Chasidut su Levitico 9:23
וַיָּבֹ֨א מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְאַהֲרֹן֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וַיֵּ֣צְא֔וּ וַֽיְבָרֲכ֖וּ אֶת־הָעָ֑ם וַיֵּרָ֥א כְבוֹד־יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־כָּל־הָעָֽם׃
E Mosè e Aaronne andarono nella tenda dell'incontro, uscirono e benedissero il popolo; e la gloria dell'Eterno apparve a tutto il popolo.
Kedushat Levi
Let us now explore what caused the scholars who claimed that these two sons of Aaron were drunk on the occasion mentioned in Leviticus 10,1-3, to arrive at that conclusion.. At first glance one shudders how these scholars could accuse these אצילי בני ישראל, “these noble souls” amongst the Israelites of having been guilty of such conduct when the Torah had not spelled it out! ? Had not the Torah in Leviticus 10,8-11 spelled out that entry into the Tabernacle in a state of inebriety is a capital sin? How could these sons of Aaron have ignored this?
I believe we can find the answer to this question by examining the text in Leviticus 10 more closely.
The words: זה הדבר אשר צוה ה' לעשות וירא אליכם כבוד ה', “this is the thing that you must do in order that the glory of Hashem will appear to you,” in that paragraph appear to be superfluous, or at least not connected to the subject under discussion. (Leviticus 9,6)
Rashi, in commenting on Leviticus 9,23 near the end of this paragraph where the Torah writes: ויצאו ויברכו את העם, “they came out (Moses and Aaron from the Tabernacle) and blessed the people,” writes that during the seven preceding days of the consecration rites for the Tabernacle the Shechinah had not manifested itself so that the people had complained why they had gone to such lengths to build the Tabernacle if after all this G’d had not seen fit to take up residence among them. Moses told them what they must do in order to merit that the Shechinah would manifest itself amongst them again as proof that the sin of the golden calf had been forgiven. He explained that seeing that his brother Aaron, who was the High Priest was more worthy than he, until Aaron had presented sacrifices in the Tabernacle, G’d’s glory would not become manifest. This is why in verse 24 we are told that Aaron performed his duties as a result of which the Shechinah manifested itself in that heavenly fire consumed the portions of the sacrifices on the altar. There does not appear to be an allusion to all this in the text of the Torah, so where did Rashi take his exegesis from?
When man serves his Creator he experiences a feeling of great pleasure as he is aware that he thereby provides pleasure for his Creator. This is the allegorical meaning of Proverbs 10,1 בן חכם ישמח אב, “that an intelligent son provides pleasure for his father.” This pleasure or joy is not limited to one domain in the universe but spreads throughout the universe. A call goes out in all parts of the universe to honour the person who, through his devoted service to his Creator, has provided so much pleasure in the whole universe. There is no greater pleasure than this.
However, seeing that we are aware of this, this reduces our service to the Lord to one that is tied to the expectation of reward. Maimonides in his hilchot teshuvah chapter 10 goes so far as calling such service of G’d as being שלא לשמה, “keeping Torah commandments for ulterior motives.” The principal purpose of pure service of the Lord is that it is performed in recognition of the greatness of the Creator Who provides all forms of life in this universe and Who has endowed us with souls that contain Divine qualities.
We may well ask why no mention is made in the Torah of any reward for performance of the Torah’s commandments that accrues to the doer in the world beyond death of the body. Reward in the עולם הבא, the world to come, while discussed at length by our sages, is not dealt with in the written Torah at all. [The conclusion of the author’s paragraph is missing.]
I believe we can find the answer to this question by examining the text in Leviticus 10 more closely.
The words: זה הדבר אשר צוה ה' לעשות וירא אליכם כבוד ה', “this is the thing that you must do in order that the glory of Hashem will appear to you,” in that paragraph appear to be superfluous, or at least not connected to the subject under discussion. (Leviticus 9,6)
Rashi, in commenting on Leviticus 9,23 near the end of this paragraph where the Torah writes: ויצאו ויברכו את העם, “they came out (Moses and Aaron from the Tabernacle) and blessed the people,” writes that during the seven preceding days of the consecration rites for the Tabernacle the Shechinah had not manifested itself so that the people had complained why they had gone to such lengths to build the Tabernacle if after all this G’d had not seen fit to take up residence among them. Moses told them what they must do in order to merit that the Shechinah would manifest itself amongst them again as proof that the sin of the golden calf had been forgiven. He explained that seeing that his brother Aaron, who was the High Priest was more worthy than he, until Aaron had presented sacrifices in the Tabernacle, G’d’s glory would not become manifest. This is why in verse 24 we are told that Aaron performed his duties as a result of which the Shechinah manifested itself in that heavenly fire consumed the portions of the sacrifices on the altar. There does not appear to be an allusion to all this in the text of the Torah, so where did Rashi take his exegesis from?
When man serves his Creator he experiences a feeling of great pleasure as he is aware that he thereby provides pleasure for his Creator. This is the allegorical meaning of Proverbs 10,1 בן חכם ישמח אב, “that an intelligent son provides pleasure for his father.” This pleasure or joy is not limited to one domain in the universe but spreads throughout the universe. A call goes out in all parts of the universe to honour the person who, through his devoted service to his Creator, has provided so much pleasure in the whole universe. There is no greater pleasure than this.
However, seeing that we are aware of this, this reduces our service to the Lord to one that is tied to the expectation of reward. Maimonides in his hilchot teshuvah chapter 10 goes so far as calling such service of G’d as being שלא לשמה, “keeping Torah commandments for ulterior motives.” The principal purpose of pure service of the Lord is that it is performed in recognition of the greatness of the Creator Who provides all forms of life in this universe and Who has endowed us with souls that contain Divine qualities.
We may well ask why no mention is made in the Torah of any reward for performance of the Torah’s commandments that accrues to the doer in the world beyond death of the body. Reward in the עולם הבא, the world to come, while discussed at length by our sages, is not dealt with in the written Torah at all. [The conclusion of the author’s paragraph is missing.]
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