A False World

In this week’s Torah portion we read of the passing of Aaron the High Priest – Kohen Gadol. It says that all the People mourned him for 30 days. The reason for this our Sages say is that Aaron was lover of peace and a pursuer of peace.

The Kabbalah tells us that the world is a “false world”. What you see is almost never what you get. There is always something else beneath the surface.  

This reality of our world makes the ideal of truth a hard one to live by. Try matching truth against a world that doesn’t express truth and it’s an uphill battle.

Put in other words, if every interaction we had was a truthful one, we likely would burn every relationship we have. Imagine meeting a friend or a coworker on a particularly grumpy morning. You can tell them how miserable a human being they are, or you can ignore them or you can try to delicately maneuver them to a better place or at least help them realize how they are coming across. If you told them how miserable a human being they were you may lose that relationship.

Or imagine you are going in to negotiate a business deal and you always put all your cards on the table, you’ll likely not make very much money. 

Or if your spouse comes over to you one day and asks “how do I look”? And you respond, “awful darling!”, I’d start looking for another place to sleep that night.

The ideal of peace is a much greater one than truth. The fact G-d set the world up in a manner that it is a “false world” emphasizes the value of peace over truth.

Aaron understood this and although he surely was a man of truth, the people mourned him more than they did Moses the man of truth – “Moshe is truth and his Torah is truth”.

Navigating a false world and valuing peace doesn’t mean we compromise the truth, rather it means that the truth doesn’t always need to be spoken, especially if it comes at the price of peace.

Best wishes for a peaceful Shabbos!