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Why does the Torah (תורה) introduce Aharon's Yom Kippur service by mentioning his sons' deaths? Aharon and his sons shared the same spiritual illness - they both participated in sins that caused separation from Hashem (ה׳) (the Chet HaEgel and inappropriate gazing at Sinai). Reminding Aharon of this danger energizes his true nature as unifier of Israel, making his Yom Kippur service the perfect tikun for the fragmentation of the golden calf.
This shiur begins with Rashi (רש"י)'s question about why the Torah (תורה) introduces the Yom Kippur service with the phrase "Acharei Mos" - after the death of Aharon's sons. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah provides a mashal of two doctors treating a patient: the first simply says "don't eat cold food or sleep in damp places," while the second adds "so you don't die like someone else who died." The second doctor is more effective because he awakens greater urgency in the patient. The Rav raises several difficulties with this mashal: Why would Aharon, at such a high spiritual level, need the harsher warning? Why is the language "mezariz" (energizes) used rather than "mazir" (warns), since avoiding sin is typically about zahirus (caution) not zrizus (alacrity)? Most fundamentally, Aharon's sons died for completely different reasons than what Aharon might do wrong on Yom Kippur, so how is the comparison valid?
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Parshas Acharei Mos - Vayikra 16:1
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