Kommentar zu Wajikra 8:2

קח את אהרן TAKE AARON — This section was spoken seven days before the final erection of the Tabernacle and so should have been placed before Exodus XL., but a transposition of this kind is quite customary in the Bible, because there is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the Torah.

TAKE AARON. “This section [concerning the seven days of consecration of the priests] was said seven days before the [final] erection of the Tabernacle [which took place on the first day of Nisan],¹⁶⁷During each of the seven days of consecration Moses set the Tabernacle up and then dismantled it. But on the eighth day [which was the first of Nisan] the final erection took place, and it was no longer dismantled until they journeyed from Mount Sinai. for there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah.”¹⁶⁸Since the final erection of the Tabernacle is already mentioned at the end of the Book of Exodus (40:17), and the section before us, according to Rashi, was said seven days before the final erection, we must perforce say that there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah. In other words, chronologically the proper place of this section here in the Book of Leviticus is before Exodus, Chapter 40! Ramban will strongly dissent to this interpretation of Rashi. Thus the language of Rashi. But why should we invert the words of the living G-d! Moreover, in the section of On the first day of the first month,¹⁶⁹Exodus 40:2. He commanded concerning the erection of the whole Tabernacle, the clothing of Aaron and his sons and the anointing of all of them, and there He narrated Moses’ deeds in the matter of the erection of the Tabernacle,¹⁷⁰Ibid., Verse 17-33. but did not mention anything concerning Aaron and his sons till here. And how could it be that He separated one subject into two sections, [as follows from Rashi], placing the later one [i.e., the final erection of the Tabernacle which took place on the first of Nisan, as recorded in the Book of Exodus], before the earlier one [i.e., the seven days of consecration that began on the twenty-third of Adar which He placed here in the Book of Leviticus]!
Rather, the correct interpretation is that we say that Moses was commanded about the erection of the Tabernacle on the twenty-third day of Adar, and he erected it [on that day]. As soon as the Tabernacle stood in its position G-d, blessed be He, Who sitteth upon the cherubim¹⁷¹I Samuel 4:4. called Moses and commanded him about the actions involved in the bringing of the offerings — all those sections from the beginning of the Book of Vayikra until here. [This was because] He wanted to teach him the actions and statutes of all the offerings before he offered up any of them, since among the initiation-offerings were the sin-offering, burnt-offering and peace-offering, and they could only know all their laws from these sections with which He preceded [to command him]. Afterwards He said to him, Take Aaron and his sons with him etc., to urge him on when the time came for performing what He had told him at first — And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto Me etc.,¹⁷²Exodus 29:1. adding here, And assemble thou all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting,¹⁷³Verse 3 here. so that it should be done in the presence of all of them, that they should know that G-d, blessed be He, chose Aaron and his sons [to minister unto Him].
By way of the proper interpretation of Scripture, Moses was commanded about the building of the Tabernacle prior to the incident of the golden calf [as is the order of these chapters in the Book of Exodus],¹⁷⁴The commandment concerning the building of the Tabernacle is in Seder Terumah (Chapters 25-27), and the story of the golden calf is in Seder Ki Thisa (Chapter 32). — This is unlike Rashi’s statement (ibid., 31:18) that the incident of the golden calf happened a considerable time before the command regarding the work of the Tabernacle. Hence Ramban preceded this discussion with the expression, “by way of the proper interpretation …” in order to indicate that his view is different than that stated elsewhere in Rashi’s commentary. and when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to him and promised him that He would cause His Divine Glory to dwell among them, Moses understood of his own accord that the command concerning the Tabernacle remained valid as before, and he then commanded Israel regarding it, as I have explained in the section of Vayakheil.¹⁷⁵Ibid., 35:1. After they had completed the work, he was then told the section of On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting,¹⁷⁶Ibid., 40:2. and he was then told, And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the Tent of Meeting etc.¹⁷⁷Ibid., Verse 12. Thus Moses knew that Aaron and his sons also remained in their esteemed and beloved position before G-d. Here He urged them again on the first day of the consecration, at the time of performing the command [And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons etc.]¹⁷⁷Ibid., Verse 12. Thus all the sections of the Torah are in chronological order, except that He placed before its sequence the verse, And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting,¹⁷⁸Ibid., Verse 34. which in the opinion of our Rabbis¹⁷⁹Torath Kohanim, at the beginning of Seder Shemini. was on the eighth day of the initiation, in order to arrange in order the whole matter of the erection of the Tabernacle, it being the customary way of Scripture in all places to finish a subject that it has started to explain.¹⁸⁰See Vol. I, p. 431, for a similar instance.

