5785/2025
"וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן קְרַ֤ב אֶל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ וַעֲשֵׂ֞ה אֶת־חַטָּֽאתְךָ֙ וְאֶת־עֹ֣לָתֶ֔ךָ…"
Mefarshim are bothered by the beginning of Moshe Rabbeinu’s statement: Why does Moshe have to tell Aharon to approach the Mizbe’ach? Wouldn’t bringing the Korbanot definitionally require him to approach the Mizbe’ach?
Some give relatively straightforward answers. The Chizkuni says that since Moshe Rabbeinu had brought the Korbanot until this point, he had to inform Aharon that it was his turn to step up, so to speak. Yet it seems that, for this purpose, it would have been sufficient to say “עֲשֵׂ֞ה אֶת־חַטָּֽאתְךָ֙”.
Naphtali Hirz Wiesel offers two explanations: One, since Aharon had not yet been fully ordained into the Kehunah, he might have worried that he was not fit to do the Avodah. Therefore, Moshe had to tell him so explicitly. However, the same problem with the Chizkuni would apply here.
Perhaps for this reason, Wiesel gives a second explanation: Moshe told Aharon to “approach the Mizbe’ach” because he was to perform only those Avodot that take place on the Mizbe’ach - the Zerikat HaDam and Haktarat Evarim - and his sons would perform the earlier Avodot.
However, Ramban suggests that Moshe was simply reminding Aharon to execute the Shechitah in the northern corner of the Mizbe’ach, and Moshe told him in an abbreviated manner since Aharon already recognized this. Clearly, Ramban thinks Aharon performed the Shechita, as the straightforward reading of Pasuk Cheit suggests. But in response to the Ramban (some 5 centuries later), Wiesel counters that Moshe would not have to remind Aharon where to do the Shechitah, just as he didn’t remind him of any details regarding the Haktarah and the Zerikah.
While these answers appear more technical, the answers given by the Midrash (Sifra, Mechilta D’Miluim 2:8; see Yalkut Shimoni 521) can, I believe, teach us fundamental lessons. The first suggestion of the Sifra is that Aharon was “embarrassed and afraid to approach [the Mizbe’ach]”, so Moshe responded, “Why are you embarrassed? This is what you were chosen for.” This is how Rashi cites the Midrash, but there is much more that he leaves out. For instance, the Midrash compares Aharon to a king’s bride who is afraid to be intimate with him. Moshe is then compared to the bride’s sister, who tells her that she should serve the king since it was chosen for her. Surely, Rashi omitted this Mashal for a reason, though it’s not clear why. The comparison of Aharon’s relationship with Hashem to that of a bride and groom is particularly beautiful.
Furthermore, the Midrash cites two more explanations of Aharon’s fear:
Perhaps, Aharon saw the Mizbe’ach, “כְּתַבְנִית שׁוֹר”, in the image of a bull, and he feared it. This is a clear reference to the Cheit HaEigel; in fact, both the Tur and Paneach Raza, explain that the two Tagin (crowns) on the letter Kuf in the word “קְרַ֤ב” may be a reference to Aharon seeing the Mizbe’ach’s horns as belonging to a bull. Ra’avad comments on the Midrash that Aharon was reminded not of the Eigel itself, but of the Mizbe’ach he built at that time. A third suggestion, appearing in the Yalkut and Sifra, is that the Satan caused Aharon to see the Mizbe’ach as a bull, or, says the Da’at Zekeinim, as an Eigel.
The shadow cast by the Cheit Ha'Eigel over such a significant day as the Yom HaShemini, day endowed with “ten crowns” (Seder Olam 7, Sifra Miluim 1, Shabbat 87b), requires much broader explanation and documentation, which I will try to explain to some degree. The Ramban to our Pasuk suggests that the Midrash’s second idea, that Aharon saw the Mizbe'ach as an Eigel, is not literal. Rather, since Aharon had committed no sins other than the Cheit Ha'Eigel, this sin was “קבוע לו במחשבתו”, and it appeared to him like the image of the Eigel was preventing his Kapara. Therefore, Moshe responded that he should approach the Mizbe'ach, says the Ramban, “שלא יהיה שפל רוח כל כך, שכבר רצה האלקים את מעשיו” - “so that he wouldn’t be in such low spirits, because Hashem had already accepted his actions”.
Each and every one of us has something to learn from this Midrash, particularly from the notion that even as Aharon was bringing the Korbanot that would bring kapara for the Cheit Ha’Eigel, he was worried that the Cheit itself would prevent the Kaparah. Why would Hashem command Aharon to bring these Korbanot in the first place if they were inherently doomed? The Malbim says that that was essentially Moshe’s response to Aharon: You’ll bring the Shelamim, which is a bull, and the bull will go away! (The Malbim seems to take the Midrash very literally - see his comment to the Sifra on this Pasuk.)
There is tremendous benefit to having guilt about our sins. But we should never let this guilt reach unhealthy levels, Chas V’Shalom. There is always room for Teshuva, which Hashem wants. During the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, we describe Hashem as the “Melech Chafetz BaChayim.” So our guilt should never turn into fear. If it does, Chas V’Shalom, and the sin becomes to us something tangible and ever-present, it only distances us further from Hashem. The Malbim and others suggest that Aharon went so far as to back away from the Mizbe’ach due to his Eigel-guilt. Therefore, “Moshe spoke to his heart, so that he shouldn’t fear”.
In reality, he is speaking to all of our hearts. “קְרַ֤ב אֶל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙”. As Rashi puts it, “Why are you embarrassed? You were chosen for this”. You have a Jewish neshama. You are destined for greatness. Come close.