Thereupon, G-d said to
them: ‘We shall see who will bury whom!’”
A Cryptic Midrash
Now, this story of Aaron’s two sons
engendered a cryptic Midrash. It reads like
this:
“When Iyov heard about the death of the two
sons of Aaron, he was seized by tremendous
fear. This event compelled Iyov’s best friend,
Elihu, to state: “Because of this, my heart

trembles and jumps from its place.”
This Midrash seems strange. Why did the
Nadav-Avihu episode trigger profound fear in
the heart of Iyov’s friend?

Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulaei, the 18th-
century Italian sage and mystic known in

short as the Chida, presents the basis of the
following interpretation of this obscure
Midrash. He quotes it “in the name of the
Sages of Germany.”
Three Advisors
The Talmud relates that Iyov served on the
team of advisors to Pharaoh, the emperor of
Egypt. The other members of the team were
Bil’am and Yitro. When the Jewish population
in Egypt began to increase significantly,
developing from a small family of seventy
members into a large nation, Pharaoh, struck
by the fear that this refugee group would
ultimately pose a threat to his empire,
consulted his three advisors on how to deal
with the “Jewish problem.”
Bil’am chose a tyrannical approach. He
suggested that Pharaoh drown all Jewish baby
boys and force every adult Jewish male into
slave labor.
Iyov remained silent. He neither condemned
the Jews to exertion and death nor defended
their rights to life and liberty.
Yitro was the only one among the three who
objected to Bil’am’s plan of oppression. To
escape the wrath of Pharaoh, who
enthusiastically embraced Bil’am’s “final
solution,” Yitro fled from Egypt to Midian,
where he lived for the remainder of his
years.
The Talmud relates the consequences of
the advisors’ respective behaviors. Bil’am
was slain many decades later during a
Jewish military campaign in the Middle
East. Iyov was afflicted by various
maladies and personal tragedy, while Yitro,
the exclusive voice of morality in the
Egyptian palace, merited not only Moshe
as a son-in-law but also descendants who
served as members of the Jewish Supreme
Court (Sanhedrin) in Yerushalayim, loyally
representing the Jewish principles of
justice and morality.
Iyov’s Self-Righteousness
What went through Iyov’s mind after this
incident? Did Iyov consider himself
morally inferior to his colleague Yitro who,
in an act of enormous courage, stood up to
a superpower king and protested his
program of genocide? Did Iyov return
home that evening and say to his wife, “I
discovered today that I am a spineless and
cowardly politician who will sell his soul
to the devil just to retain his position in the
government.”
Iyov, like so many of us in similar
situations, did not entertain that thought
even for a moment. On the contrary, Iyov
considered himself the pragmatist and
Yitro the idiot.
“What did Yitro gain from speaking the

full truth?” Iyov thought to himself. “He lost
his position and was forced to flee. He acted
as a fanatical zealot. By employing my savvy
diplomatic skills and remaining silent, I will
continue to serve as Pharaoh’s senior advisor;
I will assist the Jewish people, subtly and
unobtrusively, from within the governmental
ranks of power.” For decades, Iyov walked
the corridors of the Egyptian palace, saturated
with a feeling of self-righteousness and
contentment.
Till the day he heard of the death of the sons
of Aaron.
Iyov’s Shattering Discovery
When Iyov inquired as to what might have
caused the premature deaths of these two
esteemed men, he was answered with the
famous Talmudic episode quoted at the
beginning of this essay:
“It once happened that Moshe and Aaron
were walking along the road, Nadav and
Avihu (Aaron’s two sons) were walking
behind them, and all Israel were walking
behind them. Said Nadav to Avihu, ‘When
will these two old men die, and you and I will
lead the generation?’ Thereupon, G-d said to
them: ‘We shall see who will bury whom!’”
Iyov was astounded. “I can fully understand,”
Iyov said, “why Nadav was punished. It was
he who uttered these disgusting words. But
why was his brother, Avihu, punished? He did
not say anything.”
“Avihu?” came the reply. “He was punished
because he remained silent.”
Because when a crime is happening in front
of your eyes, your silence is deafening.
No Time for Silence
In the face of despicable anti-Semitism,
coming from so many academics and their
foolish students —all good people who
remain silent, become accomplices to the
crime.
Ideas have power. It was the propaganda of
the Nazi party nine decades ago which
allowed millions of Germans to become
active murders of millions. When Jew hatred
goes unchallenged and unprotested, the
consequences can be horrific.
Throughout history, Haile Selassie said, it has
been the inaction of those who could have
acted, the indifference of those who should
have known better, and the silence of the
voice of justice when it mattered most that
have made it possible for evil to triumph.