Commentaire sur Les Nombres 19:4

אל נכח פני אהל מועד [HE SHALL SPRINKLE THE BLOOD] TOWARDS THE FRONT SIDE OF THE APPOINTED TENT He stands at the East of Jerusalem and must direct his gaze straight towards the entrance of the Hechal at the time of sprinkling the blood (Sifrei Bamidbar 123:2; Yoma 68a).

He stands east of Jerusalem, etc. Rashi wants to answer [the following question]: Scripture writes that he must slaughter the cow outside the three camps, as previously explained (v. 3), and this verse that “Elozor [the kohein shall take] which implies that he sprinkles outside the three camps, so how can it be “directly facing the Tent of Meeting”? Rashi answers that it is not meant to be interpreted literally, that he was standing in front of the Tent of Meeting but rather he stood at a distance.

V. 4. מצותה מצות יד ולא מצות כלי :ולקח וגו׳ מדמה באצבעו, nicht in ein Gefäß, sondern in die Hand fing er Blut auf und sprengte dann davon mit dem Zeigefinger der rechten Hand in der Richtung zum Eingang des Heiligtums hin (ספרי). Das übrige Blut, das ja nach V. 5 mit verbrannt werden musste, fing er nach הל׳ פרה 3, 2ראב׳׳ד ( in ein Gefäß auf (vergl. . לוג שמן של מצורע Wajikra 14, 15). והזה על כל הזיה טבילה :והזה וגו׳ מדמה שבע פעמים, bei jeder הזיה hatte er aufs neue seinen Finger ins Blut zu tauchen und vor jeder טבילה den Finger von den Blutresten zu reinigen (Para 3, 9 und Sebachim 93 b; — vergl. Wajikra 4, 6).

Elozor the kohein. In the Sifrei the Sages derived that he must be in his kehunah; Rashi explained that this means he should be in his garments of kehunah. Rashi’s source is Zevachim 18a, in which the Gemora quotes from the verse: “The sons of Aharon the kohein” — in his kehunah: This teaches that a Kohein Gadol who wears the garments of a regular kohein and serves, the service is invalid. “The sons of Aharon the kohanim” — in their kehunah: This teaches that a regular kohein who wears the garments of a Kohein Gadol and serves, the service is invalid. This law is needed because the red heifer is not an offering, so one might have thought that the commandment of a kohein to deal with it is only like examining a person for tzora’as or the law of the decapitated calf. Therefore, the verse specifies that they must be in their kehunah garments.

ולקח אלעזר הכהן והזה, “Elazar the priest is to take from the blood and sprinkle;” at this stage it appeared as if the sprinkling of the blood was the most important part of the ritual, and required the deputy High Priest to perform it.

הזה ולא כיון כנגד הפתח פסולה ,כנגד פתח ההיכל .אל נכח פני אהל מועד (Para 4, 2). Sebachim 113 a lehrt die Halacha, dass, wie die הזיות so auch die vorangehende Handlung der שחיטה und die nachfolgende Handlung der שריפה in der Richtung des Eingangs zum Heiligtum geschehen müssen, und פרה ששחטה או שרפה שלא כנגד הפתח oder wie es in der Mischna heißt: גת .פסולה ,חוץ מגתה heißt nämlich die zum Verbrennen der פרה bereitete Vertiefung, diese "Kelter"-artige Vertiefung machte man auf dem Ölberge im Anblick der Fronte des Tempels.