Our Parasha’s description of the consecration and anointment of the Kohanim, and of the Sanctuary, begins with (8: 1-4): Hashem spoke to Moshe,,saying:’Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the oil of anointment, and the bull of the sin-offering, and the two rams, and the basket of matzot. Gather the entire assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moshe did as Hashem commanded him. Moshe said to the assembly : ‘This is the thing that Hashem commanded to be done’.
Rashi comments:’ ‘Take Aaron: this section was stated seven days before the section of the Sanctuary and should have been states in Parashat Pikudei, which discussed the erection and consecration of the Sanctuary.
‘However, there is no ‘earlier and later’ in the Torah.
‘And the sin-offering..’:These are the ones mentioned in the section dealing with the command of the investiture in Parashat Tetzave, and now, on the first day of the investiture, Hashem came back and urged him in the matter at the time they were to be put into practice.’
‘This is the thing that Hashem commanded to be done: (Moshe said to the assembly):The things you will see me doing before you, have all been commanded to me by Hashem that they be done; so do not think that I am doing them for my own honor or for my brother’s honor.’
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh elucidates:’Take Aaron..’: This was said before the erection of the Sanctuary, and the reason it was said here, to tell us that all the laws of the korbanot - in all of their details -were said earlier, as it was for their performance that Aaron and his sons were made Kohanim - and they could not have been elevated to this role until Moshe taught them all the details of this work, and he - Aaron - accepted the role and the service, as it was commanded.
‘Only then did Hashem say to Moshe:’Take Aaron.., as it was for this that he was made Kohen; further, had this not been been the case, you would find that one of the people would bring a korban offering, and it would not be known what was to be done with it.
‘This is the thing that Hashem commanded’:To make known to them - lest any come to dispute, in the manner of Korach and his followers - so that there Will not be an opening to anyone who disputes, to say that he was doing so inadvertently, as Moshe made known - at the time of the deed - that it was by Hashem’s command, and not by his independent volition.’
The Malbim offers a different understanding of the commandment ‘to take Aaron and his sons’, commenting:’There are three defects in the transgressor which require attention: First, since he has been distanced from Hashem by his transgression - and out of shame, takes care to be ‘out of His sight’; second: from the punishment that has been decreed for his transgression- for which the prayers on his behalf by another, can cause the punishment to be ameliorated, as long as he has repented; the sinner himself: even if Hashem has forgiven him, he still feels shame, until full forgiveness is granted.
‘Ali three of these were applicable to Aaron :as to being distanced, by Moshe drawing him nearer - calling to him, by Hashem’s command - he was drawn again closer to Hashem.
‘The second matter, Moshe knew that he had prayed to spare Aaron from punishment, and that Aaron had repented out of love.
‘As to the third matter, when the Torah states: ‘Take Aaron with his sons’ - ‘with’ denoting that Aaron was the principal, and the sons anciliary to him, and only called in his merit, he knew that he had been granted full forgiveness - for, if not so, it would have been the opposite: his sons being the principals, and he being forgiven, as anciliary, in their merit.’
Rav Yosef Chaim Shneur Kotler adds:’it would appear that the reason for the assembly of all the people in these seven days of training, was because the spread of the Shechina in the Sanctuary, meant its entry into the heart of each individual, as is written;’And I shall dwell in your’ - plural - ‘midst’, as our Sages expound:’ Within each person.
‘Therefore all the deeds that were done on this day, had to be done by all of the people, as Moshe said ‘to the assembly(8:5):’This is the thing that Hashem commanded you to do; then the glory of Hashem will appear to you’ - and all that was done by Aaron and his sons were as emissaries of all the people, and were as if done by them - simply stated.
‘Therefore, all the sanctification and anointing and clothing the kohanim in their garb of glory (which was also part of their sanctification) was performed by Moshe, as were all the korbanot offered during these seven days.
‘There were two sides to this: One: that Moshe was the emissary of Hashem in the sanctification and atonement of the Kohanim, so that they would be prepared for their role and service; and second: to also be the emissary of Bnei Israel, in this sanctification of the Kohanim , and to consecrate the Sanctuary.
