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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