A Thought on Parshas Vayikra

"...v'nasnu benei Aharon HaKohen..." "...and the sons of Aharon the Kohen shall place fire on the altar..." (1:7) The Torah reveals the order in which the Sacred Service was arranged. Each step, each task, was undertaken by the Kohanim. This set the pattern for all generations in adhering to the ritual avoda as instructed by HaShem. Throughout the verses here, we read about Kohanim doing this, Kohanim doing that. In our above verse, however, there is a slight change in the wording. When it came to igniting the fire on the mizbeach, the Torah refers to those Kohanim as Benei Aharon. We know very well, without that reference, that the tribe of Kohanim were the family and descendants of Aharon. Why didn't the verse say simply that "the Kohanim shall place fire on the altar"? The Panae'ach Raza first suggests that the precise set up and ignition of the fire was not a simple task. It required skill and planning, so the Torah may be enunciating that these fire-lighters were not from the rank and file Kohanim but were rather skilled artisans. Hence, they are referred to as Benei Aharon, which distinguishes them. He next asks about the further skills required in that task of fire lighting. He notes that the altar itself reached a height of five cubits - somewhere between 7 and 10 feet tall. He then reasons that to spread the fire's flames adequately, the Kohen would actually have to perch himself on top of that altar. Now, he ponders: this altar was made from copper. Copper is a heat conducting metal. This means that if the flames were burning atop the altar, the entire altar would heat up. As our Sages tell us, cham miktzaso cham kulo - when a part of something metal heats up, the entire item gets hot. The Kohanim, we know, did not do their sacred avoda wearing shoes or foot coverings. They worked barefoot in the Temple. If so, asks the Panae'ach Raza, how could any Kohen perch himself over that mizbeach ha'nachoshes - that copper altar? Wearing no shoes would have made it impossible to bear the heat! With this reasoning, not only was this particular avoda difficult --- it would have been virtually impossible! The Panae'ach Raza then offers that our tradition relates that the fire of the altar was not ignited by mortal hands. Rather, the flames descended from Above. The fire was a Heavenly fire. It had different thermodynamic properties than the heat which we are familiar with, and its heat did not spread but rather remained focused and bounded (think of the fire which rose from the "burning bush" (Sh'mos 3:2) which had flames yet they did not consume that bush in the desert). Thus, the area in which the flame burned may have been burning hot yet the metal surrounding that point of ignition did not carry that heat. Thus, the Sons of Aharon had the task of alighting atop the altar, spreading the flames which came down from Above, and maintaining a safe perch while focusing intently on performing the mitzva assigned to them. This balance of physical dexterity, mental concentration and spiritual devotion was decidedly the task of select Kohanim, and those who ascended to such responsibility deserved the designation "Benei Aharon HaKohen." Good Shabbos, D Fox