The first day of Nisan was an eventful day, "a day that was
distinguished by ten crowns." It was the day on which the princes of
the tribes began to bring their offerings; it was the first day on
which Shekinah came to dwell among Israel; the first day on which
sacrifice on any but the appointed place was forbidden; the first day
on which priests bestowed their blessing upon Israel; the first day for
regular sacrificial service; the first day on which the priests partook
of certain portions of the offering; the first day on which the
heavenly fire was seen on the altar; it was besides the first day of
the week, a Sunday, the first day of the first month of the year. [376]
It was on this day after "the week of training" for Aaron and his sons
that God said to Moses: "Thinkest thou that thou are to be high priest
because thou hast been attending to priestly duties during this week?
Not so, call Aaron and announce to him that he has been appointed high
priest, and at the same time call the elders and in their presence
announce his elevation to this dignity, that none may say Aaron himself
assumed this dignity." [377] Following the example of God, who on Sinai
distinguished Aaron before all others, saying, "And thou shalt come up,
thou and Aaron with thee, but let not the priests and the people break
through," Moses went first to Aaron, then to Aaron's sons, and only
then to the elders, to discuss with them the preparations for the
installation of Aaron into office. [378]
When Moses approached Aaron with the news of God's commission to
appoint him as high priest, Aaron said: "What! Thou hadst all the labor
of erecting the Tabernacle, and I am now to be its high priest!" But
Moses replied: "As truly as thou livest, although thou art to be high
priest, I am as happy as if I had been chosen myself. As thou didst
rejoice in my elevation, so do I now rejoice in thine." [379] Moses
continued: "My brother Aaron, although God had become reconciled to
Israel and has forgiven them their sin, still, through thy offering
must thou close the mouth of Satan, that he may not hate thee when thou
enterest the sanctuary. Take then a young calf as a sin-offering, for
as thou didst nearly lose thy claim to the dignity of high priest
through a calf, so shalt thou now through the sacrifice of a calf be
established in thy dignity." Then Moses turned to the people, saying:
"You have two sins to atone for: the selling of Joseph, whose coat you
fathers smeared with the blood of a kid to convince their father that
its owner had been torn to pieces by a wild beast, and the sin you
committed through the worship of the Golden Calf. Take, then, a kid to
atone for the guilt you brought upon yourselves with a kid, and take a
calf to atone for the sin you committed through a calf. But to make
sure that God had become reconciled to you, offer up a bull also, and
thereby acknowledge that you are slaughtering before God your idol, the
bull that you had erstwhile worshipped." The people, however, said to
Moses: "What avails it this nation to do homage to its king, who is
invisible?" Moses replied: "For this very reason did God command you to
offer these sacrifices, so that He may show Himself to you." At these
words they rejoiced greatly, for through them they knew that God was
now completely reconciled to them, and they hastened to bring the
offerings to the sanctuary. Moses admonished them with the words: "See
to it now that you drive evil impulse from your hearts, that you now
have but one thought and one resolution, to serve God; and that your
undivided services are devoted singly and solely to the one God, for He
is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. If you will act according to
my words, 'the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.'"
But Aaron in his humility still did not dare to enter on his priestly
activities. The aspect of the horned altar filled him with fear, for it
reminded him of the worship of the bull by Israel, an incident in which
he felt he had not been altogether without blame. Moses had to
encourage him to step up to the altar and offer the sacrifices. After
Aaron had offered up the prescribed sacrifices, he bestowed his
blessing upon the people with lifted hands, saying: "The Eternal bless
thee and keep thee: The Eternal make His face shine upon thee and be
gracious unto thee: The Eternal lift up His countenance upon thee and
give thee peace."
In spite of the offerings and the blessings, there was still no sign of
the Shekinah, so that Aaron, with a heavy heart, thought, "God is angry
with me, and it is my fault that the Shekinah had not descended among
Israel, I merely owe it to my brother Moses that to my confusion I
entered the sanctuary, for my service did not suffice to bring down the
Shekinah." Upon this Moses went with his brother into the sanctuary a
second time, and their united prayers had the desired effect, there
came "a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar
well-neigh one hundred and sixteen years, and neither was the wood of
the altar consumed, nor its brazen overlay molten.
