Musar zu Schemot 28:1

I have already explained at length in Parshat Terumah how the Tabernacle was a re-enactment of the work of creation, i.e. a microcosm, and that it served as man's rehabilitation for the damage to G–d's universe brought about by Adam's sin. We have also explained that there was a parallel Tabernacle in the Celestial Regions. Aaron, as High Priest, symbolised the rehabilitation of man who had become distant from G–d as a result of Adam's sin. Concerning Aaron, the Torah writes: ואתה הקרב אליך את אהרון אחיך, "As for you (Moses), bring close Aaron your brother etc." (28,1) Here the Torah expresses a mystical dimension of the verse in Leviticus 16,17: וכל אדם לא יהיה באהל, "No man shall be inside the tent." This is a reference to original Adam. The universe was created under the aegis of חסד, loving-kindness, as we know from עולם חסד יבנה, "The universe was built with loving-kindness" (Psalms 89,3). The בנין של מעלה, "The structure corresponding to the physical universe in the Celestial Regions," contains the secret of the seven days of creation and commences with the emanation חסד down to the emanation מלכות, i.e. seven emanations. We find that in connection with Aaron, the Torah (Deut. 33,8) speaks about תומיך ואוריך לאיש חסידך, that Aaron represented the attribute of חסד. We have explained that the three groups of Israelites, i.e. the כהנים, לוים, ישראלים, corresponded to the three emanations חסד, גבורה, תפארת, respectively.

Rabbenu Bachyah comments on the repeated use of the word משכן in 38,21, that this is a hint that the Tabernacle in our world stood "opposite" the Sanctuary in the Celestial Regions. We know this also from Exodus 15,17: מכון לשבתך פעלת ה', "You have made a place for You to dwell in." The word מכון should be read as מכוון, "corresponding" to the Sanctuary in Heaven. This places the importance of the Tabernacle on earth on a par with the creation of the universe. In connection with the universe, Isaiah 40,22, speaks about G–d "who spread out the skies like gauze, stretched them out like a tent to dwell in," whereas in connection with the Tabernacle on earth the Torah says: "You shall make cloths of goats' hair for a tent over the Tabernacle." In connection with the creation of the universe the Psalmist (Psalms 104,2) speaks about נוטה שמים כיריעה, "He stretches the heavens like a tent-doth." During the process of creation we read (Genesis 1,9) "Let the waters concentrate in one place," whereas in connection with the construction of the Tabernacle the Torah instructs the making of a copper basin to contain all the water used in the Tabernacle by the priests. During the creation the Torah speaks about the creation of luminaries, whereas during the construction of the Tabernacle the making of a candlestick is commanded. The winged creatures mentioned during the process of creation are matched in the Tabernacle by the cherubs spreading their wings over the Holy Ark. Whereas the creation of Adam represented the highlight of the act of creation, the highlight of the construction of the Tabernacle was reached when G–d told Moses to appoint Aaron as High Priest (Exodus 28,1). The completion of the work of creation was announced by the words: ויכלו השמים והארץ, whereas the completion of the work on the Tabernacle was described by the Torah as ותכל כל עבודת משכן (39,32). Whereas the Torah reported that G–d blessed the seventh day (Genesis 2,3), Moses blessed the Tabernacle and sanctified it and all its utensils (39,43). The Torah reported G–d as resting on the seventh day, (Genesis 2,3), whereas in connection with the Tabernacle the Torah stated: "You shall perform your work during six days and the seventh day shall be holy" (35,2). After all this the Torah said: "Take from yourselves a donation" Thus far the comment of Rabbenu Bachyah.

The purpose of creation, is, as far as man is concerned, for the sake of the Torah, i.e. he is to perform the positive and negative commandments contained in Torah. He has to avoid transgressing negative commandments. His task vis-a-vis Torah can be summarised as לעבדה ולשמרה, just as Adam's task in Eden had been the same thing. All this is hinted at in Genesis 1,26, when G–d said: "נעשה אדם, instead of אעשה אדם." The word נעשה, alludes to the נעשה ונשמע the Jewish people proclaimed at Sinai prior to receiving the Torah. That moment in time was their finest hour, as we explained when discussing the appropriate verse. Once Adam had sinned, "Man's" rehabilitation did not commence until the giving of the Torah and the building of the Tabernacle. This is because the Tabernacle was built in a way that made it a universe in miniature, i.e. a microcosm. It reflected the universe, since it too had been created for the sake of Man. Adam had distanced himself and his place was now taken by Aaron, who had been brought close. G–d instructed Moses in Exodus 28,1: "ואתה הקרב אליך את אהרון." I have elaborated on this theme in Torat Kohanim i.e. the book of Leviticus. I also explained how the Tabernacle was the universe in miniature. Aaron is equivalent to "Adam" i.e. Man, for whose sake the universe had been created, so that he could receive the Torah. It is this which is hinted at at the beginning of the book of Numbers, אוהל מועד=ציור העולם. The Levites, who are close to Aaron, may be viewed as if they were branches of "Adam," and it is a fact that only Israel is described in the Torah as אדם.

