From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 3:08
AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Acharei
Mos-Kedoshim, 5766
Setting the
Tone
By Rabbi Joshua (tonefully known as The Hoffman) Hoffman
Parshas Acharei Mos begins with a description of the service Aharon must perform
before entering the Kodesh Kodashim, or Holy of Holies. His section of the Torah
is also read in the synagogue on the morning of Yom HaKippurim, and we are very
familiar with it from the reader's repetition of Musaf prayer on that day,
during which we describe at length the service that is outlined in the Torah
reading. Curiously, at the end of its description of this service, the Torah
says, "This shall be to you an eternal decree to bring atonement upon the
Children of Israel once a year..." (Vayikra 16:34). Why does the Torah need to
tell us that the service of Yom Kippur is done once a year? Don't all of the
holidays occur only once a year? In what way is Yom Kippur different, that this
factor needs to be emphasized? Rav Naphtoli Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, or
the Netziv, in his commentary Ha’amek Davar, explains that, actually, Aharon
himself was able to enter the Kodesh Kodashim any time of the year, as long as
he first performed the service described in the parsha. It was only in
subsequent generations that the kohein gadol could only enter once a year. This
notion is actually based on the Sifra, and is discussed in detail by Rabbi
Avrohom Danzig in an essay at the end of his halachic work Chochmas Adam.
Therefore, since the beginning of this section indicated that Aharon could
perform this service anytime during the year, the Torah points out, at the end
of the section, that subsequent kohanim gedolim, after Aharon, could only
perform it once a year. I believe, however, that there is another message hidden
in this verse, that will become clearer after we examine one of the central
ideas behind the service on Yom Kippur.
During the course of
the service on Yom Kippur, the kohein gadol recites the vidui, or confession,
three times, once for himself and his household, once for all of the kohanim,
and once for all of the Jewish people. Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, in his first
sicha, or talk, to parshas Acharei Mos, points out that the notion of confessing
for someone else's sins is ostensibly very strange. One can understand the first
two confessions, since, in them, the kohein gadol is directly included in the
groups he is confessing for. However, how are we to understand his third
confession? Rav Nebenzahl answers that the kohein gadol is able to confess the
sins of the Jewish people because he has a sense of unity with them, and through
this sense of unity he feels that their shortcomings are his, as well. This
sense of unity, continues Rav Nebenzahl, was initiated by Aharon when he learned
that Moshe would be the one to lead the nation out of Egypt. The midrash tells
us that Moshe was reluctant to assume that leadership because he felt it would
offend Aharon, who had been the leader of the nation in Egypt for eighty years.
Therefore, God told Moshe that when he would arrive in Egypt, Aharon would see
him, and be happy in his heart (Shemos 4:14). Aharon felt that he had a unity
with his brother, and his brother's attainment was his own, as well. Far from
being jealous of his brother, then, he was happy for him, and precisely because
of this feeling of joy, he merited to become the kohein gadol, who brings
atonement to the entire nation. The subsequent kohanim gedolim, also received
this sense of unity from Aharon, as did the rest of the kohanim, as well.
Although Rav Nebenzahl does not mention this, the medieval midrashic compendium,
Lekach Tov, at the beginning of parshas Acharei Mos, explains that it was for
this reason that when God instructs Moshe to give over the Yom Kippur service to
Aharon, He says, "Speak to Aharon your brother" (Vayikra 16:2), pointing out the
fact that the two of them were brothers, since it was Aharon's display of love
for his brother that merited him the position he was now filling.
Rabbi Nebenzahl further says that the feeling of unity
displayed by Aharon and all subsequent kohanim gedolim, as well as all of their
fellow kohanim, should, ultimately, be felt by each and every Jew, since the
Jewish people were charged at Mt. Sinai to be a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation. This notion is brought out in the command, found in parshas Kedoshim, of
"Love your friend as yourself, I am the Lord" (Vayikra 19:18). As fellow members
of the nation that represents God's presence in this world, there is an
underlying unity among all Jews, who constitute one organism, reflecting the
unity of God. This is illustrated in the Yerushalmi Nedarim, which likens one
Jew taking revenge from another to a person taking revenge on one of his hands
for cutting the other. This illustration explains the progression of the verse,
"You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members
of your people, you shall love your friend as yourself, I am the Lord."
Following this extension of the need for a feeling of national unity from the
kohanim to the entire nation, we can now understand why the Torah points out
that the atonement of Yom Kippur occurs once a year. Since the atonement comes
as a result of the confession that Aharon makes on behalf of the entire nation,
and this can only be effected if Aharon feels that kind of unity in which the
spiritual condition of the nation is part of his being, as well, when Aharon
performs this service, he acts as an example for the rest of the nation. In
turn, they should strive to adopt this attain this feeling of unity and
carry it into the rest of the year. In his essay , Rav Nebenzahl suggests ways
in which one can accomplish this goal, and the interested reader is referred to
it.
We may perhaps add, based on Rabbi Nebenzahl's
explanation of the need for a sense of unity on the part of Aaron in order to
confess the sins of the nation on Yom Kippur, that it is for this reason that
the Torah mentions the death of Aharon's sons before he is presented with the
order of the service on Yom Kippur. At the time of the death of his sons, Aharon
was instructed to continue his service in the mishkan, even though usually an
onein, or someone who lost a close relative and did not yet bury him, does not
perform the service. Then, Aharon is told, "and you brothers, the entire House
of Israel shall bewail the conflagration that the Lord ignited" (Vayikra
10:6).This mention of brotherhood at the time of Aharon's loss indicated the
feeling of unity that the entire nation had with him, feeling his loss as their
own. Therefore, when he was later given the details of the Yom Kippur service,
this sense of brotherhood emerged when his sons died was evoked through mention
of that tragic event, in tandem with the mention of Aharon's sense of
brotherhood with Moshe, as a way of highlighting the sense of unity that Aharon
needed in order to carry out that service, on the one hand, and the sense of
unity that the nation needed to learn from him and carry into the rest of the
year.
Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi
Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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