Comentario sobre Exodo 29:1

לקח This is the same as קח (the imperative, “Take thou” and must not be regarded as the infinitive). There are two forms of the root: one is קח and the other לקח, both having the same meaning.

וזה הרבר אשר תעשה, "And this is the thing you are to do for them, etc." I have explained in connection with 27,20 that Moses' part in the construction of the Tabernacle was merely that he should instruct the artisans who would perform the work, whereas he personally was not to weave, embroider, or perform any of the various activities required. This rule was broken in the paragraph commencing here, where Moses is instructed to personally perform sacrificial rites as part of conferring the priesthood on Aaron and his sons. This is why the Torah commences the chapter with the words: וזה הדבר, "and this is the thing, etc." He was to offer animal sacrifices for seven days in a row. The word וזה, "and this," is justified seeing Moses had already been commanded to clothe the priests and to anoint them, i.e. physical activities, not just verbal instructions. The Torah therefore says: "You are also to perform this additional task with your hands, etc." If the Torah had not written תעשה, i.e. "you will do it," but had only written: "take one young bullock, etc.," we would have been justified in assuming that Moses was merely to issue a directive to Aaron or his sons to do this. Seeing there was a chance that we would interpret the instruction for Moses to act as priest and offer sacrifices as something applicable only to the inaugural sacrifices recorded here and not to any of the regular public offerings to be offered on those days, the Torah repeats by saying וזה אשר תעשה…כבשים בני שנה in verse 38 of this chapter. The repetition of this phrase indicates that Moses would officiate as priest also for those sacrifices. The Torah repeated the phrase "and this is what you shall do on the altar" (verse 38), so that we should not assume that Moses would be allowed to offer the daily public offerings also after the expiry of the seven inaugural days.

וזה הדבר אשר תעשה להם, “This is the matter that you shall do for them:” Actually, we would have expected the Torah to write: זה אשר תעשה להם, just as the Torah wrote in verse 38: וזה אשר תעשה על המזבח, where the word הדבר does not appear. The reason the word הדבר has been added in our verse is that seeing this paragraph introduces the whole subject of sacrificial offerings and there will be times when such offerings cannot be brought due to the absence of the Temple, the substitute of prayer, i.e. “words” or דבר, is a hint of such future developments. This is what Hoseah 14,3 is all about when he said קחו עמכם דברים ועבדו את ה', “take with you words and serve the Lord.” Another verse conveying a similar message is ונשלמה פרים שפתינו, “and let us substitute with our lips for bulls.”

They are of two different גִזְרוֹת . . . I.e., two different word roots. One is קיחה and the other is לקיחה .

Kap. 29. V. 1. וזה הדבר. Wie דבר seiner Grundbedeutung zufolge das Aneinanderreihen einzelner Teile zu einem Ganzen, und daher Begriff. Wort, Rede bedeutet, so bedeutet es auch wie hier einen einheitlichen, aus mehreren einzelnen zusammengehörigen Handlungen bestehenden Vorgang.

