Kommentar zu Wajikra 21:8

וקדשתו THOU SHALT SANCTIFY HIM — even against his will; it means that if he is not willing to divorce the woman whom he had illegally married flog him (מלקות ארבעים) and chastise him (מכות מרדות) until he divorces her (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 1 13; Yevamot 88b).

FOR I THE ETERNAL, WHO SANCTIFY YOU, AM HOLY. The sense [of the plural form of you] is that it is addressed to the priests, just as He began, Say unto the priests.²⁵Verse 1. Or it may be that the expression I the Eternal, Who sanctify you means “Who sanctifies all of you — priests and [the rest of the] people,” and the meaning thereof is as follows: “Since the priest offers ‘the bread’ of your G-d, he shall be holy unto thee, for through him I sanctify all of you and make My Shechinah (Divine Glory) dwell in your Sanctuary.” It is possible by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala] that the above phrase refers back to the beginning of [this] verse,²⁶The beginning of the verse reads: Thou shalt sanctify him. The sense of the whole verse is thus: “Sanctify him, and you likewise will become holy, because it is I the Eternal Who sanctifies you, and when he [the priest] performs the rites of the offerings to be acceptable upon Mine altar, he thereby sanctifies you and brings you nearer unto Me” (Ricanti). a matter which has already been explained.²⁷Above, 1:9 (towards the end).

וקדשתו, "You shall sanctify him, etc." The Torah refrains from addressing the priests in the plural, i.e. as a group as it had done up to now. Yevamot 88 explains that the word וקדשתו is a warning to a priest who married a divorcee, or some other category of woman forbidden to him and who refuses to divorce her. The court is to administer corporal punishment to such a priest and otherwise afflict him until he agrees to divorce such a woman. The words כי את לחם אלוקיך הוא מקריב "for he offers the bread of your G'd" mean that as long as there are many other priests who are ritually able to perform the service in the Temple there is no need to apply corporal punishment to the dissident priest who refuses to divorce a wife he married in violation of Torah law. This explains why the Torah addressed the priest in the singular in this instance.

Against his will. You might ask: Above too in v. 6 it is written “They shall be holy,” [and Rashi explained], “Against their will”? The answer is that above it is saying that regarding the prohibition against become defiled by the dead, the beis din are obligated to separate him against his will. But here it is discussing an invalid woman, and therefore Rashi says here, “For if he does not wish to divorce, beat him...” Even though it already mentioned that the beis din [forces him to be] sanctified him [even] against his will, it seems that the verse says this again so that you do not say that only when he wants to defile himself does the beis din force him to not defile himself, since he is [still] pure. But if he married a woman forbidden to him, I might think that since he is already profaned and considered like a non-kohein, we should leave him thus [with her]. So it tells us that the beis din is commanded [to see to it] that he must specifically divorce her. (Divrei Dovid)

You shall make him holy. Three times holiness is mentioned in the verse: To [hint that the kohein should] speak first, that he should bless first, and we should give him the nice portion first.

קדוש יהיה לך, “he will be holy as far as you are concerned;” here too the adjective “holy” also applies to physically handicapped priests. (Sifra)

קדש יהיה לך HE SHALL BE HOLY UNTO THEE — holy unto thee: treat him with sanctity (as someone holy) — that he should be the first in all holy matters (e. g., the reading of the law) and that he should have the first right to recite the benedictions at a meal (המוציא and ברכת המזון) (Gittin 59b; cf. Rashi on Nedarim 62b).

קדוש יהיה לך, "he shall be holy unto you." This means that in order for him to be holy he has to be a priest unto you. In other words, it is up to you to see that he conducts himself in a holy manner. The emphasis on the words "for he is holy" stems from the premise that holiness is something that is acquired through one's free-willed effort, one does not achieve it because it is forced upon one. How then can the Torah command us to "force" holiness on the priest? This is why the Torah had to repeat: "for he is holy," that the holiness of the priest is of a different nature than that of ordinary Israelites (if and when they achieve it in some measure). We do not impose holiness on the priest. We are commanded to see to it that he does not lose or abandon the holiness which is his by birth. The Torah underlines this at the end of our verse with the words: "for I the Lord sanctify you." G'd allows His Presence to rest on the whole people only through the priests. When there is no priest there is no sacrificial service; when there is no sacrificial service there is no Sanctuary. When there is no Sanctuary G'd's Presence is not at home amongst us.

That is that He commanded us to honor the seed of Aharon, to adorn and glorify them, and that we should place them on a level of priority and precedence. And even if they decline, we should not listen to them - this is all aggrandizement of God, may He be exalted, since He took them and chose them for His service and to offer His sacrifices. And this is His, may He be exalted and may His name be blessed, saying, "And sanctify him, since he offers the bread of your God" (Leviticus 21:8)." And the explanation appears - "And sanctify him," in every matter of holiness: To start first, to bless first and to take a nice portion. And the language of the Sifrei is, "'And sanctify him' - against his will." This means to say this is a command that we are commanded, and it is not the priest's choice. And likewise did they say, "'They shall be holy to their God' (Leviticus 21:6) - against their will; 'and they shall be holy' - to include those with blemishes." This is so that you not say, "Since this one is not fit to serve the bread of His God, why should we give him the level of priority and honor?" Hence His saying, "and they shall be holy" - all of this honored seed, both unblemished and blemished. And the stipulations required by them, such that it will be fit to treat them with this practice, have already been explained in scattered places in the Gemara - in Chullin, in Shabbat, in Bekhorot and in the other [tractates]. (See Parashat Emor; Mishneh Torah, Vessels of the Sanctuary and Those who Serve Therein 4).