Tetzaveh | A Kohen for Seven Days

The Appointment of Aharon the Kohen

 

"Aharon Ha-Kohen" – Aharon the Priest – is an expression that seems to us to have existed from the beginning of time. However, a look at our parasha shows that this is not the case. Until now, Aharon has been mentioned in many different contexts, but never as a “kohen.” It is only now that this status is conferred on him:

 

And you shall command Bnei Yisrael that they bring you pure oil of olives, beaten, for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. In the Tent of Meeting outside of the veil which is before the Testimony, Aharon and his sons shall ready it from evening until morning before God; it is an eternal statute for their generations, on behalf of Bnei Yisrael. (Shemot 27:20-21)

 

Moshe is commanded concerning the oil for the menora, but it is Aharon who is responsible for the service that it entails, "from evening until morning.” This is the first indication of his role, and it is immediately followed by a more detailed exposition:

 

And you – bring close to you Aharon your brother, and his sons with him, from among Bnei Yisrael, that he may minister to Me as kohen: Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, Elazar and Itamar, the sons of Aharon. And you shall make garments of sanctity for Aharon your brother, for honor and for splendor. And you shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aharon's garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as kohen. (Shemot 28:1-3)

 

Aharon is to be "brought close" to serve as Kohen to God. With a long series of actions, the text describes his consecration,[1] including the fashioning of the priestly garments and the sacrifices of consecration:

 

And this is the thing that you will do for them, to sanctify them to minister to Me as kohanim: take one young bullock and two rams without blemish… And Aharon and his sons shall you bring close to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and you shall wash them with water. And you shall take the garments and put upon Aharon the coat, and the robe of the efod, and the efod, and the breastplate, and you shall gird him with the finely wrought girdle of the efod… And you shall cause the bullock to be brought before the Tent of Meeting, and Aharon and his sons shall place their hands upon the head of the bullock. And you shall slaughter the bullock before God, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting… And so shall you do for Aharon and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; seven days shall you consecrate them… And I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting, and the altar; and I will sanctify Aharon and his sons to minister to Me as kohanim. (Shemot 29:1-44)

 

"Moshe the Kohen"

 

What is Moshe's status in this process? Moshe consecrates Aharon and his sons, but he does not stop there. The sacrificial service, which will eventually be carried out by the kohanim, is in the meantime his responsibility. In his position as “kohen,” he even merits eating from the portion assigned to the kohanim from the peace offering: "You shall take the breast of the ram of Aharon's consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before God, and it shall be your portion" (29:26).

 

Chazal depict Moshe's status at this stage as follows:

 

"'And he slaughtered it, and Moshe took of the blood' (Vayikra 8) – Throughout the seven days of consecration, Moshe served as the Kohen Gadol. It was he who slaughtered, it was he who sprinkled, it was he who purified, it was he who poured, and it was he who made atonement. Therefore it is written, “va-yishchat va-yikach Moshe” (“Moshe slaughtered and took”)… Moshe would perform the slaughtering, while Aharon watched him; Moshe would sprinkle, while Aharon watched him; he would purify while he watched him, and likewise pour and atone, while Aharon watched him. (Sifra, Tzav, parasha 14)

 

A new role is coming into existence: the role of priesthood. Moshe ministers in this role for seven days, training Aharon and his sons and offering the sacrifices. After these seven days, on the eighth day, he will vacate this role. From this point onwards, the priesthood will belong to his brother, Aharon. The sacrifices of the eighth day are already offered by Aharon as Kohen (see Vayikra 9).

 

Two questions present themselves. First, what is the meaning of this appointment that Moshe receives for just one week? If Moshe is worthy of priesthood, why does he not remain the Kohen Gadol? If Aharon is worthy, why is he not appointed from the start? Second, we note that Moshe consecrates Aharon and trains him in the sacrificial service. But who trained Moshe to serve as kohen for these seven days? How is it that he needs no training?

 

We will attempt to answer these questions by looking at the bigger picture in the context of Moshe's overall status and the entire range of roles entrusted to him.