Nonetheless, there was a partial rehabilitation through the construction of the Tabernacle called מקדש, Sanctuary, which served as an illustration of how the material and spiritual worlds are inter-related, as I have explained on פרשת תרומה and on פרשת ויקהל-פקודי. It was equivalent to a new act of creation, a rejuvenation of the universe as it were. In that rejuvenated universe Aaron took the place of Adam. Of Aaron the Torah writes specifically that he should be brought "close," i.e. that he should personify what Adam had personified prior to the latter's sin. (cf. Exodus 28,1 and the Midrash I have quoted in connection with that verse). In our physical universe Aaron's function as High Priest corresponds to the function of the High Priest in the Celestial Region who offers the souls of the righteous on an altar (Chagigah 12). We have illustrated this by quoting כי היום ה' נראה אליכם (Leviticus 9,4) and showing that the words נראה אליכם nhna comprise the same letters as אהרן , מיכאל. This is an allusion to Aaron's function here on earth being similar to that of the archangel Michael in Heaven. Aaron was to bring about the closest rapprochement possible between man and G–d Instead of offering the souls of the righteous, Aaron could only offer animal sacrifices i.e. from the domesticated beasts such as the cattle and the sheep. This was basically no different from what Adam himself had done after he had sinned, when he sacrificed the ox which is reputed to have had a single horn on its forehead (Shabbat 28). Noach offered animal sacrifices in expiation for a corrupt human society which had been punished. Abraham did likewise in order to obtain forgiveness for the sin of the generation of the Tower of Babel. It is written of him ויבן שם מזבח לה' ויקרא בשם ה', "He built there an altar for the Lord, and proclaimed the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12,8). Not only did Abraham offer animal sacrifices, but he even offered his only beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice.

We have now learned that the three parts of the Tabernacle correspond to the three parts of the universe concerning which King David said in Psalms 103,20: "Bless the Lord, O, His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding. Bless the Lord all His hosts, His servants who do His will; bless the Lord all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm." David's son Solomon also adopted his father's outlook when he alluded to this in three consecutive verses in Song of Songs 5,13-15. Three different parts of the human body form the subject of those verses, each one representing a different aspect of the universe and how man's composition reflects this division of the universe into three constituent parts. I (Rabbenu Bachyah) have explained this in detail when I discussed Jacob's dream of the ladder." Thus far the quotation from Rabbenu Bachyah.

קח מאתם …. ונתת אותם אל הלוים . Why are the Levites suddenly mentioned here again in 7,5,? At this point the Levites had not yet been chosen. They had only been chosen after the Israelites had been counted, and that count had not taken place until the first day of lyar. Only then had G–d said: "Do not count the tribe of Levi with the other tribes," and had said that they would be counted separately. The offerings that the Princes brought had been brought a month earlier, on the first day of Nissan. The fact is that G–d had already then given Moses an indication that in the future He would appoint the Levites to perform the Service involving the Tabernacle. This is similar to what we read in Parshat Tetzaveh, where the Torah speaks about Aaron lighting the candelabrum, the kind of oil to be used, etc., and the Torah says: "Bring close Aaron your brother and his sons from the midst of the children of Israel, etc." (Exodus 28,1). Rashi explains there that the appointment of Aaron and his sons, and his daily duties, etc., did not become a commandment until after the completion of the building of the tabernacle, though the Torah wrote it in this connection. Actually we find the commandment as such only at the end of Parshat Emor at the beginning of chapter 24. Nonetheless G–d had informed Moses much earlier of what was to become a commandment at a later stage, so that preparations could be made. We find the same thing regarding the appointment of the Levites.

The purpose of these garments was to be לשם ולתפארת, "for dignity and adornment," as stated by the Torah in Exodus 28,2. Genesis 2,28 reports: "Adam and Eve were nude; they did not experience a sense of shame." The serpent became jealous when it saw their nudity. This is the mystical dimension of all the forbidden sexual unions. The serpent had infected humans with a pollutant. The priests were warned by the Torah not to climb the altar by means of steps so as not to reveal even part of their bodies in the process (Exodus 20,23). It is a natural tendency of man to want to climb steps, to become G–d-like, the vision held out to Eve by the serpent in Genesis 3,4. This tendency became outlawed, i.e. ערוה. Adam later was מושך בערלתו tried to conceal the fact that he was circumcised, as stated by our sages in Sanhedrin 38b. The seven days of inauguration of the Tabernacle before Aaron took over in his capacity as High Priest were symbolic of the seven days of creation. On the eighth day Moses called upon Aaron; on that day he was crowned with ten crowns (Rashi on Leviticus 9,1). He was considered as if he had been created anew on that day. On that date Adam was resurrected, so to speak, because Aaron fulfilled the commandment of "sacrificing his own personality," i.e. אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן, performing an act which reversed the direction Adam had taken, when, instead of cementing his close relations with G–d, he had distanced himself from G–d by eating from the tree of knowledge and bringing death into the world. Nonetheless death henceforth would occur when someone, who was close to G–d (i.e. a priest) would fail to observe all the strictures on the performance of the service in the Tabernacle G–d had placed on the priests, just as death was the consequence of non-observance of G–d's law in the macrocosm, so now death would be the penalty for failing to observe G–d's law within the Tabernacle, the microcosm. At the creation G–d had warned with the words מות תמות; now two sons of Aaron died because they had approached G–d in a forbidden manner, as will be explained in due course.

At the end of פרשת צו the Torah mentions the sanctity of Aaron and his sons and how they were sanctified. The Torah (8,6) writes there: ויקרב משה את אהרון ואת בניו, "Moses offered Aaron and his sons (as a sacrifice)." The Torah had also commanded Moses to do just that in Exodus 28,1. The meaning of these verses is that Aaron as well as his sons themselves served as sacrifices, i.e. the mystical dimension of אדם, as we have explained this at the very beginning of the Book of Leviticus.