Halakhah su Levitico 21:8

The host enters first into the house, then the guest after him. And when the guest leaves, the guest leaves first, then the host after him.¹⁷Derekh Eretz Rabba 4. One must beware of saying birkat ha-mazon if one’s father, or teacher, or someone greater in wisdom than he is at the table, unless he gets permission from them. And if there is a kohen among them, one should defer to the kohen, for thus it is written, “And you shall make him holy,”¹⁸Lev. 21:8 and the sages interpreted this in a midrash to mean, “you shall make him holy in everything that involves holiness, such as letting him open first, say a blessing first, take the nicest portion first, since a person is required to bestow honors upon the seed of Aaron.¹⁹B.Gittin 59b. And if there’s a kohen who’s a talmid hakham (i.e., a Torah scholar)²⁰Lit., “disciple of a sage,” i.e., someone learned in rabbinic Torah. and an ordinary Jew who’s a talmid hakham, and the kohen wishes to bestow an honor on him, he may. For it is said about a kohen, “You shall make him holy [ve-kidashto]” but it is also said about ordinary Israelites “Set bounds about the mountain and make it holy [ve-kidashto],” and in the entire Torah there are only these two occurrences of “ve-kidashto:” one at the beginning of the verse, the other at the end of the verse.²¹Lev. 21:8 and Ex. 19:23. In Ex. 19:23, Moses says to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us saying, “set bounds about the mountain and make it holy [ve-kidashto].” However, R. Bahya takes the “it” in the pronominal suffix of ve-kidashto to refer to “the people [ha-‘am],” i.e., the Israelites, not the mountain. Grammatically both are masculine singular. This comes to teach about the kohen, that his greatness comes when he begins things, like opening first, or saying a blessing first. But the talmid hakham, his greatness comes at the end, which we derive from what is written, “to the holy ones [la-kedoshim] who are in the land,”²²Ps. 16:3. which the sages interpret in a midrash to mean the holy ones are not called “holy ones” until they have been given their “land.”²³Midrash Tehillim on Ps. 16:3. as it is said, “they become holy ones [la-kedoshim]- those who are in the land.”²⁴The midrash seems to read la-kedoshim (“to the holy ones) as if it were in the Hebrew grammatical construction “hayu le-:” “they became holy ones.” But about them during their lifetime it is written, “He should not trust that he is among His holy ones.”²⁵Job 15:15, as R. Bahya creatively reads the verse, which the JSB translates “He puts no trust in His Holy ones.”

(9) And if he whom he spoke about were a Cohein, and he demeaned him thus to his face, he also transgresses (Vayikra 21:8): "And you shall sanctify him," whereby we have been exhorted to accord them [the Cohanim] much honor. And since he speaks lashon hara or rechiluth against him and shames him, he certainly does not honor him thereby, and he transgresses.

The comments of the Midrash are problematic to say the least. According to Rashi's understanding of Numbers 33:53 there exists no biblical commandment with regard to dwelling in the Land of Israel. Even according to Ramban there certainly existed no commandment regarding domicile in the Land of Israel prior to the divine utterance, "And you shall inherit the land and dwell therein." The Patriarchs, to be sure, did fulfill mizvot without having been formally obligated to do so, and they indeed fulfilled such commandments even prior to the revelation of mizvot. Nevertheless, it is clear that they did not fulfill all mizvot. For example, "ve-kidashto—and you shall sanctify him" (Lev. 21:8) constitutes a mizvah pertaining to the priesthood. However, prior to the establishment of the Aaronic dynasty and the sanctification of the progeny of Aaron as priests, this mizvah would have been completely vacuous.