Speechless

In the face of unthinkable tragedy, the Torah relates, “Vayidom Aharon — and Aharon became speechless.”

Aharon did not become merely silent, for silence implies that a person has words but chooses not to express them. Vayidom implies becoming mute, meaning that the person has lost the power of speech. The Hebrew word vayidom shares a root with “domeim,” which is an inanimate object such as a rock. Vayidom signifies the diminishment of man from the highest form of existence — a medaber, a speaking creation — to the lowest form of existence, a domeim.

What is man as a “medaber”?

Man’s ability to speak is not merely a vocal skill, akin to an animal’s grunt. The power inherent in man’s speech emerged when HaKadosh Baruch Hu displayed all the animals to Adam and tasked him with naming them. This means that Adam understood their nature, and then — with his discernment and insight — he grouped the animals into separate species and determined what function each would serve. The naming of the animals is the quintessential application of man’s power of speech; it expresses the sum total of his intellectual ability, and the resultant mastery of the world that Hashem created.

Hashem even asked Adam to identify the name by which He —Hashem — would be known to His creation.  Adam replied, “Adon,” for “You are Master of the Universe.” This answer is the ultimate in man’s recognition of Hashem’s dominion of the world; but it is man, with his intellectual abilities, who recognizes this. G-d is coronated as Master of the World, but mankind is the one who performs this coronation. Man’s power of speech is literally his crowning attribute.