We may note that Moshe Rabbeinu addresses Aharon in the third person, although he is speaking directly to Aharon. Horav S.R. Hirsch, zl, attributes this discrepancy to the fact that during the seven days of Milluim, Moshe did not function in his usual capacity as transmitter of the law. Rather, he acted as the Kohen Gadol. Moshe appears to Aharon and his sons as the Rabbon Shel Yisrael, the quintessential teacher and transmitter of the law, only in regard to this eating of the Ayil Ha’milluim and its bread. This set the tone for the future, when the Kohen Gadol as well as all his colleagues were to subordinate themselves to the Torah and its disseminators. The essential position of the Kohen is the execution of the Torah’s dictate, rather than the study of it. The student of Torah stands in a class by himself, unattached to ancestry or tribe. Indeed, Chazal’s dictum in the Talmud Horiyos 13a , declaring that “a mamzer talmid chacham, illegitimate child who is a learned scholar, takes precedence over an unlearned Kohen Gadol,” characterizes the distinction between the Jewish priest and the student of Torah. The Kehunah is not a hierarchy, but rather a spiritual presence with an important function. No one however, takes precedence over the talmid chacham.
Horav Hirsch distinguishes between the respective functions of the Kehunah Gedolah and the Bais Din. The Kohen Gadol has no authority. Interpretation of Torah law is not a priestly role. In the Bais Hamikdash, he is the people’s agent for effecting atonement via the medium of korbanos. In actual life outside the walls of the Bais Hamikdash, the Kohen Gadol stands on the same plane as the simplest Jew in relation to the Torah.
This, claims Horav Hirsch, shatters the myth of a Jewish hierarchy in which the Kohanim are considered the nobility of the Jewish people. During the course of Jewish history we do not find that the authority of the Kohanim exerted that much influence. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the teachers and rabbis who were non-Kohanim shaped and guided our nation. Indeed, those Kohanim who were influential stood out only as a result of their personal qualities and erudition.
Ostensibly, the Torah expects that those who serve in the Bais Hamikdash to be men of virtue, proficient in all aspects of Torah. They represent the nation; they have no land to tend that would distract them from spiritual matters; their inheritance is in Hashem. They are, consequently, expected to develop into scholars with a profound knowledge of Torah, a deep commitment to its observance, and a spirit that reflects their conviction. Their demeanor should be a credit to the first Kohen, Aharon, who was an oheiv shalom v’rodef shalom, as men who truly loved and pursued peace.
