By Rabbi Yitzchak Blau, WebYeshivaAnd Moshe said to Aharon: “What did this people do to you that you brought this great sin upon them. (Shemot 32:21)Rashi says that Moshe asked his older brother what kind of suffering the people inflicted before Aharon participated in the sin of the golden calf. This account depicts Aharon as attempting to resist communal pressure but giving in to intimidation tactics. Ramban rejects this idea since the idolatry of the golden calf should have motivated Aharon to resist even under pressure of death. After all, idolatry is one of the three sins for which halacha demands that a Jew become a martyr. How could Aharon not follow that fundamental principle?Ramban suggests that Moshe inquires about an earlier interaction between Aharon and the people. Did Aharon bear some grudge against the people that he acted to their detriment and not to their benefit? Moshe’s question relates not to their pressuring him in this episode but to a possible previous situation that may have influenced the current predicament.How can we respond to Ramban’s critique of Rashi? Maharal, in Gur Aryeh, notes that many commentators think the original plan of the golden calf was not to fashion a deity to be worshiped but to make a replacement intermediary who would fill Moshe’s shoes. Ramban himself explains Aharon’s thought processes in the same fashion. If so, the situation involved no idolatry and did not call for martyrdom.An alternative defense of Rashi emerges from Ketubot 33b. According to that gemara, had the courageous martyrs Chanania, Mishael and Azarya been subject to torture, they would have relinquished their firm stance and worshiped a pagan idol. Arguably, this gemara indicates that a Jew must choose death over idolatry but need not withstand the ongoing torments of torture to maintain the same ideals. Tosafot reject such a reading. According to them, the case involving those three heroes was not truly idolatry; therefore, they would not have been expected to withstand torture. However, one opinion in ****a Mekubezet takes the gemara at face value. Since facing death is easier then enduring torture, halacha does not demand endless heroism in the latter scenario. From that perspective, Aharon was justified in giving in to certain threats.Yet a simpler solution exists. Until now, our analysis has assumed that Aharon would obviously follow halachic dictates regarding martyrdom. We can move beyond that assumption. Aharon clearly makes a mistake in this story and that error might also include an inability to sand up to a mob. The Torah commands martyrdom in given circumstances but that does not make the decision of dedication easy. Indeed, Rambam writes that a person who failed to take the path of mandated martyrdom is not liable for punishment since the act was the product of duress (Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah 5: 4). In this great moment of truth, Aharon chose a path of lesser resistance.