Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Tetzaveh 2

as we said that sits says everything we do is Holy to God and therefore it's as if we're saying God even if we make mistakes please accept it willingly with love because we're human human beings make mistakes and uh through this um sits all mistakes that are done in the sanctuary are forgiven it shall be on his forehead at all times to express their good will for them before the presence of God in verse 39 we speak about the undershirt the tunic and it is also made of um not also but it is made of linen unlike other garments that are made from combination of uh wool gold and linen this undershirt is made only of linen and you shall make a turban of linen the hat that the Cohen wore was also white linen but the sash the the belt you shall make of embroidery work now here it doesn't say um what it was made out of and therefore there is a an argument in um the talmud what was the material that the belt was made out was it made from linen as well or was it made from a combination of wool and linen and someone is asking a good question how is it possible that the garments of uh kohen Gad were made from combination of wool and linen isn't that shes shes is what we call um K com forbidden combination of two materials wool and linen we're not allowed to wear it and here we learn that the garments of kohen G were made from K and we have a rule that if the Torah gives us prohibition and at the same time it gives us a commandment and they contradict each other if it's a negative commandment at the same time against positive commandment the positive commandment wins it's as if God is telling us in general this is forbidden but in this particular case I want you to do it and there are two mitv that I can think of that it applies to one is the ments ofen they contain but because theen is fulfilling a Mitzvah he serves God and God said do it like that he is allowed to wear it and the second uh case isit the four corn garment upon which we put special strings of wool if it happens that the Garment is made of linen and the strings are made of wool it is permitted even though it is sh it is K but because at the time when a man wears he's fulfilling a positive commandment ofit it overrides the negative commandment of K nowadays we don't do it because in case um one of the strings rips if the Garment becomes um not kosher so then the person is not fulfilling the Mitzvah of and therefore he will be transgressing K and therefore we don't take chances and we say if your garment is made of linen makeit of linen if your garment is made of wool makeit of wool and um yes there are other cases I I right now can't think of them but yes uh this is a general rule that if you have have a positive commandment against a negative commandment the positive commandment wins however they have to come through the same action it cannot be that first I'll do the negative commandment and then sometime later I'll do the positive commandment for example when I put on at the same time as I'm fulfilling the mitvah there is a Prohibition ofz and the the positive commandment over rights uh whereas some conservative Jews and reformed Jews made a mistake and they said oh let us drive to the synagogue on Shabbat because they reason this is a false reasoning I'll explain why praying in a synagogue on Shabbat is a positive commandment and driving on Shabbat is a negative commandment and the positive overrides the negative and therefore allowed to dve so they made multiple mistakes for first of all as we said the mitvah the positive commandment has to coincide with the negative commandment and here they don't when you drive to the synagogue you're not praying in the synagogue you're going to pray sometime later and therefore you're not allowed to do a transgression for the sake of a later mitvah number two it all only applies where it is a simple positive commandment with a simple negative commandment with Shabbat it's not the case because it's not a simple negative commandment it is also a death penalty which means the regular negative commandment is has the punishment of lashes desecrating Shabbat has a punishment of death penalty a simple positive commandment does not override death penalty so that is their mistake number two and mistake number three is that praying in the synagogue with minan is not a Torah commandment there is a Torah commandment to pray to God but you can do it anytime anywhere you can do it at home you can do it alone you don't need a minan to pray in a synagogue is already beautification of the Mitzvah it's doing Mitzvah on a higher level it's a commandment to pray with the Min is also commandment so you cannot transgress a Torah Commandment that has a death penalty attached to it for the sake of a Rabin commandment which will come later not at the time so this is just an example where this concept cannot be applied but if you can find a case where you cannot do a positive commandment without transgressing the negative commandment at the same time and there both simple positive commandment and a simple negative commandment then the positive commandment overrides now we continue with u the garments of regular kohanim verse 40 for aon's Sons make tunics the undershirt or the the the white robe the sashes the belts made from linen and make for them turbin the hats and uh the pants are mentioned in verse 42 verse 41 with these you shall clothe your brother Aaron and his sons along with him anoint them with special oil that will be described later and invest them with full Authority and sanctify them so that they may serve me as priests from here we learn that a Kohan is not allowed to serve as a Kohan whether regular high priest without the full set of garments if a Coen does not have four garments or if a Coen does noten Gad does not have eight garments they're not allowed to serve they are only invested with authority to serve God if they have these garments verse 42 describes the pants make for them also linen breaches to cover their nakedness they shall reach from their loins from their waist down to the thighs they were made like long shorts verse 43 they shall cover Aaron and his sons when they enter into the tent of appointed meeting or when they go up to the alar to serve