by Rabbi Avi Billet
Reading carefully through Vayikra Chapter 8, one discovers that basically all of the service that is done is accomplished through the capable hands of… Moshe. Not Aharon, not Aharon’s sons (the Kohanim).
Of course, this is certainly understandable as the whole series of procedures is meant to inaugurate Aharon and sons into their new status and their positions as Kohanim. Nothing is more clear about that than verse 8:33 in which Aharon and sons are instructed not to leave the Mishkan for a 7-day period. This is the time of their full-blown-consecration, so there they must be. (Ibn Ezra and Chizkuni note that they must have been able to step out to take care of bodily functions and that their presence there was not a full-blown confinement or quarantine – it was simply meant to help them keep focus on where they were and what they were supposed to be achieving in that space.)
Moshe’s role, however, seems out of character. Meaning, if Moshe were to be the Kohen Gadol, or A Kohen Gadol (sharing the position with Aharon) it would almost make sense, perhaps in a manner similar to how the Parah Adumah ashes would work – those who would handle it, bringing purity to others, would end up becoming tamei until the evening – that Moshe should be able to fill this role, but once the inaugural period is over, he’d return to his regular status.
Since prior to this inauguration time there was no Kohen, how could Aharon and sons become Kohanim through the agency of a Kohen? Clearly that would be impossible! Comes Moshe Rabbenu… and the rest is history…
How does that work?
In general, the role of the Kohen is one of higher sanctification. Subsequent to the consecration of Aharon and Sons to the positions of Kohen, their future generations would not need the consecration as it would become genetic. But the sanctification component of simply being a Kohen would become a calling for every Kohen in every generation. How does a Kohen fill a role he is born into, with dignity, class, and of course, with the proper spiritual mettle?
This is where Moshe Rabbenu comes in, serving as a model for all time. The Midrash tells us (Vayikra Raba 11:6) that Moshe served as Kohen Gadol not only these 7 days, but also for all 40 years in the wilderness. This, of course, doesn’t follow what the Torah tells us, but it is based in the verse we say on Friday nights in Kabbalas Shabbos – משה ואהרן בכהנו – which indicate an equality between the brothers in Kehunah. At the same time, the Talmud (Taanis 11b) has students of Mar Ukva posing him a question as to what clothing Moshe wore during this time? The Talmud’s conclusion is that he wore a white tunic that had no hems or seams – not his regular clothing, and not clothing on par or in equivalence with that of his brother.
No matter how we look at Moshe’s role, we can take a valuable lesson from how Moshe went about his business in this parsha.
If someone is going to play this particular role of being the anointer of the Kohanim, presumably this person will have to be on a level that is worthy of casting such holiness upon them. There is none more worthy than Moshe Rabbenu, of course, but we can certainly ask how we can know that unequivocally. What would have been the criteria to be the anointer and appointer of the Kohanim?
In particular through the aftermath of the Golden Calf we see Moshe Rabbenu rise in stature in the way people did not see and could not discern prior to those events. Certainly Moshe had achieved powerful moments of respect and awe in Egypt (Shmos 11:3) and after the splitting of the sea (14:31) but when he was on top of the mountain, people referred to him as זה מה האיש – this man Moshe, seemingly not such a respectful tone – we don’t know what became of him!
In retrospect, between Moshe’s time on the mountain AND the events which followed the Golden Calf there was a switch in how people perceived him, between his tent becoming the makeshift Ohel Moed, his face shining, his breaking the Tablets and getting a “Yasher Koach” from God, he is miles ahead of where any other person can possibly be, and therefore ready to be the one consecrating the Kohanim.
The question we are tasked with is, how could we possibly achieve a similar status?
Of course the circumstances are quite different. None of us will have a 40 days (or 120 day) chavrusa with God. None of us will preside over a makeshift Mishkan, or bring Tablets down from Mt. Sinai.
But we can dedicate ourselves wholly to the Almighty. We can aim to learn from Moshe’s teachings, which all emanate from the Torah he gave to us through God’s hand. We can challenge ourselves to live lives of holiness. And who knows? Is it farfetched to think that these efforts would pay off in our own development were we to grasp the challenge and run with it?
הרצים יצאו דחופים בדבר המלך – we just read in the Megillah that the runners ran out hurriedly on the king’s instruction. There is a tradition that when the word המלך appears in the Megillah, we are to imagine that it refers to the King of Kings. We have our challenges before us, our job in life to always be aiming higher in our service of the Almighty, to take the challenge and run with it.
According to the Talmud, Moshe was able to serve as an erstwhile Kohen Gadol because he had achieved greatness in his life. At the same time, he wasn’t a complete Kohen Gadol with the proper vestments, because not even Moshe Rabbenu can get to such a position. But Moshe was uniquely suited for the task at hand of inaugurating and anointing his brother and nephews because of the things he had personally achieved in his own life.
We too can achieve greatness. We know what our job is in our service of God. Some of us work at it more, and some perhaps less than we are capable of. May we learn from and emulate Moshe Rabbenu, who even after all he had achieved, always saw that he was incomplete and always aimed a little higher and to do a little more, constantly improving on himself so that, to use our Parsha’s example, he could anoint the Kohanim, even if he would or could never fully be a Kohen himself, complete in the manner that his brother Aharon was destined to become.
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