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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
אמר אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אלהם (פרק כא פסוק א)
The Parsha begins with an instruction to Moshe to tell the Kohanim the laws that pertain to them, “tell the Kohanim and you should say to them.” Rashi tells us that the doubled command of telling the Kohanim is an implied instruction that the older Kohanim take responsibility that the younger, minor Kohanim follow the laws as well. R’ Moshe Feinstein asks, how do you see that they are responsible for the younger Kohanim, the pasuk merely reiterated the command to the elders twice? R’ Moshe explains that to properly influence children it is not enough to simply tell them what to do. Many times, adults can tell children how difficult it is to keep Torah and mitzvos and that we must persevere and keep them anyway. This gives the children a negative attitude towards Torah and mitzvos and if they don’t feel as ambitious as their instructors they will give up before they start. Rather, to direct children properly, the adults must show how precious and beloved Torah and mitzvos are to them. When we feel that the Torah is our life and therefore it is not challenging to keep, that will influence our children to follow in the Torah way. This explains the two statements to the older Kohanim. One was to do the mitzvos, and the second was to love the mitzvos and do them in a way that shows their love for them. Through this, the younger Kohanim will want to follow in those footsteps, and they will, of their own accord, perform the mitzvos properly.
איש…אשר יהיה בו מום לא יקרב…כי כל איש אשר בו מום לא יקרב (פרק כא פסוק יז-יח)
The Torah says, “any man that will have a blemish cannot come near to offer the food of Hashem [sacrifices] because any man who has a blemish shall not approach.” The pasuk is trying to give a reason for the law, but seemingly just repeats itself. How are we to understand this as a reason? The Meshech Chochma explains that the service of sacrifices is something that our intellect cannot fully grasp. It is a group of laws that contains tremendous significance, which can only be truly understood by Hashem. Therefore, there may have been Kohanim who did the service but were not convinced of it. Perhaps they questioned its significance and its reality at all as a service of Hashem. This would be a big problem because it would be improper to achieve atonement through someone who is skeptical of the process. Hashem, who does know each Kohen’s innermost thoughts, would not reveal the sinners, because that is considered Lashon Hara (gossip) by publicly declaring their guilt. Rather, Hashem arranges that those Kohanim develop a blemish, which disqualifies their service for other reasons. This is the true reason for the Torah dismissing blemished Kohanim, but to cover up for the sinners, the Torah disqualifies any Kohen that has a blemish, even if they were born with it. This is the explanation of our pasuk, “any man that will have a blemish”, that they develop one later because of their evil thoughts, “cannot come near…because any man that has a blemish…”, even a natural one from birth, and thereby the identity of the sinners will remain confidential.
