Holy Words from Our Teacher, the Esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, for Parshat Shemini - "And Aaron was silent" • The level of "So that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent" is higher than "And Aaron was silent" • Instead of falling into despair, one must strengthen oneself with simcha (joy) and dancing • Songs and melodies sweeten the judgments

"And Aaron was silent" (Leviticus 10:3)

Every person must study books of ethics, know the book "Mesilat Yesharim", know the book "Shaarei Teshuvah", know the book "Orchot Tzaddikim", read the chapter on anger in "Orchot Tzaddikim", learn not to be angry, and know to be in simcha (joy) in every situation, and know that everything is for the best. As it is written about Aaron "And Aaron was silent" - Aaron saw the greatest, most terrible disaster in his life, his two sons Nadav and Avihu, who were as great as Adam, were killed, slaughtered before his eyes. He did not fall into despair, he continued with his work, "And Aaron was silent", he was not confused by anything.

The level of "So that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent" is higher than "And Aaron was silent"

There is a higher level than "And Aaron was silent" - called "So that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent" (Psalms 30:13), as there are stories from the Holocaust about Jews who danced and sang inside the furnaces, inside the gas chambers. It is told that once the Nazis put 50 Vizhnitz boys on the night of Simchat Torah inside one of the gas chambers, instead of falling into terrible despair, they began to dance and sing "For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem" - they had such simcha (joy), such enthusiasm as if they were dancing now in Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, singing and dancing there. When the Nazis saw them dancing, they said, what is this here! What are these dances? What are these songs? This is heresy! They wanted to hear Jews crying, to hear weeping, what is this, a dance hall? What is happening here? A dance hall in Auschwitz?! The Nazis burst through the doors and shouted, stop the dancing, stop this simcha (joy), this is not a theater! This is not a dance hall! But the chassidim continued to dance and rejoice "For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah..." The Nazis said to them, if this is how you behave, you are mocking us, get out, and tomorrow at 9 in the morning we will cut you into pieces with all the tortures, not a quick death, not a death by gas, tomorrow we will see how you dance. The next morning, a message arrived that a thousand workers needed to be immediately transferred to another camp, and they were exactly short of 50 workers. Someone said, "There are exactly 50 boys in the barrack who know how to work well, let's take them," and they were immediately put on a truck and disappeared from there. Thanks to the songs and dances they performed, they merited to stay alive, and this is the meaning of "On the altar's pyre we shall dance." A Jew does not lose emunah (faith) for even a moment, not even a second, he only dances and sings even in the most difficult situations in life.

Instead of falling into despair, one must strengthen oneself with simcha (joy) and dancing

When a person is in some trouble, has some problem, some difficulty in life, and he does not fall into despair and does not lose emunah (faith) for even a moment, and strengthens himself with songs and dances and simcha (joy), then he is not on the level of "And Aaron was silent" where he accepts it in silence, but he is on a higher level of "So that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent" where he sings, dances, and rejoices within the trouble, within the suffering, he sings to Hashem, thanks Hashem for every breath. What does it matter what you are going through? You must always thank Hashem for every breath, as it is written about King David "To the chief musician, a Psalm of David when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, 'Is David not hiding with us?'" - Saul was pursuing him, everyone was informing on him, the Ziphites were informing on him, when he was in Keilah, the men of Keilah informed on him, and all that David managed to escape from them was only through songs, he would get up at midnight and play until the morning. "And the Philistines seized him in Gath" - the Philistines captured him in Gath, he said "To the chief musician" and began to sing and play. When Saul entered the cave to capture him, he began to sing and play. "And they watched the house to kill him" - he saw that they were already besieging the house, already surrounding the house, soon everything would be surrounded by soldiers with arrows and spears, the first thing David did was start to sing and play, David always, when he was in trouble, would say a song of triumph, a melody, and thus he was saved from all troubles.

Songs and melodies sweeten the judgments

When a person feels he is going through such troubles, such suffering, the minimum is to get up at dawn and sing the songs, the melodies, and through this, sweeten the judgments. All the judgments and troubles are sweetened through singing, song, and melody as it is written "Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad" - King David said all those who delight in my righteousness shall shout for joy and be glad. What is my righteousness? It is judgments, through singing and simcha (joy), the judgments are sweetened. The Zohar in "Vayishlach" says that King David would sing all night, he would strengthen himself with songs and praises until the morning rose. A person must always praise Hashem, and whoever knows how to praise Hashem "constantly as is fitting," then Hashem accepts his prayers and saves him from all accusations, saves him from all disasters.

When people do not dance, do not sing, are not happy, they go around broken, then they also break everything, a broken person breaks the entire system, he breaks all of creation. Why are you broken? Is it now the Holocaust? Sing, dance, say a chapter of Psalms, say "To the chief musician, a Psalm, a song" seven times, it brings all salvations, matches, healings, it brings everything. It is written in the Ari - whoever says "To the chief musician" seven times is guaranteed salvations, children, healings, etc. The songs and melodies are the way to sweeten all the judgments. Hashem is angry with those who do not awaken to sing, play, and sing, there is no way to sweeten judgments except through simcha (joy) and dancing, and this is the meaning of "On the altar's pyre we shall dance" that a Jew does not lose emunah (faith) for even a moment, not even a second, he dances, sings, and rejoices in every situation in life, everywhere - on the pyre in Auschwitz, it does not matter where he is, he will always reach singing and dancing.

A Jew is from the word "thanksgiving," he always thanks, always sings, whatever Hashem does is good, Hashem is always with us, Hashem will never leave us, not for a moment, not for a second, we are with Hashem, the chosen people, a treasured nation, and what is our treasure? Our treasure is that we dance on the altar, on the pyre, this is our treasure.