ואת פר החטאת ואת שני האילים, the bull as a sin offering is mentioned first, in accordance with the statement of our sages that whenever both a sin offering and a burnt offering have to be brought the sin offering is brought first. (Pessachim 59) The reason is simple; how could the person offering the burnt offering expect it to be welcome in the eyes of G’d if he still required atonement for a sin in order to be in G’d’s good graces? David paraphrases this in Psalms 40,7 עולה וחטאת לא שאלת, “You do not ask for burnt offerings and sin offerings.” This bull became a “sin offering” after having been anointed, a procedure similar to the anointing of the High Priest for his office. However, in this instance the blood of this sin offering was not brought into the sanctuary, seeing that the sin of Aaron and his sons had not been of such a severity as would require this additional procedure. Severe errors by the High Priest are the ones listed in Leviticus 4,3 or 4,13 by the Supreme Court. Such errors require that the blood of their sin offerings be brought into the sanctuary itself. We explained all this at the appropriate place in chapter 16. The reason why the Torah first deals with the burnt-offering before dealing with the consecration offerings, is that there was an element of sin, i.e. need for forgiveness in connection with the burnt offering, as is evident from the Torah’s concluding remark ונרצה לו לכפר עליו, “and it shall become acceptable for him to atone for him.” (1,4). The reason why the Torah first deals with the burnt-offering before dealing with the consecration offerings, is that there was an element of sin, i.e. need for forgiveness in connection with the burnt offering, as is evident from the Torah’s concluding remark ונרצה לו לכפר עליו, “and it shall become acceptable for him to atone for him.” (1,4) whereas in all other שלמים offerings the priest receives the right thigh, in the case of the mandatory שלמים offering of the Nazir at the end of his term, the priest received both the right thigh and the foreleg, זרוע. As to the ram of the consecration offering שלמים, even the thigh is offered on the altar. When a non priest offers a שלמים, generally speaking, he will donate the thigh together with the lower leg, to the priest who enters inside the holy domain out of bounds to the owner of the sacrifice. The Nazir donates also the יד, i.e. the foreleg, symbolically handing the priest the work of his hands, which until the termination of the period of his vow as Nazir had all been dedicated to G’d. On the other hand, the rites of the consecration offerings required that the offering itself was a preparatory offering enabling the priest henceforth to enter the holy domains of the Temple. To symbolise this the thigh was presented on the altar.

קח את אהרון, "take Aaron, etc." This paragraph was revealed to Moses before the Tabernacle was erected, and the reason it was not recorded up until now is to tell us that all the laws pertaining to the various sacrifices were revealed before the details of the consecration rites were revealed. Aaron and his sons had to become priests in order to perform any of the other services in the Tabernacle; this did not happen until Moses had taught him all the details about the various sacrifices and he had undertaken to perform every rite in accordance with what the Torah demanded. Only after he undertook to do this did G'd tell Moses to anoint him and his sons as priests. If this had not been the case, some Israelite might have decided to offer a sacrifice to G'd on the altar in front of the Tabernacle and he would not have known how to proceed.

