Musar su Levitico 9:78

ויהי ביום השמיני . Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 42,4) have taught us a rule that whenever the Torah uses the expression ויהי, this is a reference to a painful experience. The sages are sometimes hard-pressed to demonstrate the validity of this dictum. Our question is why the Torah chooses to use an expression which points at something unpleasant when we are taught that elsewhere (Genesis 7,2) the Torah spent additional verbiage such as הבהמה אשר לא טהורה, "a category of animal which is not ritually pure," instead of simply saying בהמה טמאה, "an impure animal," merely to avoid referring expressly to something unpleasant?

Keeping this in mind we can answer the question how Moses could have performed service in the Sanctuary during the seven days preceding the eighth day of Nissan mentioned in Leviticus 9,1. Our sages answered this question saying that Moses went in wearing a white shirt (Taanit 11). At first glance the question does not seem to fit the answer. If the questioner wanted to know whence Moses had taken the sacred vestments to enable him to perform the service in the Sanctuary -because he presumed that such service could not be performed without the sacred vestments- then the answer simply skirts the issue. If, on the other hand, the questioner did not consider the wearing of the sacred vestments as an absolute prerequisite before such service in the Tabernacle could be performed, what was the point of the question?

Nonetheless, there was a partial rehabilitation through the construction of the Tabernacle called מקדש, Sanctuary, which served as an illustration of how the material and spiritual worlds are inter-related, as I have explained on פרשת תרומה and on פרשת ויקהל-פקודי. It was equivalent to a new act of creation, a rejuvenation of the universe as it were. In that rejuvenated universe Aaron took the place of Adam. Of Aaron the Torah writes specifically that he should be brought "close," i.e. that he should personify what Adam had personified prior to the latter's sin. (cf. Exodus 28,1 and the Midrash I have quoted in connection with that verse). In our physical universe Aaron's function as High Priest corresponds to the function of the High Priest in the Celestial Region who offers the souls of the righteous on an altar (Chagigah 12). We have illustrated this by quoting כי היום ה' נראה אליכם (Leviticus 9,4) and showing that the words נראה אליכם nhna comprise the same letters as אהרן , מיכאל. This is an allusion to Aaron's function here on earth being similar to that of the archangel Michael in Heaven. Aaron was to bring about the closest rapprochement possible between man and G–d Instead of offering the souls of the righteous, Aaron could only offer animal sacrifices i.e. from the domesticated beasts such as the cattle and the sheep. This was basically no different from what Adam himself had done after he had sinned, when he sacrificed the ox which is reputed to have had a single horn on its forehead (Shabbat 28). Noach offered animal sacrifices in expiation for a corrupt human society which had been punished. Abraham did likewise in order to obtain forgiveness for the sin of the generation of the Tower of Babel. It is written of him ויבן שם מזבח לה' ויקרא בשם ה', "He built there an altar for the Lord, and proclaimed the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12,8). Not only did Abraham offer animal sacrifices, but he even offered his only beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice.

In other words, the foods consumed by Jews are almost on the same spiritual level as the sacrifices offered on the altar in the Tabernacle. When the Torah urges us in 11,44: והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים, "If you strive to sanctify yourselves you will become holy," the first expression is addressed to our souls, the hidden aspect of our personalities, whereas the last expression addresses our bodies, the visible part of our personalities. This is parallel to the מקדש-משכן relationship. The consecration of the Tabernacle embraced both these aspects at the same time. Concerning consecration of the hidden part, נפש, the Torah (9,4) said: כי היום ה' נראה אליכם, "For on this day the Lord appears to you," whereas concerning the visible part, גוף, the Torah (10,3) said: ועל פני כל העם אכבד, "I shall be honored in the presence of the whole nation." This revelation would take place by means of the Heavenly fire which consumed the sacrifices on the altar.

