פירוש על שמות 29:7

ומשחת אתו AND THOU SHALT ANOINT HIM — This anointing also, was in the form of a X: he put a drop of oil on his head and another drop between his eyebrows and joined them with his finger into this shape (Keritot 5b).

THEN SHALT THOU TAKE THE ANOINTING OIL, AND POUR IT UPON HIS HEAD. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that this was before the setting of the mitre upon his head [mentioned in the preceding verse], for it is upon the head itself that Moses was to pour the oil. But this does not appear to me to be correct. For at the actual installation also, Scripture says, And he set the mitre upon his head etc.,¹⁷⁵Leviticus 8:9. and afterwards it says, And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the Tabernacle,¹⁷⁶Ibid., Verse 10. and subsequently it states, And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head.¹⁷⁷Ibid., Verse 12. But the correct interpretation is that he wound [the mitznepheth] around and around the head, but left the middle of the head uncovered, and it was on that place that he poured the oil. But if the anointing was upon the entire head as Rashi said,¹⁷⁸Rashi here in Verse 7: “This anointing was in the form of an X. He put a drop of oil on his head and another drop between his eyebrows and joined them with his finger.” In that case he could not have put the drop of oil on top of the head, for the mitre would then intervene between it and the drop of oil between his eyebrows. Ramban concludes that according to this comment of Rashi we must say, that the pouring of the oil etc. then [we must say] that the pouring of the oil was upon the place where the phylacteries lay, which was left uncovered, and from there he joined [the oil with his finger to the drop between his eyebrows] in the form of an X.

ויצקת על ראשו ומשחת אוהו, "and pour it upon his head and anoint him." The verse means that the oil had to be poured on his head. The same applied to the anointing of Aaron's sons. Aaron and his sons each required a separate pouring of oil upon their heads seeing that the verse referred to both of them in the same way as we know from 28,41. This is further reinforced by the wording in 40,15 where the Torah said: "you will anoint them just as you have anointed their father. Torat Kohanim on Parshat Tzav explains the meaning of that verse in the same spirit.

ולקחת את שמן המשחה ויצקת על ראשו, “you will take hold of the oil for anointing and pour it over his head.” Ibn Ezra wrote that this anointing took place before Aaron wore his turban, מצנפת, seeing the oil was poured directly on his head. Nachmanides disagrees, seeing that even when the Torah reports the carrying out of these instruction in Leviticus 8,9 the Torah writes (concerning Moses) וישם את המצנפת על ראשו, “he placed the turban on his (Aaron’s) head.” Immediately following this, the Torah writes וישם על המצנפת אל מול פניו את ציץ הזהב, נזר הקודש, “he placed on the turban toward his face, the golden headband, a crown as symbol of sanctity, etc.” Only after this description of the actual procedure, does he Torah go on in verse 12, to describe the pouring of the oil of anointing on the head of Aaron. We must assume that the turban did not cover the entire surface of Aaron’s head, but that this turban was constructed in such a manner that it left a substantial area of Aaron’s head uncovered, so that the oil of anointing could be poured on even while he was wearing the turban. This corresponds to Rashi’s understanding of the procedure. According to Rashi, the oil was poured on the area where the phylacteries are placed on the head. Naturally, that area of the head was left uncovered.

He puts oil on his head. . . I.e., a drop of oil.

V. 7. משה .המשחה: aus dem Wasser ziehen (מצה mit צ des Widerstandes: aussaugen), nמש: mit dem sich nicht mit Wasser vermischenden Stoffe, mit Öl, bestreichen, salben: allgemeines Symbol des Ausscheidens aus Gemeinem. Der oder das Gesalbte ist ferner nicht mit Gemeinem zu mischen. Kerithot 5 b lehrt, dass die Salbung des Hohepriesters in der Form eines כי יונית, eines griechischen Chi geschah. Die Stelle Kelim 20. 7:מחצלת שעשה לה קנים לארכה טהורה וחכמים אומרים עד שיעשה כמין כי spricht dafür, dass die in Raschi, Kerithot daselbst gegebene Figur Ω nicht die richtige sei, sondern es in der Tat zwei sich einander schneidende Linien waren, ganz der bekannten Form des griechischen Buchstabens X entsprechend. Es scheint damit die Allseitigkeit angedeutet zu sein, in welcher sich die Wirkung der Salbung nach allen Richtungen verbreiten soll. Auch das Bestreichen der Mazzot mit Öl, V. 2, geschah in dieser Form.

ויצקת על ראשו, “you will pour it unto his head; (the oil of anointing);” seeing that he was the High Priest, he was the only one to be anointed. [In verse 19 we will read that when performing sacrificial service the right earlobes and right thumb of Aaron’s sons were also anointed with this oil. Ed.]