From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 1:07 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Acharei Mos, 5765



                                   
                                          
                                             What Took So Long?

             
                By Rabbi Joshua (procastinatingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


 Parshas Acharei Mos begins by relating a set of instructions for Aharon given to Moshe after the death of Aharon's two sons, Nadav and Avihu, who were punished because they brought a strange fire before God during the inauguration process of the mishkan. Aharon is told not to enter the holy area at all times, without first following a specific procedure of bringing a series of sacrifices. This procedure is, actually, the one followed by the high priest, the kohein godol, on Yom HaKippurim. Ramban says that the Torah is here following a chronological order, because these laws were given after the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. Rav Shlomo Goren, in his Toras HaMikra, asks an obvious question on this comment of the Ramban. If, indeed, the Torah is following a chronological order here, why there is such a long interruption between the Torah's recording of the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, and these instructions, which were, as the Torah says, given after their deaths, and, related to that tragedy. Why, in other words, do all the laws in the second half of parshas Shemini, and in Tazria and Metzora, intervene between the deaths of Nadav and Avihu and the instructions given to avoid any such further tragedy? Rav Goren gives a very technical answer, saying that the intervening sections needed to be told to Aharon, and therefore the command not to enter the holy area at any time had to be delayed so that he could first receive these other mitzvos. I believe, however, that there is, in addition, a thematic reason for the insertion of the second half of parshas Shemini as well as the entire parshiyos of Tazria and Metzora between the deaths of Nadav and Avihu and the commands of the procedure to be followed when entering the mikdash on Yom HaKippurim.

 Anyone who studies the Mussaf service in the Yom Kippur Machzor will notice something that is, seemingly, very strange. The 'Seder HaAvodah,' the piyyut, or liturgical poem, that presents the Yom Kippur service in the Temple, and which we recite during Mussaf in place of the actual service, which, unfortunately, we cannot perform today, in the absence of the Temple, includes material that we would not expect to find in it. Rather than opening with the Temple service itself, the piyyut begins with a short description of God's creation of the world, the account of the sin of Adam and Chava, of the life of Ya'akov and the birth of his children, and the choice of Levi from among his children to represent the people by doing the service in the Temple, and the task of the kohein godol to do the Yom Kippur service there. The great medieval commentator, Rabbi David Avudraham, in his commentary to the Seder HaAvodah, explains that since, as we read in Pirkei Avos, divine service - avodah - is one of the three pillars on which the world stands, and the Yom Kippur service is the highest level of that service, the author of this piyyut placed that service within the context of the creation of the world and the subsequent history that led to the creation of the Jewish people as God's chosen nation, and the choice of the tribe of Levi to perform the Temple service, and the choice of the kohein gadol to perform the highest level of that service, on Yom Kippur. Based on this explanation of R. Dovid Avudraham, we can now understand why the Torah records the Yom Kippur service after what appears to be a long interruption, rather than immediately after the deaths of Nadav and Avihu.


 We have noted several times in the past that the inauguration of the mishkan constituted the culmination of the spiritual completion of the world. In that context, the rabbis tell us that the laws of the yoledes, of the woman giving birth, as recorded in parshas Tazria, come after all the laws of the animals, including the laws of kashrus, and the laws of when different kinds of animals impart various kinds of impurity, because just as man was created after the animals, so, too, were the laws governing him given after the laws pertaining to animals. The Torah then proceeds to record the laws of purity and impurity that pertain to the yoledes, and then presents various other laws of purity and impurity, including those pertaining to the condition of tzora'as, and to men and women who experience various forms of secretions. Within this context, the laws of the Yom Kippur service are given to Moshe to relate to Aharon. Seen in this way, the Yom Kippur service constitutes the highest point in the spiritual completion of the universe, and is, therefore, placed in the Torah exactly where it should be, as the Ramban writes in his commentary.


A joyous Pesach to all, from the Netvort staff.



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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