in the sanctuary so they will not bear iniquity and die from here we see that the kohen who serves without one of the garments deserves death penalty Heavenly death now we go to the next chapter 29 how do we consecrate theim how do we prepare them for service it is also called the inauguration service and this is what you shall do for them to consecrate them to serve me as priests you shall take a young bull two Rams without blemish and special bread from matah and matah cakes kneaded with oil and thin matah crackers brushed with oil made them from fine wheat flour and place them in a basket and bring them along with the bull and two Rams Aon and his sons have to immerse in the waters of the mik then dress them with their garments Aaron with eight garments and uh regular with four garments verse 7even and you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head to anoint him to anoint the Aaron and by the way um Aaron was anointed with this oil and that is called Shish the anointment oil and that is why the high priest is called masah mashia means the person who is Anointed with the anointment oil and there were other people that were anointed there was also a priest that was designated as the leader of the army he was called Mas special anointed Ken to lead the Jews in war and he would Inspire them before the war remind them to trust in God so he was also anointed and he's also called mas and one more person was anointed and that is the Jewish King like shaav they were Anointed with oil and that is why a Jewish King is also called mashiach and therefore the mashia that we await the mashia that's going to come soon is called mashiach because he is a Jewish King he comes from the davidic lineage from the direct line father to son all the way from the King David tribe of Yehuda all the way down to mashia himself and when he will come he will be recognized as the Jewish King descendant of King David he will be a prophet and he will be anointed as the as the Jewish King and therefore he will be called mashiah mashiah means the anointed one the one chosen for the high task um verse 10 and you shall bring the bull to the front of the tent of appointed meeting and Aon and his sons shall lean their hands on the head of the bull whenever we lean on the animal before slaughtering him we are doing confession we're saying God please forgive us for all our sins and let this animal go to death instead of us verse 11 you shall then Slaughter the bull before for God in front of the entrance of the tent of appointing meaning take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the corners of the altar with your finger and the the remaining blood pour upon the base of the altar then they burn the the the fats and the uh iner of the bull on the altar verse 14 but the meat of the the bull and its hide the skin of the bull and its dung its excrement that's still inside the bull you shall burn in fire outside the camp it is an offering that clears sin it's called Kat the sin offering so the blood of the bull was placed on the four corners of the altar rest of the blood was spilled at the base of the altar the inerts and the fats were burnt on top of the altar the rest of the bull the entire bull together with everything in in it together with its hide was burnt outside now we still have two Rams what do we do with them in verse 15 you shall take one ram and Aaron and his sons shall lean their hands on the head of the ram as well you shall Slaughter the ram take its blood and sprinkle it around the altar as for the r itself you shall divide it into its parts cut it up into limbs wash its iners and its legs and put them with its parts and with its head and burn the entire RAM on the altar it is an elevation off offering made to God and we call it a pleasant Aroma to God which is an expression of compliance a fire offering to God which is called Allah Allah is the elevation offering or the burnt offering the that is burnt entirely on the altar now in verse 19 what do we do with the second ram and you shall take the second ram and Aon and his sons shall lean their hands on the head of the ram again and you shall Slaughter the ram take some of its blood and here we do something interesting with the blood put some of its Blood on the cartilage of Aaron's right ear and on the cartilage of his son's right ears and on the thumbs of their right hand and on the big toes of their Right feet interestingly we put the blond on three places on the right ear right thumb and the right big toe of each Cohen and you shall pour the rest of the blood uh around the altar now you shall then take some of the blood that is upon the Altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron on his garments and on his sons and on their garments and they will be sanctified verse 22 and you shall take from the ram the fat and the broad tail or the the fat tail that and the the Rams in Asia like in usbekistan and in Israel they have a special tail that grows into a large fat mess which is edible but if it is brought as a Corban then that whole chunk of fat is burnt on the altar so take that special um fat tail and the fat that covers the iners and the diaphragm of the liver and the two kidneys along with the fat that is on it on them and the right thigh and one loaf of bread and one loaf of special oily bread and one Thin wafer from the basket of matah that stands before God and place all of those fatty parts and the thigh together with the loaves of bread on the hands of Aon and the hands of his sons and wave them as a wave offering before God um a few times in uh throughout the the the year and the history of the bet mikdash we do W wave offering we take whatever it is and bring it uh up and down forward and uh inward to the sides just like we do with the L love and the idea is we're showing that the entire world belongs to God and that God is anywhere you look all Direction belong to God you shall then take them from their hand hands and turn them into smoke upon the altar all that is burnt on the as um as the Allah the elevation offering it is an expression of compliance or in other words it's Pleasant Aroma to before God it is a fire offering to God and then what we do with the rest of the RAM and you shall take the breast of the RAM and wave it as