The
Vilna Gaon
zt”l on Parshat Pinchas
(from
Kol
Eliahu on Pinchas)
One
Goat Offering Each Day
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On Sukkot, as opposed
to Pesach, a different Mussaf sacrifice is offered
on every one of the seven days of the holiday. The
offerings consist of oxen (parim), rams (ailim),
sheep (kevasim), and goats (izim). The numbers of
the rams, sheep, and goats are constant; on every
day two rams, fourteen sheep, and one goat are offered.
The oxen, on the other hand, vary; on the first
day thirteen are offered, the second day - twelve,
the third - ten, decreasing to seven on the seventh
day.
One would have expected the Torah to always formulate
the constant sacrifices of each day in the same
way. It does that with regards to the rams (always
saying "ailim shnayim") and the sheep (always saying
"kevasim benei shana arba'a asar"). It is therefore
curious that the Torah does not have a consistent
formulation of the one goat (sin) offering. On the
first, second, and fourth days it calls it "seir
izim echad chatat," whereas on the third, fifth,
sixth and seventh days it is referred to as "seir
chatat echad." Why is it sometimes called "seir
izim" and sometimes just "seir"?
The Vilna Gaon answers his question based on three
assumptions:
The oxen offerings, whose number varies each day,
add up to seventy, and correspond, like the Sages
say, to the seventy nations of the world.
According to the Zohar, the main two of the seventy
nations of the world are Yishmael and Eisav. All
of the others can be divided into these two groups.
Also according to the Zohar and other Kabbalistic
works, Yishmael is referred to as "seir chatat"
and Eisav as "seir".
This explains the inconsistencies noted above. Of
the seventy sacrifices, thirty-five of them are
connected with Yishmael and the other thirty-five
with Eisav. It is natural that the sacrifices connected
with Yishmael (son of Avraham) were offered first
and those connected with Eisav (son of Yitzchak)
afterwards.
On the first and second days Yishmael twenty-five
(thirteen and twelve) sacrifices are offered. If
the third day's eleven sacrifices were also devoted
to Yishmael he would end up with thirty-six, leaving
only thirty-four for Eisav. So the third day's sacrifices
are devoted to Eisav, the fourth's once again to
Yishmael (13+12+10=35) and the rest of the days
to Eisav (11+9+8+7=35).
This answers the question the Gra opened with. The
Torah uses "seir chatat", referring to Yishmael,
on the first, second, and fourth days when the sacrifices
correspond to him. It uses "seir", referring to
Eisav, on the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh days.
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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