קח את אהרן, “take Aaron, etc.” Rashi explains that the chapter introduced here was said by G’d to Moses seven days prior to the erection of the Tabernacle. Nachmanides takes issue with Rashi, asking why he takes such liberties with the Divine words of the Torah by editing their sequence. Furthermore, he (Rashi) claims that on that first day of Nissan G’d told Moses all about the erection of the Tabernacle, the inaugural consecration offerings, the garments of the priests and their having to be being clothed in them, etc., but reporting only about what Moses had done during the seven days following without mentioning anything about what Aaron and his sons had done until this moment. How would Rashi explain that in this instance an event has been reported in two entirely different contexts? When we encounter the Torah reporting matters not in chronological order, at least the same subject is not torn asunder by some parts being reported in one Book, in one context, and the other part in a different Book in another context? Therefore, the correct interpretation of what happened must be that Moses was indeed commanded concerning all of the foregoing on the occasion when he put up the Tabernacle for the first time, on the 23rd of Adar. After having succeeded in putting it up completely on that occasion, G’d called to him, and instructed him concerning all the various offerings which we have read about ever since the beginning of Parshat Vayikra, because He wanted Moses to be familiar with all of them before the time came to make this part of the daily routine and before he would offer up any of them during the days that he would act as High Priest pro temp. After all, the consecration offerings consisted of burnt offerings, sin-offerings, and peace offerings. The priests were not familiar with the laws governing all of the offerings until they had learned what has been written in the Torah from the beginning of Parshat Vayikra until here. After having made Moses familiar with these laws, G’d told Moses to take Aaron, (8,2) to “take Aaron, etc.,” and to exercise speed and dedication when performing these various procedures. G’d repeated, to a certain extent, what He had told Moses וזה אשר תעשה להם וגו', (Exodus 29,1) when he had been commanded about the inaugural consecration offerings of the priests. Moses conveyed these laws to the priests as and when their performance became imminent, after they had been informed that G’d had selected them to their new status as a status transmitted by heredity based on paternity. The only thing that has been added in our verse is that this consecration took place in full view of the entire congregation. (Verse 3) Thus far Nachmanides. We are able also to explain what Rashi has said by following the same approach. What Rashi meant when he referred to the seven days prior to the erection of the Tabernacle simply refers to the period before the Tabernacle had been erected permanently, i.e. was not taken apart again every evening. The “final” erection of the Tabernacle occurred only on the eighth day of the inaugural consecration rites, on the first day of Nissan. Days during which the Tabernacle was alternately put together and taken apart were not considered as “after the erecting of the Tabernacle.”

ואת כל העדה הקהל אל פתח אהל מועד, “and assemble the entire congregation to the entrance of the tent of Meeting!” Even though the Tabernacle had been erected on the first of Nissan, and this occurred on the 23rd of Adar prior to that, according to the opinion that during the first seven days of the Tabernacle it was erected and taken apart by Moses on a daily basis during those days, seeing that during these seven days the Tabernacle was in position during the day, it is quite appropriate for the Torah to refer to an entrance of the “Tent of Meeting.”

וירחץ אותם במים, “he immersed them in water.” Nachmanides writes that he believes that most likely Moses immersed all of them (Aaron and his four sons) in a ritual bath; however, he did not immerse them in such a bath simultaneously, but he first immersed Aaron and then dressed him in the appropriate priestly garments; anointing him. Following this, he performed the same procedure on each of Aaron’s sons.

ויתן עליו את הכתונת ויחגור אותו באבנט, “he placed the tunic on him and girdled him with the sash.” Nachmanides points out that when Moses was commanded to dress Aaron, the Torah writes:והלבשת את אהרן את הכתונת ואת מעיל האפוד, “you are to dress him in the tunic and the robe with theephod,” whereas here no mention is made of the robe and the ephod. The reason may be that actually Moses followed the normal procedure. It is customary that after putting on the tunic that one girdles oneself with a belt. Seeing that the Torah had wanted to include all the garments in a single instruction, the belt had been mentioned last on that occasion, including both Aaron and his sons in the instruction to belt their garments. Nevertheless, the normal sequence was that reported here, i.e. donning a tunic followed by tightening it with the belt, followed by donning the robe. Moses was well aware of these procedures, but in this instance it was of importance that the ephod and the breastplate attached to it, also had to be somehow attached to the belt. The Torah, during its instructions concerning these garments, and the sequence in which they were to be donned, describes this in the second half of chapter 28 in Exodus, and makes these connections fairly plain. [I have abbreviated here, as without an illustration this is not easy to follow. Ed.]

