Why was Aharon chosen to be the kohen gadol, and not Moshe? The kohen gadol conducted the most direct and intimate service of God, and so one would think that Moshe, who spoke with God "face to face" would have been the most appropriate for this honor.
The Ibn Ezra gives three reasons why Aharon was chosen over Moshe. The first I do not understand, and would be grateful for your comments, the second seems trivial, even to the Ibn Ezra and the third suggests something deep about what it means for humans to relate to each other and to God.
First, the Ibn Ezra says that Aharon was chosen because of the honor of the family of Nachshon, because the kohanim would later conduct the Temple services that would bring atonement to the Jewish people. I understand neither the connection between Aharon (as opposed to Moshe) and Nachshon, nor between Nachshon and atonement for the Jewish people.
Second, the Ibn Ezra suggests that Moshe couldn't have been a Kohen because his wife, Tziporah, was not born Jewish. As one of the halakhot of the kohanim is that they may not marry divorcees, widows, or converts, Moshe and his entire line would have been disqualified from the kahuna before it even began (particularly when we recall that Moshe married Tzipporah years before the revelation at Sinai). However, as the Ibn Ezra admits, Moshe didn't have much of an option to marry an Israelite woman, as he spent his marryin' years on the run, away from the Jewish people. This is therefore not a very good reason.
Third, the Ibn Ezra suggests that Moshe simply did not have the time or wherewithal to serve as kohen gadol. Moshe was already devoting himself to teaching the mitzvot to all of Israel, and to judging all of their disputes, aided by the sanhedrin. But this seems to beg the question: given that Moshe knew all the laws well enough to teach them over and over again to hundreds of thousands of people, wouldn't he have been the very best choice to be the kohen gadol? Given his amazing knowledge and talents, shouldn't he have been -- if he'd really pushed himself -- able to be the kohen gadol as well?
I think that this is a trap that many of us get ourselves into, when we've worked hard and developed skills or experience. We think that not only are we a better qualifed candidate than anybody else for X, Y, or Z, but also that we should, among all the other challenges in our lives, be able to taken on X, Y, and Z! This is problematic in both a vertical and horizontal dimension. It is vertically problematic in that only God can do everything. We are, no matter our talents, limited; when we forget this we forget some of our humanity, and end up no place good. It is horizontally problematic in that such an expansive sense of self tends to crowd out our fellow human beings. When we believe that only we can do something, we forget about that wonderful network of self-reinforcing humanity of which we are a part. The sense that only we can do anything, and that we therefore must do everything is a recipe for existential loneliness. God establishes the opposite paradigm here: we should be comfortable sharing the work and glory, and trusting others, in the worthiest of pursuits. This, I think, is the profound lesson that the Ibn Ezra brings us.
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3 comments:
Very nice idea.
Regarding the connection between Aharon and Nachshon, they were brothers-in-law (see Shmos ch. 7).
The relevance of atonement might just be a statement of what the true significance of the kehunah is to k'lal Yisroel, of whom Nachshon is a sample representative, rather than anything specifically connected to Nachshon.
It strikes me that this idea that the primary purpose of the Beis HaMikdash is kaparah for k'lal Yisroel as opposed to something more amorphous and "lofty" ideal is expressed elsewhere, also - see the end of Dayeinu. It sounds like an interesting idea to keep in mind as we plod our way through the 6.5 parshiyos which are primarily devoted to inyanim of the Mishkan.
wonder if the third reason could be expanded even further. Perhaps moshe's civil judge status is essentially different than the religious position of Kehuna. Not to say there should be a strict divide between the religious/spiritual and the civil within Judaism, but that is does have differing foci and maybe require a different set of skills.
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the second reason- while in our society I find it very hard to accept any of the rules surrounding who a kohen can marry and the fact that to be a kohen requires a physical fullness etc. But I have to assume that family line was extremely important back then and i hope not simply as a way to form a second class, but maybe to draw the very lines of family protection and dependence. I just started to work on my thesis on the topic of virginity in the rabbinic mindset and It seems that one of the reasons that a women's virginity is important in early societies is to ensure that all her children really belong to the husband's family, that they contribute to the sustenance of the family, and that some other person's son doesn't drain the families wealth...any way some thoughts
Purim sameach!!!!
There is an economic concept that speaks to your third comment. I forget the actual term, but the jist is this--everyone should specialize in what they do best...comparative advantage I think is what it is called.
Imagine if a doctor can do surgery and also type 100 wpm. His secratary cannot do surgery, but can type at only 50 wpm. Granted, the doctor could do his own typing better than his secratary with the above statistics, however, he should stick to surgery and let the secratary do the typing b/c the economy/world/etc gets more out of him doing surgery than typing.
This is why you will see developed countries focus on certain things and non-developed on other stuff that developed countries can still do better, but they will get more bang for the buck by doing the higher end stuff.
Bringing this back to Moses...he needed to focus his time on leading his people instead of the kohen duties b/c Israel needed that more from him and someone else could perform the kohen duties. Even if Moses might have made a better Kohen, Israel needed him as their leader. And there are only 24 hrs in a day.
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