Kommentar zu Wajikra 9:4

כי היום ה' נראה אליכם FOR TODAY THE LORD WILL APPEAR UNTO YOU to make His Shechinah rest upon your handiwork; on this account these sacrifices come (are to be brought) as an obligation for this day (cf. Sifra, Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 2 4).

כי היום ה' נראה, and the fire will emerge from heaven to consume the sacrifices on the altar.

כי היום ה' נראה אליכם, it had already become manifest as an appreciation of their handiwork when we read that the Presence (glory) of the Lord filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40,34). It is therefore no more than appropriate that you express your appreciation of this by this sacrifice.

ושור ואיל לשלמים, “and an ox and a ram as peace-offering.” Our sages in Torat Kohanim Sifra Shemini 4 comment on this: “why did the Israelites have to bring two animals, i.e. a calf as well as a fully grown bull?” The answer is that the Torah had described what came out of the crucible into which Aaron threw the gold both as “calf” and as “bull,” on separate occasions. In Exodus 32,8 it was described as a calf, whereas in Psalms 106,20 it was described as a bull when David said: “they exchanged their glory for the image of a bull that feeds on grass.” It was appropriate then that the bull would atone for a deed that was as animal-like as that of a bull, whereas the calf was to expiate for a deed comparable to that of a calf. The proof that G’d was willing to relate to the people again with His goodwill is found in the words לזבוח לפני ה' “to slaughter in the presence of the Lord,” meaning that the (symbol of) sin the people were afraid of had already been slaughtered in the presence of the Lord. We would have expected the Torah to write that these animals be slaughtered as “peace-offerings,” rather than as “in the presence of the Lord.” Moreover, atonement is accomplished through the sprinkling of blood not through slaughtering, a merely preparatory act. According to Torat Kohanim then these words indicated that the very act of slaughtering these animals already resulted in atonement for the people on that occasion.

To rest His Shechinoh... As it is written (v. 24): “A fire came forth ... and consumed...” This is “on the work of your hands,” because this was [a demonstration of] extra affection in that the offerings were accepted. However, [the resting of His Shechinoh was] not [revealed] in that which it is written (v. 23): “and the glory of Adonoy appeared to the entire people.” This is because a number of times the glory of Hashem appeared when they were not commanded to bring offerings. Furthermore, sometimes the glory of Hashem appeared to them even for disaster (Nachalas Yaakov).

ומנחה בלולה בשמן, “and a gift with oil mixed in;” the same applied to frankincense, as we had already learned in Parshat Vayikra, chapter 2, a standard procedure with all such gift offerings. We have also learned this in the Talmud tractate Menachot folio 59. All of these gift offerings consisted of unleavened dough, including this one.

כי היום ה' נראה אליכם, “for this day the Lord has appeared to you.” Actually Moses should have said “nireh” with the vowel segol under the letter aleph instead of the vowel kametz that we find here. [Seeing that the word refers to Hashem, who is certainly masculine]. The variation in the regular use of the vowel may be an allusion to the feminine attribute of Justice which would also manifest itself on that day killing Nadav and Avihu. We find something parallel to this in Psalms 130,3 אם עונות תשמר י-ה אדוני, מי יעמוד?, “if You G’d were to keep account of sins, O G’d, who will survive?” The name used for G’d is the attribute of Justice. In our chapter we encounter a verse (23) describing the manifestation of G’d which is described as כבוד ה', an attribute below that of the tetragram without moderating adjective.

כי היום ה׳ נראה אליכם, “for today the Lord will appear to you.” This is why it is appropriate to appear before him with a variety of offerings, including samples of all the categories of offerings. (B’chor shor).

Because today Ad-nai will appear to you. You already know that the Names are sometimes in the masculine and sometimes in the feminine. And so "if You [fem] do this to me" (Numbers 11:15). And they said: feminine and masculine are hints to the characteristic of compassion and the characteristic of judgment. And since the characteristic of judgment receives its emanation [atzilut] from the characteristic of compassion, therefore they called male this compassion, and female this judgment. And she is the shepherdess of the Song of Songs, and the hint - behold, the characteristic of judgment touched Nadav and Avihu, as we explain regarding the decree of El. This is why it is written after "and the Glory/Honor of God appeared to them". There are those who explain this through 'Oh Ad-nai, may You appoint peace for us' (Isaiah 26:12) and the end of the verse proves it: 'You have also requited all our misdeeds' it is a hint to the characteristic of judgment, that separated from sexual transgressions, and so too "if You count transgressions, Yah" (Psalms 130:3), the feminine is hidden, and you know that the Name Yah is a hint to the Shechinah. Our sages said regarding this verse that David said in front of the Holy One of Blessing: Master of the Universe! You give me to an angel that does not show favor! If you keep count of sins, Yah, Ad-nai, who can stand?!' And you know that this characteristic is called angel, and this is what they said regarding the fiery sword that revolves 'some times men, sometimes women' (see Bereshit Rabbah 21:9) therefore our sages z"l called the expression 'shechinah' as feminine. It would be appropriate for the Shechinah to make ten travels 'the Shechinah travel, went up' (Rosh Hashanah 31a) and in the Midrash Mishlei the Shechinah fell in front of the Holy One of Blessing. And the secret of this issue is that even when between the Names there is a distinction between the characteristics of judgment and of compassion, they are all combined and included on each other, as our sages said in the Sefer HaZohar (Zohar 3:30b) There is no crown of all the crowns of the King that does not include both good and evil, and because of that the characteristic of judgment expands onto compassion, or the opposite, because if they were not included on each other it would be impossible for them to switch places, until the first one is cancelled, and then a new creation would be created. This is the knowledge of the masters of Kabbalah and it is right, and I already wrote in a different issue regarding the secret of upsiding connected to Sdom.