VAYECHI 1979

In last week's Torah portion, Vayechi, we learn about Joseph's death, and how he was
placed in an "aron", a coffin.  In Hebrew the word "aron" has a great many meanings.
It means not only a coffin but also the box in which the two tablets containing the
Ten Commandments were kept.  It also means the ark in front of every synagogue containing
the Torahs.  In Hebrew this ark is called an aron, the Aron Hakodlesh - the Holy Ark.
Why is it that the same word is used to describe the final container of a human being
and also the container of the Holy Torah?
To my mind the answer is plain.  Everyone would agree a person's worth is not determined by the amount of money we spent on his coffin or funeral, but by the way he lived before he was placed in the coffin.  In fact, Judaism forbids elaborate funerals and demands that the coffin be a simple wooden box.  For this same reason, I believe our sages referred to the container which holds the Torahs by the name "aron", also. Just as how much a person who died meant to those he left behind cannot be determined by how much they spent on his funeral and coffin, so what the Torah means to the people in a particular synagogue or city cannot be judged by how much they paid for its aron. The Torah's worth, like a person's, cannot be judged by how it is treated when it is in its aron, but how it is treated in life.