“Take Aaron and Elazar his son, and take them up Hor Mountain” (Numbers 20:25). “Strip Aaron of his vestments, and dress Elazar his son in them; and Aaron will be gathered, and die there” (Numbers 20:26). “Take Aaron.… Strip” – the Holy One blessed be He said to him: You comfort him as he is bequeathing his crown to his sons, while you are not bequeathing [your crown] to your sons. “Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Hor Mountain before the eyes of the entire congregation” (Numbers 20:27).
“Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments and dressed Elazar his son in them, and Aaron died there at the top of the mountain; and Moses and Elazar descended from the mountain” (Numbers 20:28). “Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments, and dressed [Elazar his son] in them” – but is it not so, that if a High Priest goes outside of the Temple Mount58The camp of the Levites in the desert was the equivalent of the Temple Mount (Zevaḥim 116b). in his priestly vestments that he is flogged forty, as they are wool and linen?
Rather, it is to inform you that with the expression that he introduced him into the priesthood: “Take Aaron” (Leviticus 8:2), with that same expression he said to him to ascend the mountain.59There was a special dispensation in this case allowing Aaron to wear the clothing of the High Priest outside of the Temple Mount. “Moses did as the Lord commanded” – to teach you that even though he said to him an evil decree against Aaron, he did not delay.