Aron and Chur

Chur was a great man. He did not hesitate to sacrifice his life to prevent the Jews from creating a golden calf. Yet the Torah does not mention him in the story at all. Why?

I have an idea that may or may not be correct; here it is:

At that point in Jewish history, the Jewish people were not yet commanded to sacrifice their lives to avoid idol worship (The commandment is found in Leviticus 22 34). Perhaps the reason we don't emphasize the greatness of Chur's commitment, is that one may not sacrifice their live without an explicit commandment from Hashem.

If this answer is correct, then Aron would be completely exonerated. As it would be against the Torah for Aron to sacrifice his life to avoid making the golden calf.  

By omitting Chur’s sacrifice the Torah is conveying the importance of life, saying that one may not give up his life even for the noblest of causes, without the direct commandment by Hashem.

I find it interesting that we celebrate the Akeydah as the first act of martyrdom, although nobody died. This emphasizes that we celebrate the willingness to die, never death itself.  

Erev Rav

Rashi mentions by Eleh Elokecha and shicheis amcha that it was mostly the erev rav who Moshe accepted or mikareved that made the problems. Perhaps this was Aharon’s thought process and mistake. He felt that they should not have been brought along was hastening along their split from the Yidden. And his mistake was that it also drew in some Yidden along the way.

Moshe - Unov

וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה עָנָיו מְאֹד מִכֹּל הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה

How was Moshe able to be so humble? He must’ve have known his true worth. And even if could think that were people who were greater than him could he actually be more humble than everybody? Were all his gifts and skills only G-d-given talent and not also the product of his labours? Besides for it straining our belief, (there is a Medrish that states exactly the opposite. It says that a King heard about Moshe when the Yidden were in the desert and wanted to get to know him. So he sent an artist from his court to draw a portrait of Moshe. When the artist came back with the portrait the King was incredulous stating that this is a picture of a person who is ugly in character and is a low human being. When he sent his response to Moshe, Moshe replied that you are right, this is the way I was born but I was able to better myself through hard work.) But perhaps this Medrish strains our belief. :)

So back to the point, maybe Moshe wasn’t the hardest working person on the planet but he must’ve been at least a little bit.

Perhaps we can say that even the hard work that Moshe did he was able to be humble about. One way is to say that this was a G-d-given talent. But more so would be to say that he attributed the good things he did to the people who taught them to him or to those that he learned them from. And we could learn Mikal ha’adam with the mem meaning from rather than more than.

Torah T’mimah writes that the greater a person is the harder it is to be an anuv and that Moshe therfore was able to be the greatest Onuv around.

Targum Yonason explains that the Pasuk comes in connection to Miriam’s complaint. That despite him being an onuv he wasn’t Choshesh to their Taaneh. We don't see him reacting. Another Pirush says that they said it in front of him and he didn't react.

Aron

Aron was right at the center of the worst crime scene in Jewish history. He was personally involved in creating the weapon. Yet, he does not loose his priesthood as the Bichorim (- first born) did for their involvement in the crime. The Rabbi’s offer every possible interpretation to exonerate him.   

Perhaps the reason Aaron is treated with so much love and care is because of the way he treated other people. If he saw others sinning he would always look to put a positive spin on the action. He, therefore, deserves we do the same for him.

I am not sure if this is a great answer, but it is consistent with the idea of "measure for measure".

The Sea

I am looking at a picture of myself looking straight ahead at the the Mediterranean Sea. I like the way it makes me feel, so I post it to my desktop computer.

I like the way it makes me feel, because it reminds me to look at the vastness of the creation, never to limit my world, my potential, to the narrow streets I walk every day.

My soul feels so peaceful looking at the vastness of the Sea. Perhaps that's because, in its waters, she sees a reflection of herself.