Midrasz do Kapłańska 7:6

(Lev. 19:2:) YOU SHALL BE HOLY. R. Pinhas bar Hama the Priest said: R. Reuben said: What is the meaning of that which is written (in Ezek. 3:12): AND AFTER ME¹⁹This translation follows the interpretation of the midrash. A more traditional translation would be BEHIND ME. I HEARD A GREAT ROARING SOUND. What is the meaning of AFTER ME ('HRY)?²⁰Tanh., Lev. 7:6; also above, Exod. 4:13. After ('HRY) I and my friends praised him, I heard the ministering angels, as they praised him and said (ibid., cont.): BLESSED BE THE GLORY OF THE LORD FROM HIS PLACE. It also says (in Job 38:7): WHEN THE MORNING STARS (i.e., the seed of Jacob)²¹This interpretation of THE MORNING STARS is explicit in the parallel passage of Gen. R. 65:21, which explains that Jacob’s offspring are likened to stars in Dan. 12:3. See also the much fuller parallel in Tanh., Lev. 7:6. SANG TOGETHER, then (ibid., cont.:) ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD (i.e., all the angels) SHOUTED FOR JOY. R. Mani said: Let not the recitation of the Shema be trivial in your eyes because there are two hundred forty-eight words in it,²²The number includes the response after the first line of the Shema (cited below) plus the three preliminary words with which one precedes the Shema when praying in private, i.e., El melekh ne’eman (“God is a faithful king”). corresponding to < the number of > parts that are in a human being; and out of them < comes > BLESSED BE THE NAME OF HIS GLORIOUS MAJESTY FOREVER AND EVER.²³This blessing is the liturgical response to the first line of the Shema. The Holy One said: If you have kept what is mine in reciting it properly, I will also keep what is yours. Therefore, David offered praise²⁴Rt.: QLS; cf. Gk.: kalos (“beautifully”). (in Ps. 17:8): KEEP ME AS THE PUPIL OF AN EYE. The Holy One said to him (in Prov. 4:4): KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS AND LIVE. R. Simeon ben Halafta said: To what is the matter comparable?²⁵Deut. R. 4:4. To someone who < lives > in Galilee and has a vineyard in Judea, while someone in Judea has a vineyard in Galilee. The one who < lives > in Galilee goes to Judea to cultivate his vineyard. The one in Judea goes to Galilee to cultivate his vineyard. < One day > they meet with each another, and one said to the other: Instead of you coming to my place, keep watch over what is mine in your neighborhood; and I will keep watch over what is yours in my neighborhood. So did David say (in Ps. 17:4): KEEP ME AS THE PUPIL OF AN EYE? The Holy One said to him (in Prov. 4:4): KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS AND LIVE. Similarly the Holy One said to Israel: Keep my commandment, the commandment to recite the Shema morning and evening, and I will keep you, as stated (in Ps. 121:7): THE LORD SHALL KEEP YOU FROM ALL EVIL; HE SHALL KEEP YOUR SOUL.

9) (Vayikra 7:6) ("Every male among the Cohanim may eat it. In a holy place shall it be eaten; it is holy of holies.") "Every male": to include those with blemishes. Why (is this mentioned)? If for eating, this has already been mentioned (as permitted). If for apportionment, this has already been mentioned. If for those with permanent blemishes, this has already been mentioned. If for those with passing blemishes, this has already been mentioned. Why, then, is it mentioned! For I might think (were it not mentioned) that it were permitted only if he was born unblemished and became blemished; but how would I know that it were so (even) if he was born blemished? It is, therefore, written "Every male among the Cohanim."

"may eat it": if it were kasher and not unfit (as an offering). "holy of holies": to include communal peace-offerings as being eaten only by the males of the Cohanim. "It (is holy of holies") — excluding the thank-offering and the ram of the Nazirite.