Shabbat Parashat Shemini - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Shemini - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  Aharon spoke to Moshe, was it they who this day offered their sin offering and

  their olah offering before God? Now that such things befell me, had I eaten the

  sin offering this day would God approve? [Vayikra 10:19]

Rashi and others tell us that "the term dibur (spoke) is always a term of force" that Aharon was being harsh with Moshe. Why was Aharon apparently angry here? What is he speaking about?

To begin, the law is that when a Kohen is a mourner, he is not supposed to bring the offerings himself, nor is he to eat the Kohanic portion from them. But two verses before ours it seems that Moshe was criticizing Elazar and Itamar for having brought but not eaten from the offerings. We can assume that Moshe did not get the law wrong, so he must not have had all the facts of this case. What is it that Aharon is telling him?

Or HaChayim explains that the "they who this day offered" does not refer to Elazar and Itamar, rather to Nadav and Avihu. The surviving sons had nothing to do with that sacrifice so would not be expected to eat from it so should not be chastised. Ramban understands that Moshe in our verse is in fact referring to Elazar and Itamar, but Moshe was not aware of the timing of events, that Elazar and Itamar performed the offering just prior to the Nadav and Avihu incident, thus the younger brothers became mourners before having the chance to eat the Kohanic portion and became ineligible to do so, so should not be chastised.

Rashi sees it from a different viewpoint. He reads the "was it they" as meaning Aharon is telling Moshe that none of his sons had done the service of those offerings, rather Aharon himself did so. Aharon then was telling Moshe not to criticize his sons as they were not even involved, and reminding Moshe that as Kohen Gadol, he was still eligible to bring offerings even as a mourner, although not to eat from them [Rashi on Moed Katan 14b] Thus nothing wrong was done and Moshe should not be criticizing anyone.

Rav Hirsch looks back at Vayikra chapter 9 where the inauguration offerings for the Kohanim are described, and says that those are what the four sons of Aharon brought that morning. Those offerings were fully burned, leaving nothing to eat as would be with other offerings. After that, Nadav and Avihu met their end [10:1], but in any event there was no basis for Moshe's complaint about Elazar and Itamar having not eaten from the offerings. Aharon is here telling Moshe, we did what you said. The status of being mourners is therefore not relevant. Rashbam also looks back to chapter 9, but he adds the mourner issue back, understanding the second half of our verse to mean that after the loss of Nadav and Avihu, how could Moshe expect Aharon and his sons to eat from other offerings brought later throughout that day.

Onkelos and others say that Aharon jumped in here, knowing that Elazar and Itamar would not stand up to their uncle and teacher Moshe because of his honor and the honor of their father Aharon. Thus it fell to Aharon to explain what was going on.

With so many possible explanations that justify the actions of Aharon and his sons, Aharon here is surprised that Moshe would have criticized them and is saying, my brother, wake up and don't criticize without all the facts! To this, Moshe responds in the next verse, "Moshe heard and he approved."