[This apparent error in the sequence (we already had reference to verse 12) is not an error on my part, but I am copying the sequence as printed in my version of the Tur, where this does not appear in the corrections at the end as an error. Ed.] ויז ממנו על המזבח, “he sprinkled from it on the altar, etc.” Rashi claims that he does not know whence Moses had been instructed to do this. Nachmanides feels that it is possible that this was included in the verse in which the altar had been sanctified, i.e. in the instructions commencing in Exodus According to verse 10 of that chapter, the altar was to be both anointed and sanctified, as a result of which it would become “holy of holies.” The implication of the wording is that the additional sanctification may have been achieved through the sprinkling of this blood on the altar seven times. The sanctity status of the altar exceeded that of the rest of the Tabernacle because the altar had not only been anointed with the special oil, but had also had sacrificial blood sprinkled on it. It is no more than logical that the “additional” sanctity achieved by the altar was the result of it having been treated like the people who actively presented the offerings in the Tabernacle, i.e. by being anointed also with the same oil.

ויצוק על ראש אהרן, “he then poured it on the head of Aaron, etc.” Nachmanides writes that in this instance too, Moses performed the procedures in the correct order, as he had been commanded to perform these steps in this order when first told about the oil of anointing (Exodus 30,26-30) This was the reason that Moses did not want to anoint the Tabernacle itself until he could immediately thereafter anoint Aaron and his sons and their garments. The entire procedure of anointing took place as a continuous sequence. This was all necessary to enable the party who offered the sacrifices to be invited into the Tabernacle to perform the duties that could be performed only inside the Sanctuary, such as lighting the Menorah, burning the incense, and sprinkling the blood of certain of the sin-offerings on the golden altar. In those verses Moses had been told to first anoint he Tabernacle followed by the command to anoint and thereby to sanctify Aaron and his sons. [No mention is made in the text of the sons of Aaron having been anointed with oil. Ed.] Aaron and his sons were also to be sprinkled with some of the blood from the altar of the inaugural consecration offerings that had been presented by Moses as the High Priest prior to Aaron’s induction. Normally, [i.e. when the occasion should arise again to anoint a Tabernacle or Temple, I presume, Ed.] this would not take place until after the priests had already donned the garments in which they would perform their service. Anyone perusing the text of Nachmanides as we have it nowadays will note that it is substantially different from that which had been at the disposal of the Tur. It is not my task as a translator to reconcile these versions, and if the reader on comparing texts, finds fault with my translation this may be due to my following the Tur’s quote of Nachmanides, as he had it. Ed.] Personally, I am nonplussed why the anointing of Aaron’s sons is mentioned here at all. [An alternate version adds the word “not” i.e. why the anointing of the sons of Aaron was not mentioned here at all. Ed.] Nachmanides writes [in our versions on verse 11. Ed.] that there was no need for mentioning the anointing of the sons of Aaron at all, as it is clear from the tenor of the text that the sons underwent the same procedures as their father. After all, the Torah wrote when detailing the instructions to Moses: ומשחת אותם, “you are to anoint them.” (Exodus 28,41) The fact that Moses had carried out these instructions is confirmed when the Torah writes that Moses carried out the instructions G’d had given him. (End of verse 13) It appears to me (Nachmanides writing) that the anointment of Aaron’s sons was not performed by pouring oil of anointment on their heads, seeing that this detail has not been mentioned except in connection with Aaron himself even in the instructions to Moses, (compare Exodus 29,7) whereas in that verse the Torah does not mention anointment of his sons at all. It is therefore possible that the sons were not anointed with oil at all, but that they were only sprinkled with some of the blood and the oil of the inaugural offering as described in Exodus 29,21 [a sprinkling which stained their garments, not their bodies. Ed.] In that paragraph no mention is made of either pouring oil on the sons of Aaron or of anointing their heads with it. However, in the paragraph dealing with the erection of the Tabernacle in Parshat Pekudey (40,15) the Torah does speak of Moses having to anoint Aaron’s sons with the words: “as you have done to their father.” On that occasion no mention is made of their being sprinkled at all. No mention is made of this anointing with oil of the sons of Aaron in the paragraph dealing with the oil of anointing and its subjects, either. This leads me to believe that the sons were only sprinkled with oil.

ויחטא את המזבח, “he enabled the altar to dispense atonement.” According to Rashi this was done by removing its former status as being profane, making it sacred.

ויקדשהו, “he sanctified it;” by means of the service performed on it now, for the future also.

לכפר עליו, “to provide atonement on it.” For all subsequent generations. We learn from here that the fact that the meat of the inaugural offering which had not yet been consumed by the flames on the altar, did not hold up the altar’s ability to confer atonement on the people who had so far presented an offering on this altar. In a תוספתא discussing the subject of מלואים, it is stated that if someone donates anything against his better judgment (not from free volition) this gift may act as advance protection for him so that he will not become guilty of bringing stolen goods to the Temple, something of which G’d is on record as saying שונא גזל בעולה, “He hates it if the burnt offering had been obtained unlawfully.” (Compare Sukkah 30) [I do not know of a “Tossephta miluim, but I found something similar to this in the Sifra.קפ Ed.]

