Comentário sobre Levítico 23:44

AND MOSES DECLARED UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THE APPOINTED SEASONS OF THE ETERNAL. The meaning thereof is as follows: The above sections contain admonitions directed to Aaron and his sons, and Moses therefore told them to Aaron and his sons, and sometimes He mentions after them also the children of Israel, as He said at the end of the section dealing with blemishes, So Moses spoke unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel,⁵⁰⁰Above, 21:24. for although Moses was only commanded, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever be of thy seed,⁵⁰¹Ibid., Verse 17. he wanted to exhort the court of Israel about this matter [and therefore he also spoke to all the children of Israel]. Perhaps the reason [why he exhorted the court] is because a person covers up his blemishes, and the priest does not want to be disqualified on account of them from performing the Divine Service, for it is a [source of] shame and disgrace, therefore He exhorted the court about this matter. But here Scripture states that he declared the appointed seasons of the Eternal to all the children of Israel as one man, and it did not single out the sons of Aaron in these commandments, the reason being that the admonition applies to all alike, since the main [commandments] of these sections are that we are to rest on the Sabbaths and festivals, and to proclaim them holy convocations. None of the offerings are mentioned in these sections, except for the offering of the sheaf [on the second day of Passover], and the two loaves [on the Festival of Weeks], as they [these festivals] are the causes for their being offered. And in the section where the main offerings of the Day of Atonement are set forth,⁵⁰²Ibid., Chapter 16. it says, Speak unto Aaron thy brother⁵⁰³Ibid.. Verse 2. [because it was Aaron’s duty to perform the Service on that day].
And our Rabbis have interpreted [the verse before us] as follows:⁵⁰⁴Torath Kohanim, Emor 17:12. “And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the appointed seasons of the Eternal. This teaches that Moses told Israel the laws of Passover on the Passover, and the laws of Atzereth [the Festival of Weeks]⁵⁰⁵See Ramban above on Verse 36. on Atzereth, and the laws of the Festival of Tabernacles on Tabernacles. In the very language that he heard it, in that language he told them all the sections.” Onkelos also intended to imply this point, for he rendered the verse as follows: “And Moses declared the order⁵⁰⁶By adding this expression “the order of” [the festivals] to the Hebrew words, Onkelos hinted that Moses conveyed the laws of the festivals to the people in order of their times, “the laws of Passover on the Passover, etc.” Onkelos’ intent in adding the phrase “and he taught them” will be explained further on by Ramban. of the appointed seasons of the Eternal, and taught them to the children of Israel.” It appears [from Onkelos’ additional phrase “the order of “] that his opinion is to allude [to the fact] that Moses taught the children of Israel the order of the festivals by means of the intercalation [of the years with an extra month], which was handed over to him by word of mouth on Sinai, this being alluded to in the Scriptural text, which ye shall proclaim⁵⁰⁷Above, Verse 4. holy convocations, and Moses taught the children of Israel by word of mouth the whole traditional order of the secret of intercalation.

וידבר משה את מועדי ה' אל בני ישראל, “Moses informed the Children of Israel of the appointed festivals of Hashem.” Nachmanides comments that seeing the various chapters preceding this one had been concerned with sacrificial offerings, blemishes which would disqualify animals from serving as sacrificial lambs, Aaron and the priests had always been mentioned at the beginning of those pieces of legislation. However, here when the subjects are the festivals, something in which all parts of the people participate equally, Moses addressed all of them. The only two sacrifices mentioned in the whole list of the festivals are the omer and the first two loaves of the new wheat harvest on Shavuot, but as both of these represent the cause of the festival rather than something that needs to be done on account of the festival, there was no reason to single out the priests in connection with this. Seeing that the principal observance of the Day of Atonement was Aaron’s offering a variety of sacrifices, Aaron is addressed in that paragraph specifically (Leviticus) If, in the paragraph dealing with blemishes, the Torah addressed Aaron and his offspring as well as the Children of Israel as a whole, there is a special reason for this, also. It is in the nature of blemishes that he or she who is afflicted with such a blemish tries to hide it, as it is something embarrassing. The Torah therefore went out of its way to address everybody separately on that subject, so that nobody could claim that the legislation did not apply to him or her. Onkelos, who translated our words as ומליל משה ית סדרי מועדיא דה' ואליפנון לבני ישראל, “Moses spoke about the festivals of Hashem to the Children of Israel and taught them all about them,” meant what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah Song of Songs, 1) when they told us that Moses would teach the laws pertaining to Passover before and during Passover, and the laws that pertain to the Day of Atonement during the days preceding it as well as on that day, and the laws pertaining to Sukkot, in time for the observance of that festival. Presumably, he also meant to say that Moses used the opportunity of the approaching festivals to familiarise the Israelites with the rules by which the sages were allowed to manipulate the lunar calendar for the benefit of the farming community. He had been given permission by Hashem to authorise the Sanhedrin to thus bring in line conflicting laws governed by the solar calendar on the one hand and the lunar calendar on the other hand. [Some of the wording is mine. Ed.]