 

Thus far, Moshe has functioned in three realms. He is appointed by God as leader: "And now, go, and I shall send you to Pharaoh, and bring My nation, Bnei Yisrael, out of Egypt" (Shemot 3:10). He is given the practical and spiritual responsibility of leading the people, with all that this entails. On a different level, Moshe is also a prophet. The occasion of his appointment as leader is a prophetic event – the Divine revelation at the burning bush. Eventually, Moshe will come to be known as "the greatest of the prophets,” or as the Torah formulates it: "There has not since arisen a prophet in Israel like Moshe, whom God knew face to face" (Devarim 34:10).

 

In addition, Moshe is a judge, as we discover from the verses in Parashat Yitro: "And it was, on the next day, that Moshe sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moshe from the morning to the evening" (Shemot 18:13). This unit concludes with Yitro's advice that a legal system be established with officers of thousands, officers of hundreds, and of tens. In the wake of this "reform,” Moshe takes his place at the head of the legal system, with every difficult matter coming to him. He also represents the nation before God, and serves as God's emissary to the nation.

 

As if all of this is not enough, Moshe now assumes another position – that of "Moshe the Kohen.”

 

Four Domains in the Public Sphere

 

There are four domains that guide the public life of the nation. They are set forth consecutively in Sefer Devarim:

 

Judge: "If there arise a matter too difficult for you in judgment – between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between plague and plague, matters of controversy in your gates – then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the kohanim who are leviim, and to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they shall tell you the sentence of judgment. And you shall do according to the sentence which they of that place which God chooses shall tell you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they teach you. According to the teaching that they teach you, and concerning the judgment which they tell you, shall you do; you shall not deviate from the sentence which they tell you, to the right or to the left..." (Devarim 17:8-11)

 

King: "When you come to the land which the Lord your God gives to you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are round about me,’ then you may surely set aking over you, whom the Lord your God shall choose; [one] from among your brethren shall you set over you as king; you may not set over you a stranger who is not your brother…" (ibid. 14-15)

 

Kohen: "The kohanim who are leviim – the entire tribe of Levi – shall have no part or inheritance with Israel; the offerings of God made by fire and His dues shall they eat. And they shall have no inheritance amongst their brethren; God is their inheritance, as He has said to them. And this shall be the kohen's allotment from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice – whether it be an ox or a sheep: they shall give the kohen the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw. The first fruit of your corn and of your wine and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in God's Name – he and his sons, forever." (Devarim 18:1-5)

 

Prophet: "There shall not be found among you one who passes his son or his daughter through fire, or who uses divination, a soothsayer, enchanter, or witch… You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your God. For these nations, which you are to dispossess – they listen to soothsayers and to diviners, but for you the Lord your God has not permitted this. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your midst, one of your brethren, like me; to him you shall listen…" (ibid. 10-15)

 

What distinguishes each of these domains? And what is the relationship between them?

 

Judge: The unit describes someone faced with some matter of uncertainty, and he is called upon to go up to the place that God chooses, to the "kohanim who are leviim,” and to "the judge who will be in those days.” There he must inquire and delve into the matter, and they will tell him the "sentence of judgment" – a sort of objective truth that may be perceived from this lofty perspective.

 

In contrast to the judge, the description of the king appears in the wake of an historical process of maturation on the part of the people: "When you come to the land" – the physical arrival; "which the Lord your God gives to you" – the land is given to the people, transferred to their domain; "and you take possession of it" – the nation attains sovereignty; "and dwell in it" – a psychological and spiritual settling in the land. Only after these three stages will the psyche of the nation be aroused to seek a king: "And you say, ‘I will set a king over me’" – like the other nations that appoint kings over themselves, with no Divine involvement in the process of the appointment. Under these circumstances, the nation will seek a king who is their own emissary and representative.[2] Unlike the judge, whose position is independent, the king appears only after a lengthy historical process in which the nation matures and undergoes spiritual processes.[3] Unlike the judge, who presents the people with "pure truth,” the king is in a position to give expression to the nation's deepest desires.

