“He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and he shall take from there his handful from its fine flour and from its oil, with all its frankincense; the priest shall burn its memorial portion on the altar, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord” (Leviticus 2:2). “He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons.” Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: Even many of them.19Many priests can involve themselves in offering, even a meal offering.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “In the multitude of people is the glory of a king” (Proverbs 14:28). “And he shall take from there his handful from its fine flour and from its oil.” “From its fine flour,” but not all its fine flour; “from its oil,” but not all its oil. One who brought a meal offering from the Diaspora, from Spain, and saw the priest take a handful [to burn on the altar] and eat the rest would say: ‘Woe is me, all this trouble that I underwent was for this one?’20I went to the trouble of bringing this offering from so far away just so this priest can eat most of it?
Everyone would placate him and say to him: ‘If one who went to no trouble other than two strides between the Entrance Hall and the altar was privileged to eat, you, who went to all this trouble, all the more so.’21If the priest was privileged to eat from your offering due to the small amount of effort he invested in your offering, all the more so will you be rewarded for your great efforts in bringing the offering.
Moreover, it is written: “The remnant of the meal offering shall be for Aaron and for his sons” (Leviticus 2:3). Rabbi Ḥanina bar Abba went to a certain place; he found this verse as the first topic of discussion: “The remnant of the meal offering shall be for Aaron and for his sons.” With what did he begin [to discuss] it? “Among those people under Your hand, Lord, those people in the land [whose portion is life.
Fill their bellies with Your hidden treasures; sate their sons, too, and let them leave their remnant to their offspring]” (Psalms 17:14). “Among those people under Your hand, Lord” – how mighty are these, who took their portion from under the hand of God. Who are these? The tribe of Levi.
“Those people in the land” – those who did not take a portion of the land. “Whose portion is life,” these are the consecrations of the Temple.22The priests have a portion in items consecrated to the Temple, which brings life. “Fill their bellies with Your hidden treasures,” these are the consecrations of the outlying areas.23This is a reference to items that have a degree of sanctity and are consumed by priests outside the Temple, such as teruma.
“Sate their sons” – “every male among the sons of Aaron shall eat it” (Leviticus 6:11). “And let them leave their remnant to their offspring” – “the remnant of the meal offering shall be for Aaron and for his sons.” Aaron merited on behalf of his sons, both qualified and disqualified,24In Aaron’s merit, his descendants, including priests with physical blemishes that disqualified them from Temple service, gained the right to partake of sacrifices. as it is stated: “My covenant was with him, life and peace” (Malachi 2:5), because he was a pursuer of peace for Israel.
“And I gave it to him in fear and they feared Me” (Malachi 2:5), as he accepted the matters of the Torah upon himself with reverence, fear, quaking, and trembling. Why does the verse state: “Due to My name he was in awe” (Malachi 2:5)? They said: When Moses poured the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, he recoiled and fell backward. He said: ‘Woe is me, have I, perhaps, misused the anointing oil?’
The Divine Spirit responded and said to him: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, brothers dwelling together. It is like fine oil on the head [descending onto the beard, the beard of Aaron]…like the dew of Ḥermon descending…” (Psalms 133:1–3). Just as there is no misuse involving dew, so there is no misuse involving the oil. “It is like fine oil on the head, descending onto the beard, the beard of Aaron.”
Did Aaron have two beards that you say “the beard, beard”? It is, rather, that when Moses saw the oil descending onto Aaron’s beard, he rejoiced as though it had descended onto his own beard. “The Torah of truth was in his mouth” (Malachi 2:6), as he did not prohibit that which is permitted and did not permit that which is prohibited. “He walked with Me in peace and honesty” (Malachi 2:6), as he did not question the ways of the Omnipresent, just as our patriarch Abraham did not question them.
“And he returned many from iniquity” (Malachi 2:6), as he returned transgressors to Torah study. Likewise it says: “Rightly [meisharim]25Meisharim is expounded to mean: one who causes others to follow the straight [yashar], proper, path. they love you” (Song of Songs 1:4). What is ultimately written in his regard? “For the lips of the priest will safeguard knowledge and they will seek Torah from his mouth, [as he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts]” (Malachi 2:7).