Brotherly Love

One of the more incidental but beautiful stories, connected with the exodus from Egypt, is the special relationship between Moshe and Aharon.

When Hashem instructs Moshe to go down to Egypt, he is told that Aharon will greet him with great joy. There was never any jealousy between them.

Aharon didn’t mind that his younger brother of three years, would surpass him, and become the leader of Israel. And Moshe was happy to give over some of the glory to Aharon. He allowed him to be his spokesman, and he eventually became the Kohein Hagadol, the High Priest.

Their relationship is referred to as איש אחד בלב אחד, “as one man of one heart.” They truly had the ideal relationship of two loving brothers.

Perhaps this story should be more publicized. In so many situations, whether with family or friends, relationships are ruined because of petty jealousies. People don’t learn how to be genuinely happy for their loved ones.

This is a major component of what we call עבודת נפש, working on our souls. It begins with learning to be grateful with our own lot, and not looking at what others have. There are always going to be people that have more than us, but most likely many more that have less than us.

If we genuinely care about those around us, it should make us happy to see these people succeed. This was what the relationship of Moshe and Aharon was meant to teach us. We must learn their lesson and emulate it.