* Christian Bible reference varies.

A special portion for Shabbat HaGadol is read this Shabbat!

The strange laws of Leviticus 6 seem to indicate that anyone who touches a grain offering or a sin offering becomes automatically sanctified. “Anyone who touches its flesh will become consecrated” (Leviticus 6:27), the Torah says. What does this mean? It seems strange to imagine that a person could go into the Tabernacle and touch the flour from a grain offering and it would make him holy just like that. Is that what the Torah really means to teach?

These passages do not refer to consecration by means of a casual touch. The sages explain that consecration occurs only when some of the particles of the most holy sacrifice are transferred to the person or object touching them. For example, if a sin offering is cooked in a clay pot, the porous nature of the clay inevitably absorbs some of the meat of the sin offering. As a result the pot takes on the same sanctity as the sin offering itself and cannot be removed from the sanctuary or used for something else. The Torah says it must be broken.

Also the earthenware vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; and if it was boiled in a bronze vessel, then it shall be scoured and rinsed in water. (Leviticus 6:28)

A bronze vessel, however, is not porous like clay. Therefore, it can be scoured clean and reused for other purposes. Similarly, a garment on which some of the blood of a sin offering is splashed must be cleaned inside the sanctuary before it can be removed. Until the “most holy” blood is removed, the garment takes on the “most holy” status of the sacrifice. These laws are the source of many of the complex and technical rules that regulate a kosher kitchen in Traditional Judaism today.

The law of the clay vessels brings to mind a passage from the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, Paul compared believers to jars of clay containing valuable treasure. Though our mortal bodies are perishable and temporary—like a clay jar—the treasure contained within them is immortal: the death and resurrection of Yeshua:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels … always carrying about in the body the dying of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua also may be manifested in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

It is not a perfect analogy, but the law about clay pots used for cooking the sin offering has some similarity. A clay pot used to prepare a sin offering was no longer just an ordinary clay pot. It was something holy, connected with the sin offering. Yeshua can be compared to a sin offering in His death and resurrection. We are like the clay pots that contain this fabulous treasure. The presence of Yeshua within us consecrates forever. Though we still occupy mortal bodies, these are not ordinary clay pots. We are holy because of the holy treasure within us.

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* Special readings for Shabbat HaChodesh are applicable this Shabbat.

* Special readings for Shabbat Parah are applicable this Shabbat.

After forty days of fasting in his tent of meeting, Moses began to negotiate with God. Ever since the sin of the golden calf, the LORD had not referred to Israel as His people. Rather, they were Moses’ people: “Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:7).

Moses, on the other hand, remained in God’s favor. As he negotiated for forgiveness and atonement, he banked heavily on God’s favor for him. He complained that, although he remained in God’s favor, he felt disfavored because he was told to lead the people without God’s presence.

The Hebrew word translated as “favor (chen, חן)” can also be translated as “grace.” Thus Moses argued for mercy and forgiveness on the basis of God’s grace toward him.

You have said, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.” If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people. (Exodus 33:12-13)

On the basis of Moses’ complaint, the LORD relented ever so slightly. Whereas previously He had declared that He would not go with Israel as they went up from Sinai, now He conceded that He would go with Moses. He said to Moses, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Note that the pronoun “you” appears is in the singular form. The LORD only promised to go with Moses and give Moses rest. He did not say so regarding Israel, nor did He acknowledge them as His people.

Moses rejected the offer. Speaking in the first-person plural form, he said, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). It was not adequate for God to accompany Moses, He needed to accompany the whole people. Moses deliberately identified himself with the people. It was as if Moses said, “If you want to show me favor and go with me, you need to show us all favor and go with all of us, because I am with the people.” Moses would accept nothing less than grace for the whole nation. He knew that he enjoyed the favor of the LORD; he sought to include the nation in the merit of God’s favor for him:

For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? (Exodus 33:16)

Moses deliberately identified himself with the people, saying “us,” “we,” and, “I and Your people.” He no longer appealed to the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He no longer appealed to the “what-will-the-Egyptians-think” argument. He appealed merely to God’s expressed favor for him. On his own merit in God’s eyes, Moses hoped to atone for the entire nation. It was the only thing he had left with which to negotiate.