'לקח פר אחד וגו, “take one young bullock, etc.” take one ram on its left side and one ram on its right side and place the bullock in the middle. Why was Moses commanded to take these three animals? They were to symbolise the three founding fathers of the Jewish nation. The bullock symbolised Avraham, who had been described as “running to the stables containing the cattle,” when he was about to prepare a meal for the three angels, one of whom predicted the birth of Yitzchok (Genesis18,7). The two rams represented Yitzchok and Yaakov. The unleavened breads in verse 23 accompanying these sacrifices symbolised Hagar and Sarah. Avraham had told Sarah to hurry and to prepare bread at the time. According to Rav Hunna son of Abba, one measure of wheat would be taken to be milled, and by the time the owner came home he found that he had one measure of fine flour and one measure of average quality of flour and one measure of coarse grain. He now brought only a little more than one measure of fine flour. The purpose of the libations accompanying the animal sacrifices was to ensure that the grape harvest would enjoy G–d’s blessing. The Talmud relates the following story. A certain Torah student left Jerusalem, and he was recognised as such by people whom he encountered (who apparently did not have a Torah scholar living in their town) They offered him three major gold coins in order for him to change his place of residence and to take up residence in their town. He declined the money and the offer accompanying it. He explained that he owned a vineyard that was more valuable than all the gold that they could offer him, as it yielded him more than six hundred barrels of wine annually which he could sell at a good price. He recounted that he had an orchard which was similarly generous in the yield of fruit it provided him with. He attributed his good fortune to his meticulously observing the commandment of bringing the first ripe fruit of each category to the Temple in Jerusalem each year, as an offering to G–d (via the priest) Another story is related about a certain Yonathan son of Elazar, who witnessed while sitting under his fig-tree when the dew descended on that tree as a result of which he harvested great amounts of honey so much so that that when the wind mixed it with earth a female goat materialised and gave an abundance of milk. This Yonathan told his students that he wanted to show them a phenomenon which reflected the world to come in miniature. The moment he had finished saying this to his students all the aforementioned examples of material wealth on this earth vanished, in accordance with the prophet Chagai 1,6 who had said: זרעתם הרבה והבא מעט, אכול ולא לשבעה, שתו ואין לשכרה, לבוש ולא לחום לו, “you have sown much and brought in little; you eat without being satisfied; you drink without getting your fill; you clothe yourselves without getting warm.” [Yonathan then realised that he had erred greatly when boasting about material blessings he had enjoyed, and using these as a reason why not moving to a town that did not have a resident Torah scholar. Ed.] We find a similar message in Jeremiah 8,13. These blessings were all denied the Jewish people when they saw in them rewards for fulfillment of certain commandments in the Torah. We are not to observe the Torah for such a reward, although fulfillment of the commandments is accompanied by a certain amount of material blessings encouraging us to continue to do so. Our author quotes more sayings of the prophets on this subject, (Chabakuk 3,17; Ezekiel 36,8;) Tanchuma 13 on our portion.

וזה הדבר אשר תעשה להם לקדש אותם, “and this is the thing you are to do for them in order to sanctify them;” after all the construction work on the Tabernacle had been completed as well as the vestments for the priests, the Torah now instructs the priests about their laws of ritual purity, and under what conditions they may partake of the sacrificial sacrifices, where and when these may be consumed, and by whom, in the case of household members of the priests. Rules about ritual baths in order to be ritually pure are also discussed.

פר אחד ONE BULLOCK — to atone for the incident of worshipping the golden calf which is of the bullock species (cf. Sifra on Leviticus 9:2).

לקח פר אחד בן-בקר ואילים שנים, “take one young bull and two rams, etc.” these three animals are symbolic of the three patriarchs of the world; Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.
A Midrashic approach: The word פר refers to Aaron whereas the words “two rams” refer to his surviving sons Eleazar and Ittamar. The Torah here forecast in an oblique way that Nadav and Avihu would not perform priestly functions.

To atone for the act of the calf. . . Rashi is answering the question: Why is a bull taken, and not another type of animal? [Rashi answers as he does] because “bull” means the same as “calf” whenever it is not written “less than a year old” [for the calf. Question: How can a bull be used for this purpose?] An accuser cannot become a defender. Re”m answers: That rule applies only to service done inside [the ohel moed], not to service done outside [in its courtyard]. Later, in parshas Tzav, I will explain this further, God willing.

According to Yuma 4 the word הדבר in our verse may mean that everything connected with the instructions about the inaugural offerings is mandatory. According to the opinion offered there that only those details which are mandatory for the offerings which are offered throughout the generations are also mandatory for the inaugural offerings, the word הדבר tells us that the detail mentioned here is mandatory but not every other detail.

