וזה הדבר אשר תעשה להם, “This is the matter that you shall do for them:” Actually, we would have expected the Torah to write: זה אשר תעשה להם, just as the Torah wrote in verse 38: וזה אשר תעשה על המזבח, where the word הדבר does not appear. The reason the word הדבר has been added in our verse is that seeing this paragraph introduces the whole subject of sacrificial offerings and there will be times when such offerings cannot be brought due to the absence of the Temple, the substitute of prayer, i.e. “words” or דבר, is a hint of such future developments. This is what Hoseah 14,3 is all about when he said קחו עמכם דברים ועבדו את ה', “take with you words and serve the Lord.” Another verse conveying a similar message is ונשלמה פרים שפתינו, “and let us substitute with our lips for bulls.”

לקח פר אחד בן-בקר ואילים שנים, “take one young bull and two rams, etc.” these three animals are symbolic of the three patriarchs of the world; Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. A Midrashic approach: The word פר refers to Aaron whereas the words “two rams” refer to his surviving sons Eleazar and Ittamar. The Torah here forecast in an oblique way that Nadav and Avihu would not perform priestly functions.

ואת בשר הפר, ”and the flesh of the bull, etc.” The sin-offering of a bull was meant to atone for the sin of the golden calf. When the Torah writes: “you shall burn its flesh by fire,” this expression is very similar to the one used for the red heifer’s flesh (Numbers 18,7). The mystical dimension of these procedures is known already from the scapegoat in Leviticus 16. The reason for assuming that this bull was to atone for the sin of the golden calf is that the High Priest when guilty of a sin involving idolatry has to offer a bull as sin-offering as described in Leviticus 4,3. The reason Aaron’s sons also had to place their hands on that bull prior to it being slaughtered (verse 10) was that seeing that G’d had been angry at Aaron for his part in the sin of the golden calf (Deut. 9,20), and He meant to kill him and his sons, it was critical that they become part of the atonement process. The word להשמידו which Moses used in that verse in Deut. 9,20 meant that Aaron’s sons would be killed also.

כל הנוגע במזבח יקדש, whatever touches the altar becomes sanctified.” The wording of this statement suggests that regardless of whether something is suitable for the altar or not, mere contact with it makes it holy. In order to prevent us from arriving at such a conclusion, the Torah wrote in the next verse: וזה אשר תעשה על המזבח כבשים בני שנה, “and this is what you shall prepare on the altar: sheep within their first year, etc.” Just as year-old sheep are suitable as sacrifices on the altar, so everything else which is suitable as a sacrifice on the altar will become sanctified by contact with it. Another law to be derived from the wording of our verse is that any priest who arrives first in order to offer the sacrifice will have some priority, i.e. he has been sanctified in respect of priests arriving later. Seeing he has been on the altar in order to perform sacrificial service he is not to be replaced in favour of someone else without having had a chance to perform his task.

וזה אשר תעשה על המזבח, “and this is what you are to do on the altar, etc.” the word עשייה here refers to the arranging of the various parts of the animal on the altar and the pile of wood which occurred at sunrise. The actual slaughtering of the daily burnt-offering had taken place earlier as soon as the eastern sky had begun to become light. Six priests participated in that sacrifice (Yuma 24). One would carry the legs and the head, the other the two forelegs; the third the rear end and hind leg, the fourth the chest and the stomach; the fifth would carry the rib-cage, and the sixth would carry the entrails.

ונסך רביעית ההין יין לכבש האחד, “and a drink-offering of one quarter hin wine for the one sheep.” Rabbeinu Chananel writes that as soon as the priest had bowed down in order to offer the libation the deputy High Priest would wave the flag-like cloth to signal to the Levites to begin to chant their hymns. A the time of the Mishnah, a certain ben Arza would then strike the cymbal as a further signal and the Levites would commence reciting their hymns. All the assembled people would bow down and after every section the tekiah blast of the shofar would be blown and the trumpets would be blown until the end of the offering of the burnt-offering. At the end of that procedure the King and all those present with him would prostrate themselves (Chronicles II 29,28-40; compare also Tamid 7,3). The Levites would follow this procedure every day, varying the hymn they would sing. On Sundays they would recite Psalm 24,1 as that psalm dealt with aspects of the creation of the universe, recalling that everything had been void and empty before. The psalm concludes with the words ויבא מלך הכבוד to commemorate the directive “let there be light.” The attribute כבוד also known as Shechinah is a great light. On Mondays the Levites chanted psalm 48. In verse 4 of that psalm the separation between different levels of holiness is alluded to. In the Holy Temple there were different levels of sanctity such as the Azarah, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. On the second day of creation the Torah speaks of separation between upper and lower waters (Genesis 1,6). These various levels of sanctity are referred to in verse 4 of our psalm by the word ארמנותיה, “its various citadels, palaces.” On Tuesdays the Levites would chant psalm 82 which features a verse (3) speaking about judging the poor etc. This corresponds to the directive that all the waters in the terrestrial world were to concentrate in one area so that the dry land could become visible (Genesis 1,9). This was an allusion for the judges to congregate when they sat in judgment and to pronounce judgment for each individual supplicant. On that day the Torah (G’d) also directed that the earth should produce trees, etc., each according to its own kind (Genesis 1,12), an allusion to the individuality which is to be preserved on earth. When we read in that psalm that alas, man had to die, unlike the angels, the reference is to the sin committed in that garden in which all these beautiful trees had grown. This is why the psalm recited by the Levites on the fourth day i.e. psalm 94, which commences with the reminder that G’d does take revenge on those who hate Him, is appropriate for Wednesday, the day the sun and moon were placed in orbit. The psalmist refers to the people worshipping sun and moon. On Thursdays the Levites used to chant psalm 81 which amongst other matters deals with the Exodus from Egypt. Pharaoh was compared to a sea-monster, תנין, and on that day the great sea-monsters had been created (Genesis 1,21). On Fridays the Levites chanted psalm 93 describing how even G’d robed Himself in splendor. It was the day that man, the most perfect of the creatures was created, a creature combining within himself some divine attributes (created in the image of G’d). He had been assigned dominion over the animals and even nature, i.e. was liable to similarly regard himself as sovereign in his domain on earth. Chanting that psalm then was in keeping with the significance of the day. On the Sabbath the Levites chanted psalm 92, a hymn in which the righteous are described as firmly planted in the House of the Lord, a reference to the Holy Temple. It is entirely possible that there are still more allusions in these various psalms chanted by the Levites on the different days of the week. Thus far Rabbeinu Chananel.

