Midrash su Levitico 4:5

(Exod. 21:1:) AND THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES…. This text is related (to Ps. 147:19–20): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, <HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES TO ISRAEL>. HE HAS NOT DONE SO FOR ANY NATION; <AND, AS FOR HIS ORDINANCES, THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THEM>.¹¹Tanh., Exod. 6:5. Aquila the son of Hadrian's sister wanted to convert to Judaism, but he was afraid of his uncle Hadrian.¹²See Exod. R. 30:12. He said to him: I want to engage in a business. He said to him: Do you perhaps lack silver or gold? Here, you have the treasury¹³Gk.: thesauros. before you. He said to him: I want to engage in a business in order to gain knowledge of humanity, and I want to consult you on how to do it. He said to him: Go and engage in any business¹⁴Gk.: pragmateia. that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value >. Now he intended to convert to Judaism. He came to the land of Israel and studied the Torah. When R. Eliezer and R. Joshua came to him after some time, they found him and saw his face transformed. They said to each other: Aquila has been studying the Torah. When they came to him, he began to ask them questions, and they would answer him. He went up to Hadrian. He said to him: Why is your face transformed? Has your business failed, or is someone troubling you? He told him: No. Then why has your face been transformed? He said to him: Because I have been studying Torah. And not only that, but I have been circumcised. He said to him: And who told you <to do so>? He said to him: I consulted with you. He said to him: When? He said to him: When I told you I wanted to engage in a business, you told me: Engage in any business that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value>. So I went back over all the peoples and did not find <any> people established on earth like Israel. Now in the end they will be exalted (hit'allah), just as Isaiah has said (in Is. 49:7): THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE REDEEMER OF ISRAEL, HIS HOLY ONE, TO {ONE WHO DESPISES ONE's} [A DESPICABLE] SOUL, TO AN ABHORRENT NATION, TO A SLAVE OF RULERS: < KINGS SHALL SEE, AND NOBLES SHALL RISE UP. AND THEY SHALL PROSTRATE THEMSELVES ON ACCOUNT OF THE LORD, WHO IS FAITHFUL, EVEN THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, BECAUSE HE HAS CHOSEN YOU.> His associate regent¹⁵Gk.: sygkathedros. said to him: Are these whom you have been annihilating going to be those before whom kings will stand, as stated (in Is. 49:7): KINGS SHALL SEE AND RISE UP; NOBLES ALSO SHALL PROSTRATE THEMSELVES? Hadrian hit him on the jaw. He said to him: One only puts a bandage on a wound. Would [someone] put it on sound flesh? Would he not put it on a wound? Now if one sees some common soldier,¹⁶Lat.: galearius (“solder’s servant,” “batman”). he does not stand in his presence.¹⁷The exact intent of the passage is doubtful. Enoch Zundel in his commentary, ‘Anaf Yosef, on the parallel in Tanh., Lev. 4:5, suggests that, as a bandage on a wound restores the flesh to normal without improving on it, so Israel may be restored to normal but not beyond to a position outranking kings. Similarly, the lowliest soldier may win promotion but will never outrank the emperor. Therefore, Hadrian need never fear the Jews. What did his associate regent do? He went up on the roof, fell down, and died. Thus the Holy Spirit cries out (in Jud. 5:31): SO SHALL ALL YOUR ENEMIES PERISH, O LORD. Hadrian said to Aquila: Why did you do this? He said to him: Because I wanted to learn Torah. He said to him: You could have learned it without becoming circumcised. He said to him: Without circumcising, one could not learn it, as stated (in Ps. 147:19): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, [HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES (mishpatim) TO ISRAEL. TO JACOB:] To whoever from Jacob practices circumcision. HIS STATUTES: This means Torah. AND ORDINANCES: These are the laws. [Thus it is stated] (in Exod. 15:25): THERE HE ESTABLISHED FOR THEM [A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE (mishpat)]. The Holy One said to Moses: I have given them the Torah; you give them the ordinances (mishpatim). The Holy One said to them: If you desire to survive in this world, observe the ordinances (mishpatim), for {one} [a world] cannot survive without justice (mishpat). The generation of the flood would not have perished from the world, had they not transgressed against justice (mishpat). R. Eleazar ben Pedat said: What is written about them (in Job 4:20)? FROM MORNING TO EVENING THEY ARE SHATTERED; THEY PERISH FOREVER WITHOUT ANYONE NOTICING (rt.: SYM). Ergo (in Exod. 21:1): AND THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES (mishpatim) <THAT YOU SHALL SET (rt.: SYM) BEFORE THEM>.¹⁸See Gen. R. 26:6; 31:5; Exod. R. 30:13.