 

These two domains – the judge and the king – pertain to life on the practical level. Now the text goes on to describe two more domains, which pertain to spiritual life.

 

Kohen: The description begins with the differentiation between the kohen and the rest of the nation: "The kohanim who are leviim, the entire tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel." His portion as a regular citizen is cancelled (for example, he receives no share of spoils taken in war), and he receives no inheritance of land. The reason for this is that the kohen is set apart; he belongs to a higher domain; he is nourished by the sacrifices brought to the Temple. "God is his inheritance."[4]

 

The fourth element in this picture is the prophet. The description of his role starts with an instruction to the people: "There shall not be found among you one who passes his son or his daughter through fire or who uses divination, a soothsayer, enchanter, or witch" – all of which are defined as abominations. In contrast to all of these, God commands, "You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your God" – in His place and in proximity to Him. After the list of different types of enchanters and soothsayers, we read: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your midst, one of your brethren, like me; to him you shall listen." The same spiritual powers described previously in their various distortions, may also – when properly directed – lead to prophecy. The prophet embodies the spirit of the people and is a "wholehearted" and faithful expression of these powers.

 

Unlike the unit describing the kohen, which starts with a description of the "differentness" of the kohen, the point of departure when it comes to the prophet is his spiritual power. Another contrast between them is that whereas the kohen is to be found in the Mikdash, the prophet grows "from your midst;" he is part of the nation. In addition, unlike the kohen, who ministers in God's Name, the prophet bridges the gap between the people and God, facilitating an encounter.[5]

 

Four Domains that are Two

 

These four domains actually consist of two pairs, which operate in tandem during the biblical period. The kohen and the judge both bring the people to an encounter with a transcendent, spiritual reality, an encounter with the "heavens,” as it were. In a similar context, both are associated with "the place which God will choose" (the kohen – extensively; the judge – as a member of the Great Court that sits in the Hall of Hewn Stone). The kohen is there as the functionary responsible for the service of the Mikdash and other spiritual matters; the judge is there in his capacity of deciding matters of law. As noted, these two roles are complementary: the priesthood relates to the spiritual realm, while the judge is concerned with worldly affairs and social relations.

 

The other pair is comprised of the prophet and the king. Both guide national life, focusing on the issues facing the nation at any given time. The prophet leads as a man of the spirit, the visionary who understands the deepest aspects of reality and guides it. The king directs and bears responsibility for the nation's life in the here-and-now. Unlike the judge, who utters pure truth, the spirituality of the king is synchronized with his all-encompassing involvement with and responsibility for reality.

 

The relationship between these four functions might be presented schematically as follows:

 

	"From that place" – transcendent	Expression of the nation's deepest aspirations
Spiritual	kohen	prophet
Practical	judge	king

 

 

            The question arises: according to these textual units, are these four domains meant to be occupied by a single individual, or are they separate from one another? Are we talking of one consolidated system or four separate powers?

 

The text seems to give no indication of any mingling or overlap among these roles. There is a substantial difference between one domain and another in terms of the literary structure of its presentation,[6] the location of each functionary,[7]and – beyond these technical details – the essence of the role and the abilities that it demands. The legal system is important enough that it occupies a domain in its own right; this is also true of the king, the priesthood, and prophecy. A mingling of these domains could negatively affect their professionalism, and could also create a situation of conflict of interest.[8]

 

Separation of Powers – A Historical Process

 

Let us briefly survey the state of these various domains from the time of Moshe up until the First Temple period.

 

As noted, Moshe occupies all four domains during the seven days of inauguration, following which he hands over the priesthood to Aharon and his sons.

