[Avodah] ohr lagoyim

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 06/07/2016 04:19 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 06, 2016 at 04:39:33PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
> :>So you see "ve'atim tihu Li mamlekhes kohanim..." as nevu'ah, not a
> :>tzivui?

> : 1) Yes, of *course* it's not a tzivuy; it's not even a nevuah.  It's a
> : description of the deal being offered: if you listen to Me you will be
> : My segulah, a mamlechet kohanim and goy kadosh.   That is clear pshat;
> : anything else is a nice drasha, but  not relevant to halacha.

> Targum Yonasan

<nit-pick> You mean, of course, "Yonasan", i.e. a version of Targum
Yerushalmi that a printer mistakenly attributed to Yonasan.  But of course
we all know that, I hope.  I just expected to see the scare quotes.</nit-pick>

> ad loc "vekhehanin meshamshin" -- to be a kohein is inehrently to be
> called on to serve.

A kohen's shimush is the avodah in the BHMK, not anything else.  It's
(1) a promise, not a tzivuy or a nevuah; and (2) has nothing to do with
"service" to anyone.


> Qedushah could be something you do, something done to you, or in many
> hashkafos, inherent. (R Meir Simchah haKohein miDvinsk argues against
> this last one in both the MC and the OS. Vehemently; likening belief in
> inherent qedushah to cheit ha'eigel.) But kehunah? I think it's a job
> by definition.

*If* it's a job, it's a job of avodah BHMK, and the pasuk is promising
that if you do as I tell you then I will award you this prestigious job.
But Rashi says the *pshat* here is not a job at all, but a status.  He
has to say that, because al pi pshat non-bechorim were *never* intended
to be kohanim meshamshim.


-- 
Zev Sero               Meaningless combinations of words do not acquire
zev at sero.name          meaning merely by appending them to the two other
                        words `God can'.  Nonsense remains nonsense, even
                        when we talk it about God.   -- C S Lewis