Atonement for Himself, for the Sake of the People

1“Moshe said to Aharon, ‘Approach the altar and perform your sin offering and your burnt offering, and atone for yourself and for the people; and perform the offering of the people and atone for them, as Hashem has commanded.’”¹ The Daas Zekeinim, the Torah commentary of the Baalei HaTosafos, asks a question.² Why does the verse say “and atone for yourself and for the people” about the sin offering and the burnt offering, when that was Aharon's own offering? The people's offering is the one mentioned right afterward: “and perform the offering of the people and atone for them.” The answer given there is that the verse is explaining why Aharon must offer his own sacrifice before the people's: so that “one who is innocent may come and atone for the guilty.”³ That is why Moshe told him, “and atone for yourself”: once you are innocent, you will be able to atone “for the people.” That is the gist of their words.

2aWe may add a further point here. Let us begin with what the holy sefer Noam Elimelech writes on the verse “And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them.”⁴ A tzaddik always walks in deveikus, cleaving to Hashem, bound to the upper worlds. But his longing is always for Israel's good, that Hashem should bestow on them every kind of abundance and blessing, and because of this he comes down a little from his level and his deveikus. Even so, this coming down accomplishes good. When people see how deeply he longs and yearns for their good, the tzaddik instills the fear of Hashem and love of Him in their hearts, and all their hearts are stirred to serve Him.

2bThis is the meaning of “And Aharon lifted up his hands,” in the spirit of the verse “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands.”⁵ We may explain the verse this way. When a person lifts up his heart to avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, his great love and fervor move him to clap his hands together, so avodas Hashem is called “hands.” And this is “Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people”: as we said, the tzaddik longs to do the people good. “And he blessed them, and he came down from performing the sin offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings”:⁶ because of this he came down from his level. A tzaddik's level is to examine himself at every moment, in case he has sinned, Heaven forbid, even with the slightest trace of sin or a sinful thought, and his thoughts always turn to teshuvah. This is what the sin offerings and the burnt offerings hint at, for the burnt offering comes to atone for sinful thoughts.⁷ The peace offerings hint at his deveikus, through which he makes peace in the heavenly household, among the angels.⁸ And because of his longing for the people, he would come down a little from these levels. So far his words.

3The same idea appears in a teaching quoted in the name of the holy Rebbe R' Yechezkel of Kuzmir, zt"l, on the verse “And Moshe went down from the mountain to the people.”⁹ Rashi explains: “This teaches that Moshe did not turn to his own affairs, but went from the mountain to the people.” The Rebbe of Kuzmir asked: what affairs could Moshe Rabbeinu have had to turn to? He explained that on the mountain Moshe had reached a great level, a lofty deveikus. He could have stayed apart in solitude, cleaving to Hashem in the upper worlds, as tzaddikim do. Yet at that very moment Moshe Rabbeinu came down from his lofty levels and turned to the people, thinking only of the klal, the community, and not of himself. This is the meaning of “he did not turn to his own affairs”: he did not attend to his own perfection, according to his level, “but went from the mountain to the people,” to devote himself to perfecting and repairing the people of Israel.

4This lets us explain the words “and atone for yourself and for the people.” It was indeed Aharon's own offering. Because of the sin of the golden calf Aharon bore a blemish, and he could not offer the people's offering until he had brought an offering for himself to atone for it. But he offered his own sacrifice for one purpose alone: so that he could afterward perform the people's offering. So when he brought it, his mind was not on his own need, on atoning for the harm he had done through the sin of the calf. His only thought was that he had to atone for the people, and that to do so he first had to atone for himself. That is why the verse says of Aharon's offering, “and atone for yourself and for the people”: his whole intention was for the sake of the people, as is the way of tzaddikim.

5a[In another place this explanation is given in the name of the Tiferes Shlomo, with a further point added: this is the meaning of “And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them.” Rashi explains this as the priestly blessing.¹⁰ The Ramban objects that perhaps it was just an ordinary blessing: Aharon spread out his hands because he first raised them heavenward in prayer to Hashem, and only afterward did he bless the people.¹¹ But in truth, Aharon the Kohen never made even the smallest gesture except for the good of Israel, to bring every kind of good to Bnei Yisrael forever. So he lifted his hands to bless them with the blessing that belongs to them, given with nesias yadayim, the lifting of the hands. Since the verse says that he lifted his hands “toward the people,” it must have been the priestly blessing and not a prayer to Hashem.]

5b[This idea is also hinted at in the verse “Aharon shall carry the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he comes into the Holy, as a remembrance before Hashem always.”¹² At every hour Aharon the Kohen prayed only for the good of Bnei Yisrael, that they be remembered before Hashem. This explains the word tamid, “always.” At first glance, since the breastplate lay upon him, it was obviously there always. Rather, “always” tells us that he always carried the names of Bnei Yisrael on his heart, for their good.] May Hashem grant that, with His help, we be privileged to be saved in the merit of the tzaddikim's prayers. Amen, may it be His will.