The LORD conceded again and responded, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name” (Exodus 33:17). God agreed to forgive the nation, go with them, and acknowledge them as His people on the basis of His favor for Moses.

This story illustrates the Chasidic concept of tzaddikism where the merit and favor of a single righteous person can be extended to others. On the basis of God’s gracious favor for one man, the entire nation received the forgiveness of sin and a restoration of relationship with the Almighty. On the merit of one righteous man’s standing with God, all Israel is granted standing with God. These are the mechanics of the gospel. The ultimate redeemer is like the first redeemer, making atonement for the entire nation on the basis of His merit alone.

The story also illustrates the meaning of the word grace. Christian teachers sometimes define “grace” as God’s unmerited favor. On the contrary, grace (chen, חן) implies merited favor. Someone did merit it. Our righteous Messiah merited God’s favor, and He identified Himself with us so that we might share in that favor.


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Not long after separating from Judaism, Christianity developed a clerical class responsible for shepherding the people, officiating at services, and conducting the sacraments. The clerical class of presbyters came to be called priests. However, the various priesthoods of Christendom are different from the priesthood of the Bible. The biblical priesthood is unrelated to the priesthood that operates within Christianity.

The Hebrew word for “priest” is kohen (כהן). If you are Jewish and have a last name like Cohen, Kowen, Kahan or Koen, you are probably a descendant of Moses’ brother Aaron and his sons. Your ancestors served as priests in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priest to Me—Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. (Exodus 28:1)

In the Bible, only the descendants of Aaron could be priests. They were born into the position. Priests did not undertake vows of celibacy. Instead, priesthood was passed on through families. The descendents of Aaron have attempted to preserve their family lineage through the generations. The priests are a special family group within the Jewish people. Most Jewish communities have several families that belong to the priesthood.

Priests and rabbis are not the same. A rabbi is someone who has gone to rabbinical school (yeshivah) and received rabbinic ordination by an official ordaining body within Judaism. Any Jew can become a rabbi, and a single Jewish community often has many rabbis.

To this day, the priests retain their priestly status in Judaism. Descendants of the Aaron are still subject to special restrictions and laws of Torah that applied to the biblical priesthood. Moreover, the priests enjoy special privileges in the synagogue and serve in certain ritual functions. For example, if a priest is present on Sabbath, he is given the first opportunity to read from the Torah scroll. At the end of the Sabbath prayers, he is called up to offer the priestly blessing over the congregation. Priests are also responsible for ritual functions in the community like the redemption of firstborn sons.

Despite these modern functions, the Aaronic priesthood isn’t what it used to be. In the days when the Tabernacle (or Temple) stood, the priesthood was a crucial component in the service of God. They were responsible for worship services. They handled the sacrifices and took care of the altar fires, lit the menorah, burned the sacred incense, baked the bread of the Presence and did all the service of the Tabernacle. They carried out the divine service on behalf of the entire nation of Israel. Moreover, they were responsible for teaching the people Torah.

The priesthood illustrates our relationship to God. Like the common Israelite in the days of the Tabernalce, we are unable to enter directly into the presence of God. Instead, we need a go-between—an intermediary. In the Tabernacle and the Temple, the intermediaries were called priests. They facilitated the relationship between God and the people of Israel. In a similar way, we disciples of Yeshua regard our Savior as our intermediary with God. He is the go-between who acts as a priest for us in the heavenly Temple. However, the priesthood of our Master is a spiritual one, and does not supplant the worldly, eternal priesthood promised to the sons of Aaron.

The priests have been out of work since the destruction of the Temple, but they could be called back to work if the Temple was ever rebuilt. The priests today await the rebuilding of the holy Temple in Jerusalem, when they will be called up for duty. One day they will be. According to the prophet Jeremiah, God’s promise to restore the Aaronic priesthood is inseparably linked with his promise to send the Davidic Messiah:

Thus says the LORD, “If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers.” (Jeremiah 33:20-21)

 

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