a wave offering before God and it will become your portion which means it can be eaten thus shall you sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the uplifted donation which were waved and lifted up verse 28 and so shall remain for Aaron and his sons as a Perpetual as a as a an eternal law from the children of Israel for it is an uplifted donation and it shall remain an uplifted donation from the children of Israel from the peace offerings it is an uplifted donation to God this means that the right to be kohanim will forever stay in the hands of Aaron and his sons and his descendants and the Jewish people will bring offerings which are going to be uh presented before God by the kohanim and as a a thank you and as a payment for their service the kohanim will receive a portion from various offerings verse 29 as for the garments of the sanctuary that are now Aarons they shall remain also for his sons after him so that they may be anointed and inv vestel with full Authority through them now when a new Coen becomes um a priest becomes Cohen verse 30 explains seven days shall the son who will be priest in his place put them on that's the inauguration offer um inauguration procedure for seven days he prepares himself by putting the garments on by practicing he who is to enter the tent of appointed meeting to serve in the sanctuary you shall take the ram of inauguration and cook its meat in a holy Place Aaron and his sons shall eat the Ram's meat and the bread that is in the basket in front of the entrance of the tent of appointed meaning the the breast of the ram was eaten by Moshe but the remainder of the ram was eaten by Aaron and his sons now verse 33 tells us interesting things about offerings in general they shall now eat those very things which with which atonment will have been affected for them to invest them with full authority to sanctify them they shall eat those things with which atonement will have been affected for them from here we learn that when kohanim eat the meat of the offering the Jewish people who brought the offering receive atonement which means the atonement is received not only by slaughtering the animal and by sprinkling its blood and by burning parts of the animal on the altar atonement also depends on kohanim eating the meat from here we learn that by benefiting the Coen who is the servant of God you receive atonement and the sages say that this applies in our times when you benefit someone who serves God which means if you know that someone is a righteous person someone is learning Torah someone is serving God and you help them out with with financial assistance you help them in business or just you help them in their errands you make their life easier you get atonement for all your sins that's important to keep in mind now then the rest of the inauguration um procedure is described and in verse 37 it says 7 days shall you perform atonement upon the Altar and sanctify it this procedure was repeated seven days and then on the eighth day already the mishan was Sanctified uh and the service began with kohanim the first seven days Moshe is the one who is arranging everything and serving in the bet mikdash the kohanim are just getting ready and on the eth day now the kohanim become full-fledged priests and this happened on uh half a year later ER the last seven days of AD and on the first day of Nissan kohanim became Sanctified and they began their service now in verse 38 it describes what shall the altar be used for this is what you shall offer upon the altar two sheep in their first year every day continually this is called theban tamid the the daily offering one sheep in the morning and one sheep in the afternoon together with the offering we brought uh M offering the flower offering that was made of flour mixed with oil and separately some uh wine and this uh Tami this daily offering is an ol it was burned entirely on the altar now in verse uh 43 we describe what is the tent of meeting used for what is the mishan used for verse 33 there I will set times for myself to meet with the je children of Israel and so it will be Sanctified by my glory I will sanctify the tent of appointed meeting and the Altar and I will sanctify Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel and I will be their God and they will experience it that I God am their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order to dwell in their midst I God am their God which means from the fact that divine presence will dwell on the mishkan the Jewish people will have a constant reminder and and testimony that God is among us there was a cloud that that hovered above um the mishkan and in times of the temple the bet mikdash there was a pillar of smoke Rising above the altar that was going straight up even if it was windy the the W the the wind would not disperse the the um smoke and even if it was raining no rain in the world would ever put out the fire and now in Chapter 30 uh we describe the golden altar make an altar a sight for burning incense it's uh made of chitim wood on the inside and covered by gold on the outside um verse three you shall cover it with pure gold its top its walls round about and its elevated corners and you shall make a golden Rim around it this uh alar also had two poles with which to carry it and it was uh used to burn uh korit the the spices on it daily verse six and you shall place it in front of the dividing curtain that is upon the Ark of the test in front of the cover that lies upon the testimony where I have set times for myself to meet with you Aaron shall um burn incense of sweet spices upon it every morning when he sets the lamps in order he shall turn it into smoke here it describes the order that U um Haron lights prepares the lamps and then he lights the and then in the afternoon or towards the evening he actually lights the lamps verse 9 UM warns us you shall not offer any alien incense only the incense the Kor that is prescribed by law at the times when it's prescribed and you cannot offer on this altar Allah the burnt offering or um the flower offering and you cannot pour wine on this altar this altar is purely for koted sometimes also blood was applied to it like on yum kipur but otherwise no other offerings on it once a year Aaron shall make atonement upon its