LEVITICUS IX:1-XI:47
SEPARATION OF POWERS
At the conclusion of the seven days of preparation, Aharon(Aaron) and his sons proceeded with the sacrifices for the dedication of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, on the eighth day. Even in this episode, as the central figure of the Torah, Moshe(Moses) relays the instructions about the Korbanot (sacrifices) to his brother Aharon, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Moreover, he exclaims “Kerav el hamizbeach va’ase“: “come to the altar and act”, in the face of Aharon’s immobility.
Aharon probably did not feel sure of himself, perhaps because of the tragedy that befell his sons Nadav and Avihu on that day, as we will read in the ninth chapter of Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus).They died at the time of the offering; they were consumed by a heavenly flame. Aharon thought that God would also not be willing to accept his offering because he did not possess the ethical attributes necessary to approach the Creator on behalf of the Hebrew people. Moshe’s words spurred him on.
Humility was one of the characteristics of the Kohen who from youth received training for the service of God and the community. In addition to officiating at the Beit HaMikdash(Temple of Jerusalem), the Kohen was the master who imparted the knowledge of the tradition to the new generations. Since he did not own land, the Kohen subsisted on the parts of the Korbanot that he could consume and on the Terumá, the contribution he received from the crops.
The Kohen was the authentic religious leader, while the king was the secular and political leader of society. And the separation of powers had to be maintained. This separation was violated in the time of the Chashmonaim, who as Kohanim also assumed the mantle of the monarchy, in accordance with the events leading up to the celebration of Hanukkah.
According to Ramban, the period of the Chashmonaim ended in misery because of that lack of division between the administrative and secular power on the one hand and the religious power. There are those who point out that the absence of a volume of the Talmud (Oral Law) on Hanukkah, unlike Purim, which is explained in the treatise of Megillah, is due to the fact that the Chachamim maintained reservations with reference to the actions of the Chashmonaim.
In analyzing the role of leadership in Jewish tradition, we go back to the time of the patriarchs. There is no doubt that after the death of the third patriarch Yaakov (Jacob), the son who was best prepared to assume the mantle of leadership was Yosef(Jospeh), who had stood out as a great statesman in Pharaoh’s court. Had he not saved mankind at the time from certain death by the period of famine? Had it not been for their administrative skills, which consisted in part in storing up the excesses of the period of plenty for the seven years of “lean cows,” the Egyptians and the neighboring peoples would have perished.
Why did Yaakov exclaim on his deathbed, “Lo yasur shevetmiYehudah,” “the scepter of command must not be separated from Yehudah (Judah)”? Why didn’t Yaakov choose Yosef, instead of appointing his fourth son, Yehudah, to be the progenitor of the kings of the Jewish people?
The great scholar Harav Aharon Soloveichik z’l, brother of my late teacher, explained that the reason Yosef was not chosen was because he was perfect in all his performances. Unlike Yehudahwho had a dubious relationship with Shua’s daughter and later fathered twins with his daughter-in-law Tamar, Yosef, on the other hand, did not succumb to the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife. The leader of a people cannot be a person of such moral characteristics that society cannot identify with him or her and then conclude that he or she will not be able to reach that degree of perfection. The leader must be perfectible, but not perfect.
It is possible that similar reasoning prevented the Kohen from exercising administrative leadership of the community. The strict training of the biblical Kohen prepared him for a life of detachment from material goods and an exclusive dedication to the spiritual welfare of the people, facts that made him an almost heavenly or angelic being. Both the spiritual leader and the political leader serve as role models for society, so their choice is critical to instilling the spiritual and social values necessary for the moral health and material well-being of the new generations.
MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA
CONTAINS 6 POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 11 PROHIBITIONS
149. Leviticus 10:6 Kohanim must not enter the Temple with long hair
150. Leviticus 10:6, 21:10 Kohanim are not to enter the Temple with torn clothes
151. Leviticus 10:7 Kohanim are not to leave the Temple during the Holy Service
152. Leviticus 10:9 The Kohanim must not enter the Temple after drinking wine, nor must they pronounce judgment when drunk
153. Leviticus 11:2,3 Obligation to examine the signs of domestic and wild animals (to determine whether they are kosher)
154. Leviticus 11:4-7 Do not eat domestic or wild animals that are non-kosher
155. Leviticus 11:9 Obligation to examine the signs of fish (to determine whether they are kosher)
156. Leviticus 11:11 Do not eat fish that are non-kosher
157. Leviticus 11:13 Do not eat non-kosher birds
158. Leviticus 11:21 Obligation to examine the signs of insects (to determine if they are kosher)
159. Leviticus 11:29,30 Laws governing the ritual uncleanness of the 8 animals that walk on earth
160. Leviticus 11:34 Laws about ritual uncleanness of food
161. Leviticus 11:39 Laws concerning the ritual uncleanness of animal carcasses
162. Leviticus 11:41 Do not eat animals that crawl on the ground
163. Leviticus 11:42 Do not eat diminutive insects that accompany grains and fruits
164. Leviticus 11:43 Do not eat small creatures that inhabit the waters
165. Leviticus 11:44 Do not eat insects that form from decaying matter