레위기 16:2의 인용 해설

Then Solomon said Since the House is full of smoke, I now know that the Shechinah is resting in the thick darkness therein, for so is His wont, as it is written (Exod. 20:18): “and Moses drew near to the thick darkness wherein God appeared.” [Therefore, I deduce that] He surely wishes to stay therein, and in Sifre it is explained: Then Solomon said - when he saw the cloud, he said, “Now I see that the Shechinah rests in the House that I have built, for He promised to come and dwell therein out of the midst of the cloud and the thick darkness.” Now where did He say this? (Lev. 16:2): “for in the cloud I shall appear on the Ark cover.”

ויקרא אל משה, “He called to Moses, etc.” Nachmanides, explaining the sequence of the portions in the Torah, writes that after having concluded with the construction of the Tabernacle, a subject which dominated the last four portions with the exception of Parshat Ki Tissa, the Torah now turns its attention to the legislation governing the sacrificial offerings to be brought in the Tabernacle. This is the logical corollary after we have been told that G’d’s glory manifested itself and enveloped the Tabernacle. Part of the legislation about the offerings, are the laws governing who has access to the Tabernacle, and who, even if basically entitled to perform service in the Tabernacle, is temporarily forbidden to do so due to his being in a state of ritual impurity or due to his being drunk. Even the High Priest himself, without being drunk or impure, is forbidden to enter certain parts of the Tabernacle except for a specific purpose on a specific day. (Leviticus,16,2). The priests not only must not be ritually impure when entering the Tabernacle, but they must sanctify themselves prior to performing their service. This additional requirement is based on the presence of the “glory of G’d” in the Tabernacle. Most of the Book of Leviticus deals with sacrificial offerings, the kind of people who present these sacrifices, either voluntary or mandatory, as well as the precise location where these sacrifices are to be offered. There is also a relatively short list of commandments which in one way or another are directly linked to such sacrifices, i.e. which bring in their wake the need to present such sacrifices by the individuals concerned. For instance, the Book opens with voluntary offerings by individuals, and the laws pertaining to them, necessitating the recording of the prohibition for certain fat parts of the animals, as well as all blood, to be forbidden to be eaten. Afterwards, as a corollary of the sin offering, parts of which are consumed by the priests, this brings in its wake the need to inform us generally about which animals may and which may not be eaten. These animals, or even basically “kosher” animals, that have not been killed by ritual slaughter, bring in their wake ritual uncleanness, and confer such on people in contact with them. We read about certain diseases that have a religious background, and therefore are not subject to treatment by physicians, but require the offering of sacrifices upon their termination. Women who have given birth are required to offer certain sacrifices, and are subject to varying degrees of ritual uncleanness for a period of time after they have given birth. The subject of ritual purity is enlarged upon by the laws about incest, and forbidden sexual unions. Women who are menstruating become ritually unclean even to their husbands, until, in due course, they have purified themselves in a ritual bath. The majority of the portions of this Book address themselves specifically to the priests in one way or another. Parshat Kedoshim contains a number of laws applying to all Israelites equally, especially laws governing inter-personal relationships, laws designed to ensure a civilization that functions with minimum inequalities. If the Book commences with the words “Someone called to Moses,” instead of the customary “G’d called to Moses, or similar, this is to remind us that though we are dealing with a separate Book, the train of thought with which the Book of Exodus concluded, i.e. that the glory of Hashem filled and enveloped the Tabernacle is continued here without a break, the Torah now detailing the service to be performed in that Tabernacle. In other words, the subject of the word ויקרא is the כבוד ה' described in Exodus Nachmanides also writes that our sages derive from this introductory word ויקרא, that all conversations initiated by G’d were preceded by a call to prepare Moses that he was about to be addressed by the Shechinah. The word appears only here, as this was the first time Moses was being addressed by a dimension of Hashem in His terrestrial domain, the Tabernacle. Henceforth, this was the standard procedure all the time the Israelites remained in the desert. According to our sages’ understanding, the words מאהל מועד in our context actually have to be understood as if they had been written in an earlier part of our verse, i.e. ויקרא אליו מאהל מועד וידבר אליו באהל כי משה היה שם, “He called to him from the Tent of Meeting and spoke to him because Moses was there.” According to the plain meaning of the text, the meaning is slightly different. Seeing that the glory of G’d filled the Tabernacle, Moses was unable to enter it until he would be invited in, (Exodus 40,35) just as had happened at the revelation at Mount Sinai seven months earlier, when he had been invited to ascend the Mountain. Our verse then describes that on the seventh day of the inaugural rites, the day preceding the first of Nissan, G’d called to Moses out of the Tabernacle, the voice appearing to come out of the cloud. Some commentators believe that what is described here is the basis of the statement in the Talmud Chagigah 14 that every utterance of the Almighty creates an angel that (allegorically speaking) walks in front of Him, as would the page or standard bearer of a terrestrial king. After this angel had alerted Moses to the approach of G’d, He would commence to speak to him directly, or to anyone else whom G’d wished to speak to.

And the explanation of the matter is that the sons of Aaron were deserving of being punished, for they ate and drank and beheld God (Exodus 24:11), meaning they gazed upon the Divine Presence with the coarseness of heart that comes from food and drink. The Holy One, blessed be He, waited to punish them so as not to disturb the joy of the giving of the Torah. Corresponding to this came this command to Aaron that he should not enter the Holy place on any day when there is eating and drinking, but only on Yom Kippur, a day when a person afflicts his soul, because then he comes before his Creator in humility. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, presented this introduction to Moses and first informed him of the cause of the death of Aaron’s sons in the first statement, in order to tell him in the second statement the command he shall not come at any time into the holy place (Leviticus 16:2). And this is the wording of the first statement that God said to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron — and what was the statement? When they drew near before the Lord and died. He informed him that they died because they drew near to God at an inappropriate time, as it is written and they beheld God. And if you ask why it says when they drew near before the Lord rather than “when they drew near before Me,” we find a similar case as Rashi explained in Parashat Vayera (19:24) on the verse and the Lord rained upon Sodom, etc. from the Lord, etc. And regarding the wording and they died, which could have simply said “they died,” we find a similar case in and those who did not regard the word of the Lord left their servants and livestock in the field (Exodus 9:21) where it could have simply said “left.” This also resolves the apparent redundancy of the phrase and they died, since it was already stated after the death, because the first mention is the Torah’s statement to us, and the second is God’s statement to Moses.

Then Shlomo declared. When he saw the cloud, he said, “Now I see that the Divine Presence is in the house which I built, for thus did He promise to come and dwell in it from the midst of a cloud and thick darkness.” And where did He say [this promise]? “For in the cloud will I appear upon the Ark cover.”¹²Vayikra 16:2. Thus is this taught in Sifri.