‘During these seven days, Moshe was attired in a white garment - and not in the priestly garments - suggesting that his service was a special teaching for that hour, implying that he was then acting only as the emissary of Hashem - however, this may not necessarily be the case, as the requirement to perform the priestly service only in the priestly garments was only innovated after the erection of the Sanctuary - and til then, there was not this requirement
Rav.Shimshon Raphael Hirsch notes that in these seven days, Moshe Rabbeinu plays a role different from his primary role, as teacher and transmitter of the Torah - here ‘he himself is the one who performs the mitzvah, as he fulfilled the role of Kohen - whereas the kohanim who partook of the korbanot, were thereby being sanctified to be kohanim.
‘At that time, it was made clear to them, that Moshe was the transmitter of the Torah, and that - for all generations - the Kohen was subject to the yoke of the Torah and its teachers - the role of the kohen, was to perform the Torah - not its teaching, as the teaching of Torah is not one passed down by fanily ties - as it is in other religions.’
Abarbanel notes:’All that Moshe was commanded in our Parasha, and in Parashat Tetzave - including the assembly of all the people - was so that all would see the consecration of Aaron and his sons, and behave towards them with the proper honor and awe.
‘Moshe said there to the whole congregation:’This is the thing that Hashem commanded to be done’ - meaning: Do not think that to honor my brother, I am doing that which you are witnessing - that is not the case, because all that I am doing, Hashem commanded, and by His command - and not from my heart - I am doing it all.’
A parting gem from Rav Ahron Kotler:’Rashi’s comment, that our parsha was said seven days before the erection of the Sanctuary - as it relates with the first seven days thereafter - requires our consideration.
‘Why did the Torah alter the chronological order of the events ? - even though we hold that ‘there is no earlier and later in the Torah’, surely there must be a reason for doing so: to precede the later to the earlier.
‘Indeed, Ramban disagrees with our Rashi, and holds that the parshiot occurred in the order in which they are brought in the Torah - that Parashat Vayikra and the opening section of Parashat Tzav were said on the first of the seven days of מילואים: of ‘training’, at which time, the Sanctuary was already erected, but Moshe dismantled it, though the Shechina had not yet descended into it.
‘As the Sanctuary was already constructed, the call to Moshe was ‘from the Tent of the Meeting’ lt was therfore necessary to precede the commands of the korbanot, as in these seven days ‘of training’ korbanot were offered in the Sanctuary - after the commandments as to the korbanot, the Parasha of ‘Take Aaron’, was said.
‘However, according to Ramban, the passuk: ‘And the cloud covered the Tent, and the glory of Hashem filled the Sanctuary’ - written at the end of Sefer Shemot - was not written in its order - but brought forward - as the Shechina did not descend till the seventh of these days.
‘Ramban writes, that the reason for this, is that this passuk concluded the parshiot describing the construction of the Sanctuary - this, as the Ramban states -signifying the end of the galut, the residence of the Shechina denoting the return of the nation to the lofty level of the Avot - and therefore, by the glory of Hashem filling the Sanctuary, the subject of Sefer Shemot was completed.
‘We can also - in this way - expound Rashi’s approach - the change in the order of the parshiot is because of the completeness of Sefer Vayikra -as its main subject is the service of the korbanot - the Sefer also being called:’the Torah of the Kohanim’ - as this service is at the heart of their role.
‘For this reason, the Torah changed the order, and first brought the laws of the korbanot - and only after this, the matter of the construction of the Sanctuary - as its main function was to serve as the place where the korbanot were to be offered - therefore the matter of the korbanot preceded the matter of the Sanctuary, as they were its objective.
‘By changing the order of things, the Torah teaches us that a person right at the outset, has to have in his mind, the final objective - so important is this lesson, that the Torah saw the need to change the order, and to precede the later to the earlier.’
לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, וכל פצועי צה"ל בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.