Parshat Tetzaveh
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 

Bonding with the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"ואתה הקרב אליך את אהרן אחיך"

"Blessed are You HaShem our God King of the Universe who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to bless His People Israel with love.”

Even at times when the kohanim cannot serve in the Bais HaMikdash, Torah still mandates that one is to differentiate the kohanic family from all other families of Israel, to bless the People, to give them teruma and the kohanic gifts, and to honor him especially, as it says 'you shall sanctify him'. Nevertheless, because there is some unclarity as to verification of true kohanim, the custom is not to give teruma to kohanim today, as eating teruma by a non-kohen is a serious prohibition. Even in regard to blessing the People there is uncertainty why kohanim of today, whose status is unclear, can bless the People, since our Sages learn from the verse of Birkat kohanim that there is a prohibition for non-kohanim to bless the People.

One explanation found in the poskim is that this prohibition pertains only to the Bais HaMikdash where the People are blessed while using the Tetragammaton which is not so outside the Bais HaMikdash. Another explanation is that only matters that involve physical benefit such as teruma are kohanim suspected to not be fully honest as to their priesthood, until their status is fully verified, while in regard to other matters such as blessing the People, receiving precedence in reading the Torah, etc. there is no need of suspicion.

Whatever the explanation, it is clear that even today the differentiation of the classes Kohanim, Leviim, and Yisraelim, is not only important in customs of honor such as the order of calling to read from the Torah, but also for numbers of Biblical and Rabbinical commandments. It is also interesting to note, that we see clearly that Torah cares to make differentiation not only between the Kohen and the Israelite, but also even between the Kohen and the Levite. One of the laws that illustrates this well, even when the Bais HaMikdash is not standing, is the obligation of the Levi to give trumat maaser to the Kohen. Nevertheless, there are some differentiations between trumat maaser and regular teruma. For example, teruma must be taken for one produce on another in the same vicinity (called 'mukaf' as explained in p. Beshalah), while terumat maaser may be taken from one produce upon another even in different vicinities (even though the pious are careful to do so in the same vicinity).

As we mentioned in the past, the three classes, Kohen, Levi, and Israelite correspond to the three Patriarchs in this order. Thus, the clear distinction between these classes is not a dividing factor among our People. On the contrary, it is the harmony of these different classes together that bring about the connection to the different attributes imbedded in the sources of our People, in Avraham, in Yitzhak, and in Yakov, who are all together united with the One Eternal God.In Hebron, the Uniting City of our People, this message flows so naturally with the symphony of the mitzvot of the Land, which display the different attributes of our People together in such beautiful harmony. 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #109:

“One day, the person I was learning hevrusa with suddenly remarked that he once had a different hevrusa with someone named Boaz. About an hour or two later, this “Boaz” 'happened' to show up at our kollel for the first time that can be recalled in the years I am in this kollel...”

Sources: Even Haezer 3, Rambam Trumot 3, 21

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