לקדש .לכהן — לקדש: sie für ihren einen Beruf bereitstellen, es schließt dies immer ein Absondern von Bisherigem und Anderartigem in sich. Es tritt dabei das Negative immer in den Vordergrund. לכהן spricht voll den Begriff des neuen Berufes aus. — פר אחד בן בקר. Aus ת׳׳כ zu Wajikra 4, 3 ist ersichtlich, dass sich jedoch Beifügung בן בקר die Jugend des Tieres bezeichnet. Es soll bereits פר sein, sich jedoch noch im ersten Stadium befinden, es soll noch an seinen Ursprung erinnern. Im ersten und zweiten Jahre heißt es: עגל, mit dem Eintritt des dritten heißt es פר, und heißt im dritten Jahre noch פר בן בקר (siehe zu Wajikra 4, 3 u. 9, 2; Rosch Haschana 10 a). איל heißt das Schaf, sobald es dreißig Tage im zweiten Jahre zurückgelegt hat. Am dreißigsten Tage heißt es פלגס, ein Mittelstand, in welchem es den Charakter כבש nicht mehr hat und den des איל noch nicht erlangt hat. Die beiden Widder haben verschiedene Bestimmung, der eine ist zum עולה, der andere zu שלמים bestimmt. Aaron und seine Söhne traten daher zusammen in einem Opfertier auf, zusammen als פר und zusammen als איל; es ergibt sich hieraus, dass ein jedes dieser Opfertiere sie nicht als Individuum, sondern als eine Gesamtheit, als Priesterstamm, als כהונה repräsentiert. Es wird aber hier das Priestertum in seiner doppelten Beziehung zum Bewusstsein gebracht: a. in seiner Gott dienenden Wirksamkeit, in seinem Amte, als פר: es ist Mitarbeiter in Bestellung des Gottesackers. Der jüdische Gottesacker ist aber nicht der Tod, sondern das Leben. So spricht der Prophet: לא נביא אנכי איש עבד ארמה אנכי כי אדם הקנני מנעורי (Secharja 13, 5), nicht ein Prophet bin ich, ein Besteller des Menschheitsbodens bin ich, denn dem Menschen hat er mich von meiner Jugend an zu eigen gegeben; b. als der Gesamtheit vorangehend, wegweisend, somit in seiner bevorzugten Stellung, in seiner Würde, als איל: es ist der in Kraft und Einfluss der Gottesherde voranschreitende Widder. (Siehe zu Bereschit 15, 9). Für das künftige Amt, al5 פר בן בקר, hat der כהן zuerst im חטאת den Ernst zu geloben, der sich jederzeit auf der Höhe seines Berufes hält, und sich vor leichtsinnigem Fehltritt hütet. (Siehe zu Kap. 27. 8). Die Würde, als איל, ist ihm in zwiefacher Beziehung zum Bewusstsein zu bringen: 1) in seinem voranleuchtenden Einfluss aufs Volk. In dieser Beziehung hat er im עולה zu geloben, mustergültig als איל zur immer größeren Vollkommenheit seines Wesens hinanzustreben und als Muster der Hingebung an die Verwirklichung alles Göttlichen auf Erden voranzuleuchten (siehe das.); 2) in den für diesen Einfluß ihm eingeräumten Vorzügen. Dieser Vorzüge soll er froh und teilhaftig werden, er soll sich als איל in שלמים zum Selbstgenuss kommen, allein unter den bei allen שלמים gelehrten Bedingungen, die bei diesem als איל מלואים spezifisch hervortreten, und die wir unten im Einzelnen näher betrachten. Wir merken für jetzt nur an: פר החטאת hat das Amt, איל העולה die Würde in ihrem Einfluss, איל מלואים die Würde in ihren Vorzügen im Auge.

תעשה להם, “you shall do for them;” in this instance the plural mode is used as these rules apply to Aaron and his sons. On this day of consecration they were all treated as if of the same rank.

לקח פר אחד בן בקר, "take one young bullock, etc." Perhaps the Torah implied that either Moses or Aaron could pay for the bullock in question; there was nothing mandatory about this aspect of the inaugural sacrifices.