Comentario sobre Levítico 23:18

על הלחם means, on account of the bread — as an obligation connected with the bread (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 13 4; Menachot 45b).

חמץ תאפינה, “they shall be baked leavened.” Nachmanides, quoting Jeremiah 5,24 חוקות קציר ישמור לנו, “He who keeps for our benefit the laws of the periods appointed for the harvest,” sees in the offering a form of thanksgiving offering. Every thanksgiving offering contained 10 out of 40 loaves that were leavened. Nachmanides speculates that the normal prohibition to include anything leavened in our offerings may be related to leavening being viewed as outgrowths of spiritually negative influences, “creatures” or phenomena which have their origin in demonic forces, Satan. As such they are reminders of the attribute of Justice, the last thing we want to remind Hashem of when offering Him our sacrifices.

אשה ריח ניחוח לה', “a fire-offering, of sweet-smelling fragrance to the Lord.” The Torah adds that a male goat is to be offered as a sin-offering (verse 19). We need to understand why in addition to the animals described as אשה ריח ניחוח there was also a need for a sin-offering. This is especially important as in Numbers 28,26 where the offerings of all the festivals are listed there is no mention made of this male goat as a sin-offering in connection with the offerings listed as being brought on Shavuot. The sacrifice mentioned in Parshat Pinchas was addressed directly to the highest attribute of G’d, to Hashem, whereas the sacrifices mentioned here were addressed in the first instance to the Shechinah, (and to Hashem as the ultimate address). You will find that in Pinchas the word לה' is mentioned prior to the details of the offering being given, whereas here the Torah uses the reverse procedure, mentioning the word only after most of the animals have been mentioned. Here the Torah wished to include an allusion to an historical event which occurred on the first Shavuot, i.e. the revelation at Mount Sinai. At that time the Israelites experienced this revelation as a manifestation of the mountain burning, etc., i.e. as “fire.” Hence the emphasis here on the words אשה לריח ניחוח לה' as a reminder of that fiery experience. Also, in connection with the inauguration of the Tabernacle the Israelites experienced a vision of the כבוד ה', (Exodus 40, 34-35 where this is mentioned twice) similar to an experience they had seen at the revelation. We find that the prophet Isaiah refers to a manifestation of such glory, תפארת, in (Isaiah 64,10) in connection with the Temple. He calls it תפארת. Whenever the word עצרת occurs it refers to the manifestation of the Shechinah. The Temple was a permanent manifestation of this attribute. This concept is anchored in the Torah’s instruction that three times a year יראה כל זכורך, “all of your males shall be seen in the presence of the Lord, etc.” (Exodus 23,17), an allusion to the fact that there is an attribute of the Lord, i.e. the כבוד, also known as Shechinah, before whom these males are to appear. On the other hand, on the occasion of the day we know as שמיני העצרת, the day following the Sukkot festival, no mention is made of this אשה, fire-offering; the reason is that on that occasion no pilgrimage occurred, i.e. the Israelites did not separately fulfill the commandment of appearing before the Lord at the Temple.