קח את אהרן, “take Aaron, etc.” Rashi explains that the chapter introduced here was said by G’d to Moses seven days prior to the erection of the Tabernacle. Nachmanides takes issue with Rashi, asking why he takes such liberties with the Divine words of the Torah by editing their sequence. Furthermore, he (Rashi) claims that on that first day of Nissan G’d told Moses all about the erection of the Tabernacle, the inaugural consecration offerings, the garments of the priests and their having to be being clothed in them, etc., but reporting only about what Moses had done during the seven days following without mentioning anything about what Aaron and his sons had done until this moment. How would Rashi explain that in this instance an event has been reported in two entirely different contexts? When we encounter the Torah reporting matters not in chronological order, at least the same subject is not torn asunder by some parts being reported in one Book, in one context, and the other part in a different Book in another context? Therefore, the correct interpretation of what happened must be that Moses was indeed commanded concerning all of the foregoing on the occasion when he put up the Tabernacle for the first time, on the 23rd of Adar. After having succeeded in putting it up completely on that occasion, G’d called to him, and instructed him concerning all the various offerings which we have read about ever since the beginning of Parshat Vayikra, because He wanted Moses to be familiar with all of them before the time came to make this part of the daily routine and before he would offer up any of them during the days that he would act as High Priest pro temp. After all, the consecration offerings consisted of burnt offerings, sin-offerings, and peace offerings. The priests were not familiar with the laws governing all of the offerings until they had learned what has been written in the Torah from the beginning of Parshat Vayikra until here. After having made Moses familiar with these laws, G’d told Moses to take Aaron, (8,2) to “take Aaron, etc.,” and to exercise speed and dedication when performing these various procedures. G’d repeated, to a certain extent, what He had told Moses וזה אשר תעשה להם וגו', (Exodus 29,1) when he had been commanded about the inaugural consecration offerings of the priests. Moses conveyed these laws to the priests as and when their performance became imminent, after they had been informed that G’d had selected them to their new status as a status transmitted by heredity based on paternity. The only thing that has been added in our verse is that this consecration took place in full view of the entire congregation. (Verse 3) Thus far Nachmanides. We are able also to explain what Rashi has said by following the same approach. What Rashi meant when he referred to the seven days prior to the erection of the Tabernacle simply refers to the period before the Tabernacle had been erected permanently, i.e. was not taken apart again every evening. The “final” erection of the Tabernacle occurred only on the eighth day of the inaugural consecration rites, on the first day of Nissan. Days during which the Tabernacle was alternately put together and taken apart were not considered as “after the erecting of the Tabernacle.”

For there is no earlier. The erecting of the Mishkan was on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, and this was on the twenty-third of Adar. The explanation of (v. 35): “At the entrance of the Tent of Meeting you shall sit ... for seven days” is: In the place of the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, since for the entire seven days they would erect it and take it apart [and when it was taken apart there was no entrance’]. On Rosh Chodesh the Mishkan was erected and not taken apart, except during their travels.

קח את אהרן, “take Aaron, etc.” this paragraph was told to Moses on the twenty third day of Adar during the first year. (Compare Targum Yonatan on verse 4.)

קח את אהרן means win him over with fine words and draw him on (cf. Rashi on Exodus 14:6) (Sifra, Tzav, Mechilta d'Miluim 1 2)).

ואת כל העדה הקהל אל פתח אהל מועד, “and assemble the entire congregation to the entrance of the tent of Meeting!” Even though the Tabernacle had been erected on the first of Nissan, and this occurred on the 23rd of Adar prior to that, according to the opinion that during the first seven days of the Tabernacle it was erected and taken apart by Moses on a daily basis during those days, seeing that during these seven days the Tabernacle was in position during the day, it is quite appropriate for the Torah to refer to an entrance of the “Tent of Meeting.”

With words. This is not from an expression of לקיחה (taking); this has already been explained in Parshas Bereishis (20:15) and other places (Bereishis 43:15, and more).

ואת פר החטאת וגו'‏‎‎‎‎‎ AND THE BULLOCK FOR THE SIN OFFERING [AND THE TWO RAMS] etc. — These are the sacrifices mentioned in the section containing the command about the installation ceremony — in the Scriptural Reading beginning with the words, ואתה תצוה (see Exodus 29) and now, on the first day of the installation ceremony He again admonished him (Moses) regarding this when the time for performing the command arrived.