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The
Meshekh Chokhma on Acharei Mot
Hagaon
Rav Meir
Simcha zt”l on Parshat Acharei
(from
Meshekh
Chokhma on Vayikra)
The
Constant Yom Kippur
Print Version
The opening of Parshat Acharei Mot outlines the
Yom Kippur Temple service, culminating in the Kohein
Gadol's entering the Holy of Holies. The Torah,
as the Vilna Gaon points out (based on a Midrash),
does not limit this to Yom Kippur. Aharon the Kohen
could enter the Holy of Holies at other times also,
as long as he first went through the whole progression
of atonement sacrifices.
This seems to be the simplest way of reading the
paragraph at the beginning of the Parsha. At first
we are told, "With this (service) Aharon should
enter the holy place," (Vayikra 16:3) and the list
of sacrifices follows. Only at the end of the paragraph,
twenty-six verses later, is this identified as the
Yom Kippur Temple service. "This should be for you
an eternal law in the seventh month . . ." (Vayikra
16:29).
Why was Aharon able to enter the Holy of Holies
merely through the sacrifices, but subsequent Kohanim
Gedolim, even with the sacrifices, were limited
to Yom Kippur? The Meshekh Chokhma explains based
on a comment of the Sforno at the end of Parshat
Emor. The Sforno was bothered by why the Torah attributes
the daily candle lighting and daily incense offering
to Aharon even though halakhically any Kohen can
do it. He answers that because the Clouds of Glory
constantly hung over the Mishkan while the Jews
travelled through the desert, they experienced the
equivalent of a constant Yom Kippur. The height
of Yom Kippur is the cloud of incense filling the
Holy of Holies. But in the desert there was always
a Divine Cloud over the Holy of Holies. Therefore
just as on Yom Kippur the Kohen Gadol did all of
the services of the day (even those not specially
designated for Yom Kippur), so in the desert Aharon
did all of the services, even the normal daily ones.
This is why, says the Meshekh Chokhma, Aharon was
able to enter the Holy of Holies any day of the
year (as long as he went through the sacrificial
order) - for he was living in a state of constant
Yom Kippur. The same was true, maintains the Meshekh
Chokhma, for his son Elazar, who lived through the
period when the Clouds of Glory hovered over the
Mishkan constantly. Subsequent Kohanim Gedolim had
to wait for the actual Yom Kippur to enter. Only
on Yom Kippur are the Jews all in an angelic state,
and fitting for the atonement and Divine Revelation
that comes with the Yom Kippur service.
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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