ואת הפר ואת עורו ואת בשרו ואת פרשו, “and the bull with it hide, flesh and its waste.” Even though the Torah had already mentioned the hide, the flesh and the waste separately, the Torah still wrote “and” the bull, thereby including bones, tendons horns and hooves that had not been spelled out. Alternately, the ו in the word ואת preceding the word עורו is extraneous, similar to Numbers 19,5 ושרף את הפרה לעיניו, את עורה ואת בשרה ואת דמה על פרשה ישרוף, “Someone shall burn the cow before his eyes, its hide, and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn.”

ויקטר משה את הראש ואת הנתחים ואת הפדר., “Moses burned up the head, the various parts, and the fat parts to go up in smoke.” The meaning is not that Moses burned up all these parts separately at different times, but it means that when the time for burning up these parts had arrived he proceeded to do so, as instructed.

את האיל השני איל המלואים, “the second ram, the ram representing the inauguration;” Nachmanides writes that all of these offerings were inaugural offerings; we know this already from Exodus 29,1 “and this is the matter that you shall do for them to sanctify them, etc.” Why then was the second ram only referred to here as the “ram of the inaugural offering?” The reason this expression “inaugural” was applied here to the second ram is because it was the last of the series of inaugural offerings. The same adjective would, of course, have been applicable to all of them. Each one of the offerings in the series is מעכב, indispensable, in order for the people concerned to become sanctified in their new role as priests. It is possible that the bull of the sin-offering here was meant to atone for any infringement of the laws concerning the altar, as a result of which atonement it could be sanctified, just as the purpose of the burnt offering was to gain grace in the eyes of Hashem. The shlamim, peace*-*offering on the other hand, was an expression of gratitude by the newly appointed priests that G’d had granted them such a distinction to have such unrestricted entrance to the holy precincts. In other words, the real “consecration” offering was only this peace offering; the other two offerings were preambles. Seeing that they were necessary preconditions, all of these three types of offerings are called מילואים, (plural mode

ויקח משה משמן המשחה ומן הדם אשר על המזבח, “Moses took from the oil of the anointing, and from the blood on the altar, etc.” Nachmanides writes that it is not clear to him why the procedure of sprinkling the oil and blood on Aaron and his sons was delayed until after the burning up of the מילואים offerings that required this. When you compare the directives Moses had received concerning these offerings, you will find that the sprinklings are mentioned prior to the burning up of the parts on the altar that required this. (Compare Exodus 29,21). Possibly, the reason is that during the directives the Torah speaks of the priests and their garments becoming sanctified as a result of this sprinkling. From this wording Moses might have concluded that the final stage in the sanctification of the priests and their garments would not be attained until then. It is a fact that during the directives in chapter 29 of Exodus no mention is made of sanctification. [I believe the author means that no procedure there is described as specifically designed to sanctify the priest, as for instance portions of the meat of the איל המילואים are specifically described as undergoing sanctification procedure (verse 27.] In connection with putting the blood from the sacrifice on Aaron’s right ear or big toe, we also do not encounter the word קדוש at all. When we read in verse 12 of our chapter וימשח אותו לקדשו, that Moses anointed him in order to sanctify him, we must assume that this was only a partial sanctification, and that the procedure would only be completed with ויקדש את אהרן את בגדיו ואת בגדי בניו אתו , “he sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons and their garments at the same time.” Sanctification of father and sons was described as being complete as a result of these sprinklings.

והנותר בבשר ובלחם, “and any leftover of either the meat or the bread, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the letters ב in front of the words בשר and לחם have to be understood as if the Torah had written מבשר ומלחם, i.e. “leftovers from.” The meaning of the word נותר does not mean something left over until the morning, seeing this had already been written in Exodus

ופתח אהל מועד תשבו יומם ולילה שבעת ימים, “at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting shall you dwell day and night for seven days.” We are taught in Torat Kohanim that this is not a prohibition not to leave this spot during the entire seven days, but the meaning is that during the daylight hours when Temple service may be in progress, Aaron and his sons are not to leave that location. We derive the rule from this verse for all future generations that any priest who abandons his station during the hours that Temple service is ongoing is guilty of death

את כל הדברים אשר צוה ה' ביד משה, “all the matters which Hashem had commanded through Moses. Nachmanides writes that the reason the Torah does not use the customary wording of כאשר צוה ה' את משה, is because Aaron’s sons did not do exactly as G’d had commanded Moses, by adding strange fire, i.e. fire that did not originate in heaven. They had not been instructed to do this.