 

Yehoshua receives his power from Moshe, and to a considerable extent he represents a continuation of Moshe's leadership.[9] Like Moshe, he serves as leader, as prophet (God speaks to him repeatedly), and also as judge.[10] The Kohen in his generation is Elazar, son of Aharon, who is succeeded in turn by Pinchas, his son.[11]

 

In Sefer Shoftim, the four domains are more or less frozen; national life during this period all but comes to a halt.[12]

 

Sefer Shmuel starts with a description of Eli Ha-Kohen, at a time when the public system has not yet "awoken.” Eli is not a leader, and yet at his death he is described with same the formula used for the leaders in Sefer Shoftim,[13]a sign of the weak leadership of someone whose main interest was the Mikdash, not what lay outside of it. It is possible that at a certain stage he was also a prophet.[14] His leadership may be viewed as a sort of regression to an unsuccessful combination of priesthood and leadership,[15] ending in his loss of both the priesthood and public life (in the words that the man of God addresses to him in chapter 2).

 

Shmuel is regarded as leader by virtue of being a prophet,[16]and in practice he serves as leader and judge, but not as a kohen.

 

In Shaul's generation, there comes a further separation, following which the prophet stands at the side of the leader – the king – and a relationship is maintained between the man of the spirit and the leader in practice. At this stage, there is a separation between the domain of the king, the domain of the kohen, and the domain of the prophet. The king, however, is still responsible for judgment.[17]

 

This severance between the prophet – the man of spirit – and the king becomes more clearly defined in the time of David. David is king and judge, but he does not serve as a prophet. Whenever God seeks to convey something to him, He sends a prophet to him. Conversely, David approaches the prophet. This situation of separation continues afterwards as well.[18] During the period of David's reign, the four domains are empowered and they become important and significant;[19]at the same time, the separation between them is clearer.

 

Right up to the end of the Tanakh, there is no description signifying a clear separation between the domain of the king and that of the judge. A description of this sort exists in the Oral Law and is seemingly self-evident.[20] This process of separation of powers is a logical, natural, necessary one, and it happens in different human societies.[21]

 

The process of separation might be summarized as follows: At first, the four powers overlap, with the same individual bearing within him the positions of transcendent holiness (priesthood), spiritual leader (prophet), as well as judge and king. The first separation involves the role of the kohen, who represents the pole furthest removed from leadership and the monarchy. Thus, the seven days of inauguration attribute the role of kohen to Moshe only in the context of instructing Aharon, rather than as a real option. The next separation involves prophecy – once again, owing to its fundamental association with the world of the spirit. The severance of both of these functions benefits themselves as well as the institution of leadership. It benefits leadership in the sense that it allows whoever is responsible for leading to be guided by inner, immanent logic. The separation is also good for the functions of priesthood and prophecy insofar as they receive their proper elevated status, attached to the world of the spirit and receiving spiritual inspiration, rather than being enmeshed and involved in the affairs of this world, with the danger of being drawn to even its lowest levels. Last to separate from leadership is the legal system. Like kingship, law is also concerned with the reality of here-and-now, but in contrast to it, law is oriented towards the objective truth, the continuation of the principle that "judgment belongs to God.” Kingship involves temporal existence, and its tools are temporal, too – the spirit of the king, the spirit of the people, and what takes place between them.

 

Moshe Serves in all Four Capacities

 

This unit depicts a historical process whose point of departure is a concentration of powers; then, as reality develops, there is a separation. It would seem that the attribution of all four powers to Moshe embodies the idea that all four emanate from the same source. Had these four powers come into the world separately, the chasm between them would be widened; the unresolvable contradictions between them, and the resulting battles, would be intensified. Their collective attribution to Moshe is, first and foremost, a spiritual statement. An encounter with Moshe is, in some sense, comparable to an encounter with the Divine.[22]He is the man appointed by God and invited into the greatest intimacy that a mortal has ever known with Him. In this transcendent reality, the four domains exist and function side by side.

 

The distinction between the powers is a spiritual and philosophical one, but no less so also existential and practical. It invites the reader to meditate on the text and try to understand the nature of each of the four domains: to identify the friction between them and to try to decode the wisdom and the complexity embodied in Moshe, the "man of God,” who was able to maintain these roles and, at the same time, to separate them, allowing each to exist side by side within him.

 

Translated by Kaeren Fish