SHEMINI_LEVITICUS IX:1-XI:47
At the conclusion of the seven days of preparation, Aharon and his sons proceeded with the sacrifices for the dedication of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan on the eighth day. Even in this episode, as a central figure of the Torah, Mosheh transmits instructions about the Korbanot to his brother Aharon, the Kohen Gadol. Mosheh also instructs: “Kerav el hamizbeach va’aseh“: “come near to the altar and act”, at the hesitancy of Aharon.
Aharon probably did not feel sure of himself, perhaps because of the tragedy that happened with his sons Nadav and Avihu on that day, as we will read in the ninth chapter of the Sefer Vayikra. They died while engaged in an 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. Moses’ words stimulated him. S
Humility was one of the characteristics of Kohen who from youth received training for the service of God and the community. In addition to officiating at the Beit HaMikdash, the Kohen was the teacher who imparted the knowledge of the tradition to new generations. Since he was not a landowner, the Kohen subsisted thanks to the parts of the Korbanot that he was allowed to consume and the Terumah, the contribution he received from the crops.
The Kohen was the true 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 at the time of the Chashmona’im, who while being Kohanim also assumed the mantle of the monarchy, according to the events that led to the celebration of Chanukkah.
According to Ramban, the period of the Chashmona’im ended in disgrace due to that lack of division between administrative and secular power on the one hand and religious power. There are those who point out that the absence of a volume of the Talmud on Chanukkah, unlike Purim, which is explained in the Treaty of Megillah, is due to the fact that the Chachamim maintained reservations regarding the actions of the Chashmona’im.
In analyzing the role of leadership in the Jewish tradition, we go back to the time of the patriarchs. There is no doubt that after the death of the third patriarch Yaacov, the son who had the best preparation to assume the mantle of leadership was Yosef who stood out as a great statesman in pharaoh’s court. Had it not been for their administrative gifts, which consisted in part of storing the excesses of the period of abundance for the seven years of “the lean cows,” the Egyptians and neighboring peoples would have perished.
Why did Yaakov exclaim on his deathbed “Lo yasur shevet miYehudah,” “the scepter of command should not be set apart from Yehudah“? 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 Yehudah who had a dubious relationship with Shua’s daughter and then 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 flawless moral characteristics that society cannot identify with him or her, and then conclude that he or she will not be able to attain 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 well-being of the people, facts that made him an almost heavenly or angelic being. Both the spiritual leader and the political leader serve as models of behavior for society, so their choice is critical to inculcate the spiritual and social values necessary for the moral health and material well-being of the new generations.
MITSVAH: TORAH ORDINANCE IN THIS PARASHAH
CONTAINS 6 POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 11 PROHIBITIONS
- Leviticus 10:6 – Kohanim are not to enter the Temple with long hair
- Leviticus 10:6, 21:10 The Kohanim are not to enter the Temple with torn clothing
- Leviticus 10:7 The Kohanim are not to leave the Temple during the Holy Service
- Leviticus 10:9 – The Kohanim are not to enter the Temple after drinking wine, nor should they pronounce judgment when intoxicated
- Leviticus 11:2,3 Obligation to examine the signs of domestic and wild animals (to determine if they are kosher)
- Leviticus 11:4-7 Do not eat domestic or wild animals that are non-kosher
- Leviticus 11:9 Obligation to examine the signs of fish (to determine if they are kosher)
- Leviticus 11:11 Do not eat fish that are non-kosher
- Leviticus 11:13 Do not eat non-kosher birds
- Leviticus 11:21 Obligation to examine insect signs (to determine if they are kosher)
- Leviticus 11:29,30 Laws governing the ritual impurity of the 8 animals that walk on land
- Leviticus 11:34 Laws about ritual impurity of food
- Leviticus 11:39 Laws concerning the ritual impurity of animal carcasses
- Leviticus 11:41 Do not eat animals that crawl on land
- Leviticus 11:42 Do not eat diminutive insects that accompany grains and fruits
- Leviticus 11:43 Do not eat small creatures that inhabit the waters
- Leviticus 11:44 Do not ingest insects that form from decaying matter
