Fourth Reading: Finding Eternity
At the beginning of the fourth reading of our Parashah it mentions that Elazar and Itamar are Aaron’s “remaining sons.” The expression “remaining sons” is a direct association with the sefirah of victory/eternity (netzach). The Talmud writes that every son is described figuratively as “his father’s leg,” because he is the continuation and eternalize of the father, and this is clearly pointed out by the verse as the “remaining sons”, that continue existing after their father to provide him with continuity. It follows that since the verse mentions only Elazar and Itamar as Aaron’s remaining sons, we can deduce that Nadav and Avihu, his two older sons that died on the eighth day of the Tabernacle’s inauguration, were not considered their father’s “legs.” Rather they were either on an equal level to their father Aaron or even greater than him, as Moses said, “they are greater than me and you.” In addition, just like they didn't continue their father, they were not married and had no continuation of their own.
The verse then continues saying “take the remaining grain offering.” Rashi comments that, “this was the grain offering of the eighth day and the grain offering of Nachshon.” Numerically, the value of the two phrases, “the grain offering of the eighth day, the grain offering of Nachshon” is 1820, the number of times God’s essential Name, Havayah appears in the Pentateuch!
Therefore, it can be said that the “remaining grain offering” which is really referring to two grain offerings, alludes to Elazar and Itamar “the remaining” sons.” Later on, in the fifth reading, we find the same phrase, “the remaining sons of Aharon” but without the letter yud needed to complete the plural form. This is meant to suggest that the remaining sons are as one.
The numerical allusion connecting sons with grain offerings are that 2 times “son” equals “grain offering”, plus the inclusive 1, the so-called kollel. “Grain offering” also equals “sons” plus the inclusive 1.
Eternal Statutes
Towards the end of the fourth reading, we find the phrase “for they are your due portions and your sons’ due portion” repeated twice in two consecutive verses. The concept of something that is “due” generally indicates permanence and eternity, especially when the Torah mentions it in proximity to the phrase “an eternal right” as it does at the very end of the fourth reading.
Furthermore, the word “due” is the two-letter root associated with the sefirah of victory/eternity (netzach) in the model of the Albam transformation of letters of the Hebrew. The word “due” appears 5 times in the span of three verses.
The value of the two words, “due” and “eternal” is 256, the same value as “Aharon”. Though generally, Moses is associated with the sefirah of “eternity” (netzach) while Aharon is associated with the sefirah of acknowledgment (hod), clearly the eternal nature of the priesthood stems from the sefirah of eternity (netzach).
(from Amudeha Shivah, Shemini)