The incense-offering is the mystical element which establishes the connection between the "lower" and the "upper" domains of this universe. Rashi also explains the word קטורת as identical with the alternate name of Hagar, i.e. קטורה, to mean that her deeds were comparable to an incense offering because she "tied up" her door [euphemism for her vagina Ed.] and did not remarry until Sarah had died and Abraham was free to marry her (Genesis 25,1). Our sages suggest that Nadav and Avihu entered the Holy of Holies in order to teach a lesson concerning the mystical dimension of the incense-offering. They wanted to demonstrate that G–d anxiously awaits the prayers of the righteous. All of these notions are alluded to in Psalms 141,2: תכון תפלתי קטורת לפניך, "Take my prayer as an offering of incense before You." The subject of prayer teaches us the mystical dimension of the משפיע and the מושפע The latter prays with his eyes facing downwards while his heart is turned upwards toward G–d, the cause who turns His attention to what happens "down" here in our world. We in our hopes pour out our hearts heavenwards for He is the עילה, cause, whereas we are the עלולים, effects.

We have explained on several occasion that the שר העולם, the angel to whom G–d has entrusted the proper allocation of the food- supply in our world, is called Mattatron, or נער. Moses' function too, was to provide for the needs of his people. He is already referred to as נער when the daughter of Pharaoh found him, although normally he should only have been referred to as ילד (Exodus 2,6). Our commentators have said that Moses' voice was like that of a נער. The very name משה is also an acronym for מטטרון שר הפנים. On Exodus 24,1: ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' our sages comment that Moses' name was Mattatron, just like the name of his teacher. When the Torah commenced the Book of Leviticus with the words ויקרא, this is a choice expression for all those who are מושפעים, direct recipients of G–d's favor. This is another dimension of Proverbs 9,1-3 which we discussed on page 739, i.e. נערותיה תקרא, that Moses called out to Aaron and his sons, etc. The latter were also comparable to angels, as pointed out by Malachi 2,7 that the priest is an angel of the Lord. Every time the Torah refers to a girl as נערה, the word is spelled without the feminine ending, i.e. it is written נער, although we read it as נערה. The description of Moses as נער then is an allusion to his function being similar to that of Mattatron.

The Altar alludes to the crown of priesthood. Its mystical dimension directly relates the sacrifices offered by the priests on the altar in our world to the offering of the souls of the righteous by the High Priest Michael on the altar in the Celestial Sanctuary. Those Kabbalists who specialise in exegesis of רשומות use Leviticus 9,4: כי היום נראה אליכם, as an allusion that such sacrifices are offered up on an Altar in Heaven by showing that the letters in the words נראה אליכם are the same as in the two names אהרן and מיכאל.

I believe we can use this explanation to answer a difficulty which arises from Exodus 29,33: "These things shall be eaten only by those for whom expiation has been made with them when they were ordained and consecrated; they may not be eaten by a layman for they are holy." The meaning of the verse is that the owners of the animals receive their expiation through the priests' eating. The difficulty is that Aaron and his sons consumed these parts while being owners, whereas Moses was the priest performing the sacrificial service described in the relevant section of the Torah. We can only answer this by viewing Aaron and his sons as being both priests and owners at one and the same time. They had become priests by the very fact that Moses "sacrificed them," i.e. בקרבתם לה' coming close to G–d. They became similar to the archangel Michael who, in his capacity as Celestial High Priest, offers the souls of the righteous as a sacrifice. We find an allusion to this comparison between the task of Aaron and that of the archangel מיכאל in (9,4) כי היום י-ה-ו-ה נראה אליכם where we have the letters of the names of Aaron and מיכאל side by side in the last two words of the verse. In comparison to Moses, Aaron and his two sons were indeed the owners of the sacrifices (מילואים), seeing that Moses at that time occupied a position even higher than that of the High Priest. The reason for this was that Moses had never been a זר, mundane person, and did not have to be raised to his spiritually elevated position as did his brother Aaron. We have explained that he was holy from the moment he left his mother's womb and how the whole house was filled with light at that time. To repeat, in respect to the מילואים Aaron and his sons were both owners and priests. Because this is so the religious ruling for all future generations evolved that by the priests eating the parts of the sacrifice allotted to them the owners obtain forgiveness.