Commento su Levitico 9:23

ויבא משה ואהרן AND MOSES AND AARON CAME, etc. — Wherefore did they now enter the Tabernacle? I have found the following in the “Mechilta d’Miluim,” in the Boraitha that is appended to our Torath Cohanim (Sifra): Wherefore did Moses enter with Aaron? To instruct him regarding the incense ceremony. Or it may be that he entered for some other reason?! See, I draw a conclusion: the descent from the altar and the entry into the tent of meeting both required to be accompanied by a benediction, as stated in vv. 22 and 23 (and consequently both were, in a measure, of similar character). Now what was the descent from the altar? It was of the nature (it look place in connection with) a sacrificial act! So, also, the entry into the tent took place in connection with a sacrificial act! Thus you may learn: Why did Moses enter with Aaron? To instruct him regarding the incense ceremony which was the only rite performed on that day within the tent! (Cf. Talmud Yerushalmi Taanit 4). Another explanation is: When Aaron perceived that all the sacrifices had been offered and all the rites performed, and yet the Shechinah had not descended for Israel, since the heavenly fire had not fallen to consume the sacrifice, he was uneasy in mind and said: I feel certain that the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry with me and that it is on my account that the Shechinah has not descended for Israel. He therefore said to Moses: “My brother Moses! Do you act thus with me: you know that I have entered into this matter at your bidding and yet I have been put to shame! Moses at once entered the tent with him and they offered prayer and the Shechinah descended for Israel (Sifra, Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 2 18).

ויצאו ויברכו את העם, They emerged from the Tabernacle and blessed the people. Perhaps they had been commanded to do so by a prophetic vision. It is also possible that the Torah substitutes the word "blessing" here for the word "prayer." The prayer may have been that G'd's Presence should continue to manifest itself in the camp. Even though the people had already been blessed by Aaron, it was good to be blessed by both brothers each of whom represented a different nuance of spirituality, one that is unique to the Levite and the other the spirituality unique to the priesthood. In kabbalistic terms the two brothers Aaron and Moses represented the emanations חסד וגבורה respectively.

ויבא משה ואהרן אל אהל מועד, to pray for the heavenly fire to descend

ויבא משה ואהרן, “Moses and Aaron came (to the tent of Meeting);” According to Rashi, the reason Moses entered was to teach Aaron the details of the presentation of the incense. All the commentators wonder why Moses delayed this part of Aaron’s instructions until this late stage, seeing that the offering of the incense is slated to take place between the sprinkling of the blood and the burning up of the portions of the daily tamid sacrifice that needs to be burned up on the altar? The answer given is that up until his point the heavenly fire that was to consume this offering had not yet materialized. Moses wanted to await that happening.

ויבא משה ואהרן אל אהל מועד ויצאו ויברכו את העם, “Moses and Aaron entered the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people.” They both had to enter to enable Moses to teach Aaron the details of the incense offering. Aaron had not been allowed to enter beyond the entrance of the Tabernacle during the seven days of inauguration as we have read in 8,38 that Aaron and his sons were to remain at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting during this entire period. Now, on the eighth day, permission had been given for him to enter. Moses accompanied him in order to teach him the procedure. Moses had already acquired expertise in this procedure having performed it for the last seven days. You know that Moses had performed all the various procedures connected with the service in the Tabernacle from 8,19-21 “Moses sprinkled the blood, Moses slaughtered. Moses cut up the animal into pieces, he burned up the ram, etc. etc.” Up until the eighth day Moses had performed all these procedures. This is why Psalms 99,6 describes both Moses and Aaron as “His Priests.”
When the Torah describes both Moses and Aaron as emerging from the Tabernacle and blessing the people, this means that they did so immediately after having offered up the incense. The reason is that at that moment prayer is accepted by G’d with a minimum of delay. It became the custom for the High Priest on the Day of Atonement to offer the incense and even to leave his pan inside the Temple in order to immediately leave the Sanctuary and offer his (famous) prayer for the economic welfare of the Jewish people in the coming year; at the same time he requested from G’d that all the various needs of the Jewish people be met (Yuma 53). This is also what prompted David to say in Psalms 141,2: ”Take my prayer as an offering of incense, my upraised hands as an evening sacrifice.” David singled out the incense offering by name from amongst all the others, because it is the most beloved. Hence prayer offered at the time of day when the incense would be offered is most effective.

To teach him. You might ask: How could they postpone bringing the incense until after all these offerings? [The Rabbis] taught [in a Mishnah] (Yoma 31b): The incense of the morning was brought between the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the limbs. Furthermore, what did Moshe have to teach Aharon? Could it be that during the entire seven days of installation Moshe did not burn the incense in order to teach him [just as he brought the offerings to teach him]? The answer is: Scripture did not allow them to enter inside the entrance [of the Tent of Meeting] at all during the entire seven days of installation, as it is written (8:35): “At the entrance of the Tent of Meeting you shall sit day and night.” Since the incense is a service performed inside [the Tent of Meeting], Moshe could not teach Aharon during the seven days of installation, and he needed to teach him on the eighth day of the installation, after the Mishkon has already been erected and all the inner and outer services were permitted. Now, since the golden altar can be inaugurated only with the afternoon incense, as [the Rabbis] taught [in a Mishnah] (Menachos 49a), if so, the only purpose of the incense they burnt in the morning, before inaugurating the golden altar, was to teach Aharon so that he would know how to burn it in the afternoon. Because of this he was not concerned to burn it at the proper time, and he burnt it after bringing all the offerings (Re’m).

ויבא משה ואהרן אל אהל מועד, “Moses and Aaron entered the Tent of Meeting.” They did so in order to see the glory when heavenly fire would descend as proof that their sacrificial service had been accepted in heaven.

ויצאו ויברכו את העם AND THEY CAME OUT AND BLESSED THE PEOPLE — They said the words that conclude “The Prayer of Moses” (Psalms 90:17): “May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” — i. e. May it be God’s will that the Shechinah may rest upon the work of your hands (see Rashi on Exodus 39:43). They invoked just this blessing and not another formula because during the whole seven days of the installation when Moses was setting up the Tabernacle and officiating therein and dismantling it daily the Shechinah had not rested upon it and the Israelites felt ashamed, saying to Moses: “O, our Teacher Moses! All the trouble which we have taken was only that the Shechinah may dwell amongst us, so that we may know that the sin of the golden calf has been atoned for on our behalf!” He therefore had said to them (v. 6): “This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do so that the glory of the Lord may appear unto you” (i. e. only after these offerings will have been brought by Aaron (cf. v. 7) will God’s glory appear unto you). My brother Aaron is more worthy and excellent than I am, so that through his sacrifices and ministration the Shechinah will rest upon you, and ye will thereby know that the Omnipresent God has chosen him to bring His Shechinah upon you.

וירא כבוד ה' אל כל העם. Wherein did this “glory of the Lord” manifest itself?

May it be [His] Will that [the Shechinoh] should rest. We should not say this was Birkas Kohanim, because Aharon had already blessed them. Furthermore, Moshe was a Levi; so how could he bless with the Birkas Kohanim?

'וירא כבוד ה, “the glory of the Lord appeared.” How so?