5) (Vayikra 4:5): "And the anointed Cohein shall take (from the blood of the bullock"): "taking" is written here and elsewhere (Shemoth 24:6: "And Moses took half of the blood and put it into basins.") Just as the "taking" there refers to (receiving the blood) in a vessel, here, too, (the "taking" is) in a vessel.

6) "And the anointed Cohein": This tells me only of the (Cohein) anointed with the oil of anointment (i.e., the high-priest). Whence is it derived that the "many-garmented priest" (may also receive the blood)? From "the Cohein." If in the end we are to include a different Cohein, why state: "And the anointed Cohein shall take"? It is a mitzvah for the anointed Cohein to receive (the blood), but if a different Cohein does so, it is kasher.

(Lev. 12:3): AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY THE FLESH OF HIS FORESKIN SHALL BE CIRCUMCISED. It is not written here that one lays out expenses < over circumcision >.²⁴The added words are from the parallel in Tanh., Lev. 4:5. See how much Israel loves the commandments, how many expenses they lay out in order to observe them! The Holy One said: You make the commandments joyful; I am increasing your joy, as stated (in Is. 29:19): THEN THE HUMBLE SHALL INCREASE THEIR JOY IN THE LORD. Tyrannus Rufus the Wicked asked R. Aqiva: Which works are the more beautiful? Those of the Holy One or those of flesh and blood? He said to him: Those of flesh and blood are the more beautiful. Tyrannus Rufus the Wicked said to him: Look at the heavens and the earth. Are you able to make anything like them? R. Aqiva said to him: Do not talk to me about something which is high above mortals, things over which they have no control, but about things which are usual among the children of Adam. He said to him: Why do you circumcise? He said to him: I also knew that you were going to say this to me. I therefore anticipated < your question > when I said to you: A work of flesh and blood is more beautiful than one of the Holy One? Bring me wheat spikes and white bread.²⁵Qeluska’ot, from the Gk.: kollikes (“long rolls of coarse bread”) or kollikia (the diminutive of kollikes). [He said to him: The former is the work of the Holy One, and the latter is the work of flesh and blood. Is not the latter more beautiful. Bring me] bundles of flax and garments of Beth-shean. He said to him: The former are the work of the Holy One, and the latter are the work of flesh and blood. Are not the latter more beautiful? Tyrannus Rufus said to him: Inasmuch as he finds pleasure in circumcision, why does no one emerge from his mother's belly circumcised? R. Aqiva said to him: And why does his umbilical cord come out on him? Does not his mother cut his umbilical cord? So why does he not come out circumcised? Because the Holy One only gave Israel the commandments in order to purify them. Therefore, David said (in II Sam. 22:31 = Ps. 18:31 [30]): {EVERY} WORD OF {GOD} [THE LORD] IS PURE….

7) "from the blood of the bullock": of the blood of the life (i.e., the blood with which the life goes out), and not of the blood of the flesh, and not of the blood that is squeezed out. "from the bullock": shall he receive it (to exclude blood that spilled to the ground and was gathered up.) "and he shall bring it (to the tent of meeting"): a (Cohein that is) kasher, and not one who is pasul. "to the tent of meeting" — to exclude his offering for the "distinct" mitzvah (i.e., the she-goat of Yom Kippur), that its blood not be sprinkled on the golden altar, (but on the outer altar.)