כמנחת הבוקר וכנסכה תעשה לה, “like the meal-offering of the morning and its libation shall you prepare it.” In Numbers 28,8 where the Torah speaks about the same offering the wording is כמנחת הבוקר וכנסכו תעשה אשה ריח ניחוח לה'. Why is the masculine pronoun used there in connection with this offering? Answer: in Numbers the reference is to the word בוקר, morning, whereas in our verse here the reference is to the word מנחה, i.e. the nature of the sacrifice mentioned here being a מנחה, gift-offering though it was totally consumed on the altar. The word לה in this connection is quite unique; we do not find this formulation elsewhere. It is possible that it refers to the tenth emanation which this offering was aimed at. [The word would not then be understood as the ordinary “for it,” but as directed at what the last letter ה in the tetragrammaton represents (based on Torat Chayim)]

ונועדתי שמה, “I shall make My meeting there.” The word שמה, “there,” refers to the altar mentioned earlier. This is what prompted our sages, quoted by Rashi, to say that as soon as the Tabernacle had been erected G’d would communicate with Moses from the copper altar.

Other sages claim that G’d spoke to Moses from between the wings of the cherubs on the kapporet as mentioned specifically in 25,22. According to that view the word שמה in our verse does not refer to the altar but to the Tabernacle as mentioned in verse 42 פתח אהל מועד, “at the entrance to the tent of Meeting.”

ונקדש בכבודי, “it will be sanctified by means of My attribute כבוד.” The fact that My Shechinah will rest on it will make it holy (compare Rashi). A Midrashic approach based on Zevachim 115 reads the word as במכובדים שלי rather than as בכבודי. The difference is that G’d feels Himself honored and glorified by those near Him. We would be dealing with an allusion to the death of Nadav and Avihu which had been characterized by Moses as an example of the type of death granted only to those who are especially near and dear to the Lord (compare Leviticus 10,3).

וידעו כי אני ה' אלוהי-הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים לשכני בתוכם, “They shall know that I am Hashem, their G’d, Who took them out of the land of Egypt to rest My Presence amongst them.” The verse means that the purpose of the Exodus was to bring about that G’d’s Shechinah would rest amongst the Jewish people. This is perceived as a requirement by G’d’s attribute of כבוד rather than as a requirement of the Jewish people. This is a mind-boggling concept, meaning that unless G’d’s Presence manifested itself amongst the Jewish people His Kingdom would not be visible amongst mankind. Expressed differently: the whole Exodus was orchestrated in order for the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your G’d, etc.,” to be acknowledged by the Jewish people. This is the reason why the words מארץ מצרים appear in he middle of this verse.

I have also found words to this effect in Midrash Tehillim on the verse בצאת ישראל ממצרים on Psalms 114. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says that the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt through the merit of the Tabernacle. He bases this on the words וירא אלוקים את בני ישראל in Exodus 2,25, and compares them with the words וירא משה את כל המלאכה, “and Moses saw the entire work” (Exodus 39,43). The words וירא in the respective verses teach that G’d’s purpose in Exodus 2,25 was to achieve what Moses saw in Exodus 39,43. The words אשר הוצאתי אותם, may mean that the condition of taking the people out of Egypt had been in order for what is reported at the very end of the Book of Exodus to occur. ...

In Psalms 132,13 this concept is expressed in the words אוה למושב לו, “He has desired it for His seat.” There is another mention of this concept in the very next verse in that psalm where the psalmist says: “here I will dwell for I desire it.” There are numerous other verses scattered throughout the Bible as I have mentioned in my commentary on Exodus 20,1.