Numbers: 27:21- 30-10

1. [28:1] Why does the Torah tell us to have a priestly class? Isn’t this like having an intermediary to God, and therefore, should be unacceptable to a Torah viewpoint?

2. [28:2] What is the purpose of special clothing for the Kohanim (priests)?

3. [28:35] Why must the Kohen Gadol wear bells on the bottom of his robe? Why would these bells help him so that he should not die?

4. [28:1] Why is this parsha in the Torah? It concerns only the Kohanim, and could have been communicated only to them.

5. [29:18] How can we talk about a sacrifice having a nice smell for God? God is not physical, and one would think that a physical sensation like smell means nothing to God.

Commentary

Shmot [28:2] Why is the commandment about the clothing of the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) mentioned immediately after the mitzvah of the oil for the menorah (candelabra)?

The oil represents the mind—the consciousness. And it should be lucid and clear, just like the oil has to be pure.  The clothing of the Kohanim represent the human body, which is the clothing of the soul. The two are mentioned one after the other to tell us that the development of the mind toward clarity, must go together with the development of the body toward purity and self-control. Both of these should advance at the same time, and in fact, depend on each other.

–based on the “Sfat Emet”—R. Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Gur

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Gad Eliahu ben David and Kochava—Eli Zucker

And this study page is dedicated to the memory of Sarah Bella bat Yitzchak Kummer, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer