פירוש על ויקרא 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.

מחוץ לפרוכת העדות באהל מועד, “outside of the curtain of testimony of the tent of Meeting.” The wording is to teach that the position of the Menorah inside the Sanctuary was relatively closer to the dividing curtain than to the entrance of the Sanctuary.

יערך אתו אהרן מערב עד בקר AARON SHALL SET IT IN ORDER FROM EVENING UNTO MORNING — The meaning is not that he shall occupy himself the whole night with setting the lights in order, but he shall arrange it in such a manner (lit., by such an arrangement) that will prove adequate for the length of the whole night. Our Rabbis by experiment (cf. Menachot 89a) fixed the quantity at a half log oil for each lamp, ascertaining that this would suffice also in the long nights of the Teveth quarter; and this quantity therefore became to them the fixed measure [for all the seasons of the year].

And with it he would end. I.e., when he began lighting the lamps in the evening, he would first light the westernmost lamp. And when he came to set up the lamps in the morning he would set them all up and the westernmost lamp would still be burning; he would take out the burning wicks out and set [them] up. However, this lamp he only set up in the evening and he would put into it the same amount of oil as the other lamps. So explains Rashi in Perek Bameh Madlikin (Shabbos 22b).

יערוך אותו, “he is to arrange it.” (the olive oil)