When the people saw the heavenly fire, the evident token of God's grace
and His reconciliation with them, they shouted, and fell on their
faces, and praised God, intoning in His honor a song of praise. Joy
reigned not only on earth, but in heaven also, for on this day God's
joy over the erection of the sanctuary was as great as had been His joy
on the first day of creation over His works, heaven and earth. [380]
For, in a certain sense, the erection of the Tabernacle was the
finishing touch to the creation of the world. For the world exists for
the sake of three things, the Torah, Divine service, and works of love.
From the creation of the world to the revelation on Sinai the world
owed its existence to the love and grave of God; from the revelation to
the erection of the sanctuary, the world owed its existence to the
Torah and to love, but only with the erection of the Tabernacle did the
world secure its firm basis, for now it had three feet whereupon to
rest, the Torah, Divine service, and love. From another point of view,
too, is the day of consecration of the sanctuary to be reckoned with
the days of creation, for at the creation of the world God dwelt with
mortals and withdrew the Shekinah to heaven only on account of the sin
of the first two human beings. But on the day of consecration of the
Tabernacle the Shekinah returned to its former abode, the earth. The
angels therefore lamented on this day, saying: "Now God will leave the
celestial hosts and will dwell among mortals." God indeed quieted them
with the words, "As truly as ye live, My true dwelling will remain on
high," but He was not quite in earnest when He said so, for truly earth
is His chief abode. Only after the Tabernacle on earth had been erected
did God command the angels to build one like it in heaven, and it is
this Tabernacle in which Metatron offers the souls of the pious before
God as an expiation for Israel, at the time of the exile when His
earthly sanctuary is destroyed.
This day marks an important change in the intercourse between God and
Moses. Before this, the voice of God would strike Moses' ear as if
conducted through a tube, and on such an occasion the outer would
recognized only through Moses' reddened face that he was receiving a
revelation; now, at the consecration of the sanctuary, this was
changed. For when, on this day, he entered the sanctuary, a sweet,
pleasant and lovely voice rang out toward him, whereupon he said: "I
will hear what God the Lord will speak." Then he heard the words:
"Formerly there reigned enmity between Me and My children, formerly
there reigned anger between Me and My children, formerly there reigned
hatred between Me and My children; but now love reigns between Me and
My children, friendship reigns between Me and My children, peace reigns
between Me and My children."
It was evident that peace reigned, for on this day the undisturbed
freedom of movement over the world, which had until then been accorded
the demons, was taken from them. Until then these were so frequently
met with, that Moses regularly recited a special prayer whenever going
to Mount Sinai, entreating God to protect him from the demons. But as
soon as the Tabernacle had been erected, they vanished. Not entirely,
it is true, for even now these pernicious creatures may kill a person,
especially within the period from the seventeenth day of Tammuz to the
ninth day of Ab, when the demons exercise their power. The most
dangerous one among them is Keteb, the sight of whom kill men as well
as animals. He rolls like a ball and had the head of a calf with a
single horn on his forehead.
Just as God destroyed the power of these demons through the Tabernacle,
so too, through the priestly blessing that He bestowed upon His people
before the consecration of the sanctuary, did He break the spell of the
evil eye, which might otherwise have harmed them now as it had done at
the revelation on Sinai. The great ceremonies on that occasion had
turned the eyes of all the world upon Israel, and the evil eye of the
nations brought about the circumstance of the breaking of the two
tables. As God blessed His people on this occasion, so too did Moses,
who upon the completion of the Tabernacle blessed Israel with the
words: "The Eternal God of you fathers make you a thousand times so
many more as ye are, and bless you, as He hath promised you!" The
people made answer to this blessing, saying: "Let the beauty of the
Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon
us; yea the work of our hands establish Thou it." [381]