Commentaire sur Le Lévitique 24:3

לפרכת העדת [WITHOUT] THE PARTITION VAIL OF THE TESTIMONY — i. e. the Partition Vail which is before the Ark which on account of its contents (the Tablets, termed לחות העדות in Exodus 37:15) is called “Testimony”. Our Rabbis, however, explained it (the word העדות) as referring to the western light of the candlestick which was a testimony (עדות) to mankind that the Shechinah dwelt in Israel through the miracle wrought in connection with it; for he (the priest) put only as much oil into it as was the quantity put into the other lamps and yet he began the lighting of the other lamps in the evening by it and finished the work of cleaning with it [since it continued to burn miraculously until the following evening] (Sifra, Emor, Section 13 9; Shabbat 22b; Menachot 86b).

יערוך אותו אהרן, even though the procedure of lighting the Menorah, as well as the presentation of the daily incense offering was permitted to be carried out by any priest of the roster during future generations as per the sages’ tradition (Sifrey Behaalotcha 60), this procedure is linked to Aaron, seeing that all the time the Jews were in the desert the procedures involving the Temple service were on a “Day of Atonement” footing because the Torah linked the procedure to the line (17,2) “for I will manifest Myself above the kapporet by day and the column of fire will be visible at night,” a condition which ceased when the Jewish people settled in the land of Israel. It followed that procedures which took place inside the sanctuary would be the exclusive prerogative of the High Priest during those years. These procedures would be performed in the future by the High Priest on the day of Atonement.

The westernmost lamp. Gur Aryeh writes: Re’m asks: how does one reconcile the Rabbis’ exposition with the “Curtain of Testimony”? The curtain does not serve as a curtain for the westernmost lamp, which [according to the Rabbis] is called a testimony! The answer is as follows: The curtain is called the “Curtain of Testimony” since it was next to the ark that holds the Tablets of Testimony which are a testimony between the Holy One and Yisroel. However, the Rabbis are explaining why the Torah specifically writes the “Curtain of Testimony” here [where the Torah speaks of the menorah]. They explain that only through the westernmost lamp from which the kohein begins and where he ends, is it evident that the curtain is a “Curtain of Testimony.” The “Tablets of Testimony” alone are no proof to this testimony, since they do not demonstrate that the Divine Presence still dwells in the midst of Yisroel, as perhaps it no longer dwells in Yisroel. Thus, we need the westernmost lamp to demonstrate that the curtain is a “Curtain of Testimony” and that the Tablets are a testimony between the Holy One and Yisroel that the Divine Presence still dwells in the midst of Yisroel. [Alternatively], even if you say that the word “testimony” here refers to the westernmost lamp there is no difficulty, because the Torah says that the menorah should be next to the curtain as it says, “outside of the Curtain of Testimony,” from which Toras Kohanim derives that the menorah must be closer to the curtain than it is to the entrance. Therefore, since the menorah is at the curtain and close to the curtain, it is appropriate to call the curtain the “Curtain of Testimony” because they are together.