I
Parshas Emor begins with the laws of the kohanim. The Maharal (Avos 4:14) links the three crowns of Torah, kehuna, and malchus to three parts of a person: Torah connects to the intellect (sechel), kehuna relates to the body since it stems biologically from the father, and kingdom, which, like Torah, is not inherited, corresponds to the soul (nefesh) which serves as the king (i.e. leader) of the body.
The Maharal explains that since the sanctity of the kohein is that of the body, a blemish (mum), which is a shortcoming of the body, disqualifies a kohein from the service in the Beis Hamikdash (Vayikra 21:17). The first kohein was Avraham Avinu (Nedarim 32b, Tehilim 110:4). The gematria of his name is 248 which represents the 248 limbs of the body, the part of the person sanctified by the Kehuna. Rav Yehoshua Hartman (footnote 1240) asks: elsewhere (Kiddushin 70b) the Maharal links the kohein, who is holy and pure, to the neshama, not to the body. He answers that here the kohein is linked not to the body itself but to the kedusha of the body, while there the kohein is not related to the soul itself but to the brain and the forehead ("mo'ach im hametzach") where the pure neshama is found. The sanctity of the Kehuna is the connection between, the meeting point of, the body and the soul.
In his works on Chanuka (Ner Mitzvah) and Purim (Or Chodosh) the Maharal notes that kohein in gematria is 75. Since 7 represents nature and 8 represents the supernatural, 75, the midpoint between 70 and 80, corresponds to the role of a kohein, to combine the physical and the spiritual. He sanctifies the mundane act of eating by doing so "before Hashem", in the Beis Hamikdash itself (Vayikra 6:9, Zevachim 53a).
Rashi (Bereishis 28:17) states that the midpoint of the ladder in Yaakov Avinu's dream was directly over the location of the Beis Hamikdash, where he slept. The Maharal asks, what is the significance of the midpoint? In his answer he cites the gemara (Kesubos 5a, see Maharal there at greater length) that the Beis Hamikdash is built with Hashem's two hands (Shemos 15:17), and thus is greater than the heavens and earth which Hashem made with his right and left hand, respectively (Yeshaya 48:13). Hashem created the spiritual Heaven separate from the physical earth. The deeds of tzadikim are, as it were, greater, as they combine both in the Beis Hamikdash where kohanim serve.
The midpoint of Yaakov Avinu's ladder, located above the Beis Hamikdash, parallels the numerical value of the kohein, 75, the midpoint between the natural, represented by 7, and the supernatural, represented by 8.
II
The parsha begins (Vayikra 21:1) by identifying the kohanim specifically as benei Aharon, the biological sons of Aharon, but earlier (Shemos 19:6) Hashem speaks to all of Benei Yisrael and says, "You shall be for me a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation." The Ba'al Haturim resolves this contradiction as follows: if Yisrael would have merited it, they would all be kohanim gedolim, and so it shall be at the end of days as it says, "You will be called the kohanim of Hashem" (Yeshaya 61:6.) The source of this is the Mechilta (Hachodesh 2), which states that all of Yisrael was worthy to eat kodshim until they made the eigel hazahav, at which point it was taken from them and given to the kohanim. The Ba'al Haturim suggests that the exalted state of Am Yisrael which existed before the eigel hazahav will be restored in the eschatological era.
The Seforno explains that the nation of kohanim is the segula (treasure) of all the nations (Shemos 19:5), there to teach all of humanity to serve Hashem. This will be our role at the end of days. As a holy nation, we achieve eternity. All the good of the eschatological era would have been given to us by Hashem at matan Torah if not for our sin of the eigel hazahav. Now it must wait until the end of days, when we will all be kohanim to teach knowledge of Hsashem to all the nations.
Elsewhere (Shemos 24:18, 25:8, Vayikra 26:12) the Seforno comments that Hashem's original plan was to "come to us" wherever we serve Him (Shemos 20:21); we could've experienced the Divine Presence (Shechina) everywhere, offered sacrifices in backyard bamos, with our firstborn performing the avoda; we would need neither kohanim nor a Mishkan or Beis Hamikdash. All of this ended with the cheit Hha'eigel. Hashem's original plan, at creation and at matan Torah, will be fulfilled at the end of days - "I will walk among you" (Vayikra 26:12), not in one place such as the Mishkan and Mikdash, but wherever you are My Glory will be seen.
III
The Seforno adds that even nowadays Hashem's presence dwells wherever the righteous of the generation (tzadikei hador) reside. They represent Hashem's purpose in creation, as the Beis Hamikdash did in its time, and as all of Am Yisrael will in the end of days (footnote 50 in Be'ur Sforno, Oz Vehadar edition).
The ability to combine body and soul, demonstrated most prominently by the kohanim, is unique to Am Yisrael. Other nations can serve Hashem only in a purely spiritual way. As such, when a non-Jew sanctifies a shelamim, a korban which is eaten by Jews, it is offered as an olah, a korban which is totally burned (Menachos 73b). The gemara explains: his heart is to Hashem (libo lashamayim). The concept of eating before Hashem is a contradiction for the nations. Only Am Yisrael, the kingdom of kohanim, can do it. "You shall eat (ma'aser sheni) there, before Hashem (in Yerushalayim), and rejoice, you and your household" (Devarim 14:26). All Jewish families, not just kohanim, can, and must, do so, and thereby learn to fear Hashem all their days (14:23). Witnessing the avoda in the Beis Hamikdash (Rashbam) and the Sanhedrin (Seforno) would inspire pilgrims to learn more Torah (Sifrei, see Tosfos, Bava Basra 21a). Eating before Hashem led to greater yiras Shamayim and spirituality.
This, then, is the mission of every member of Am Yisrael, to sanctify the mundane. All of our worldly actions should be sublimated in the service of Hashem. In the worlds of the Rambam (Hilchos De'os 3:3) one's business dealings and married life should be conducted to serve Hashem. Even sleep, if it is done to preserve one's health in order to serve Hashem, is included in "All your actions should be for the sake of Hashem" (Avos 2:17).
In the absence of the Beis Hamikdash, all Jews are equally charged with this holy mission. We are all members of the kingdom of kohanim, and all of us have the potential to become tzadikim, the repository of the Shechina in our times. May we all live up to this challenge and thereby merit the restoration of the service of the kohanim, sons of Aharon in the Beis Hamikdash.
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