#741: A Community Responds to Trauma

Rashi on Parashat Bereshit, Bereshit/Genesis 4:2

Graffiti about a conspiracy theory

Bamidbar/Numbers 20:29

וַיִּרְאוּ֙ כׇּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה כִּ֥י גָוַ֖ע אַהֲרֹ֑ן וַיִּבְכּ֤וּ אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹן֙ שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים י֔וֹם כֹּ֖ל בֵּ֥ית יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days.

Gimme Some Torah #741

Aaron dies on the summit of Mount Hor. Our translation says “the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last…” That is an accurate translation, but the Hebrew literally says, “the whole community saw (וַיִּרְאוּ, vayiru) that Aaron had breathed his last.

Quoting a midrash, Rashi asks, “What did the people see?” His answer is that the people saw proof that their crazy conspiracy theory about Aaron was wrong:

וַיִּרְאוּ כׇּל־הָעֵדָה — THE WHOLE COMMUNITY SAW [THAT AARON HAD DIED] — When they saw Moses and Eleazar descending and that Aaron was not descending with them, they said, “Where, then, is Aaron?” — He replied to them, “He is dead!” They thereupon said, “Is it possible that a man who stood up against the Angel and stayed the plague, — that over him the Angel of Death should have power?!” — Moses at once offered prayer and the ministering angels showed him (Aaron) to them lying upon the bier. They saw and believed (cf. Midrash Tanhuma, Hukkat 17).

Traumatized by the loss of their beloved Kohen Gadol, the people construct a nutty conspiracy theory and claimed that Aaron was alive and well. After all, they asked, how could Aaron have defeated the Angel of Death earlier but succumb to him now? (See Rashi on Num. 17:13)

Moses knows how dangerous a conspiracy theory can be, so he resolves to nip this one in the bud. He arranges for the angels to display Aaron’s corpse to the people, thus proving that he did, in fact, die.

Unfortunately for us, there is no easy way to disprove a conspiracy theory in real life. Conspiracy theories are concocted by people who are not interested in things like facts, reason, and rationality. Therefore, showing them the evidence of their error only fuels their delusional thinking.

What Rashi’s midrash can teach us is that conspiracy theories don’t just appear out of nowhere—they are communal responses to trauma. In Bamidbar, the nation suffers a number of traumas, and each trauma makes them more susceptible to conspiratorial thinking.

For instance, the people say things like, “Why have you taken us to die in the wilderness? (Num. 16:13)” and “We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt (Num. 11:5) “and “Our wives and children will be carried off (Num. 14:3)!”

If we want to stop the spread of conspiracy theories, then we have to do more than present facts to benighted people who are unable or unwilling to use critical thinking skills. We have to address the economic and cultural traumas that cause these conspiracy theories to form like thick scabs on wounds.

If we get a better understanding of what conspiracy theories are, we’ll have more luck convincing people not to believe them.

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I am the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Somerset, New Jersey, and the author of The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary.