פתיל תכלת THE BLUE THREAD
THE KEY THREAD IN THIS SOURCE SHEET IS HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD BLUE TEXT.
יהוה spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of יהוה.
Wait a second, says the Jerusalem Talmud. Aharon's sons died six months ago, at the inauguration of the Tabernacle. Why are they being mentioned now at Yom Kippur?
In Rebbi Joḥanan’s opinion, why is the death of Aaron’s sons mentioned in the matter when they died during initiation? Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, Aaron’s sons died on the First of Nisan; why does He mention their death at the Day of Atonement? To teach you that just as the Day of Atonement atones for Israel, so the death of the Just atones for Israel. Rebbi Ba bar Binah said, why did the verse append the death of Miriam to the Chapter of the Cow? To teach you that just as the ashes of the Cow atone for Israel, so the death of the Just atones for Israel. Rebbi Yudan bar Shalom said, why did the verse append the death of Aaron to the breaking of the Tablets? To teach you that the death of the Just is as hard for the Holy One, praise to Him, as the breaking of the Tablets.
The Torah Temimah asks:
OK, so we see from this gemara that the death of the righteous atones in the same way that Yom Kippur atones. But what does this really mean?
Why is the death of the righteous so important, and how does it even effect atonement?
And they buried the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in Zela, in the territory of Benjamin, in the tomb of his father Kish. And when all that the king had commanded was done, God responded to the plea of the land thereafter.
The Torah Temimah cites this verse from Second Samuel to provide an answer. Shaul and Jonathan died in a truly awful battle with the Philistines. Their remains were strewn on the battlefield and would have been lost forever, had not David and the leaders of the people courageously retrieved them.
Now look at the midrash closely to see what the people did once the bones were retrieved.
David forthwith arose and gathered together all the elders of Israel and the nobles, and they crossed the Jordan. They came to Jabesh-Gilead and they found the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son. No worm had been able to touch them, as it is said, "He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken" (Ps. 34:21). They took the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son, and placed them in a coffin, and they crossed the Jordan, as it is said, "And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son… and they performed all that the king commanded" (2 Sam. 21:14). The king commanded that they should bring the coffin of Saul in all the borders of each tribe. And it came to pass that the tribe || wherein they brought the coffin of Saul, the people (there) with their wives and their sons and their daughters came forth and displayed loving-kindness to Saul and to his sons, so that all Israel should discharge their obligation of showing loving-kindness. And thus (did they do) until it came to the border of his possession to the border of Jerusalem, in the land of Benjamin in Jerusalem, as it is said, "And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin" (ibid.), in the vicinity of Jerusalem. When the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that all Israel had displayed loving-kindness (to him), He was forthwith full of compassion, and He sent rain upon the land, as it is said, "And after that God was entreated for the land" (ibid.).
From the midrash in Pirkei deRebbi Eliezer, it is clear that G-d had mercy because of the honour that the people showed to Shaul and Jonathan in honouring them following their death.
The Torah Temimah concludes:
It's not the death itself that atones, rather it is the honour shown to the righteous at the time of their death, as this expression of honour is in reality an expression of honour for G-d Himself.