Rashi states: “When Aharon saw that all the sacrifices had been offered and all the procedures had been performed, and yet the Shechinah had not descended for Yisroel, he was distressed. He said, ‘I know that Hashem is angry with me, and on my account the Shechinah has not descended for Yisroel.’ He said to Moshe, ‘My brother Moshe, is this what you have done to me, that I have entered and been put to shame?’ At once, Moshe entered with him, and they prayed for mercy. Then the Shechinah came down for Yisroel.”
Sefer M’Zekeinim Esbonen asks why the Shechinah did not descend if Aharon had done everything he was commanded to do. Why did Moshe have to enter with him and pray for mercy?
He suggests that while it is true that Aharon had done everything he was supposed to do, he still needed to have a fully broken heart. When Aharon blamed himself, and he and Moshe davened, their hearts broke completely, which was the major component that had been missing from the avodah until now.
He uses the same idea to explain the pasuk (1 Shmuel 1:13) that says that when Chana was davening, Eli Hakohen that she was drunk. The Gemara (Brachos 31A) learns many halachos of tefillah from Chana’s prayer.
This story is very puzzling. Eli Hakohen was a navi and gadol hador. When he saw a woman praying from the depths of her heart, why did he immediately assume that she was drunk?
It is possible that Eli saw with ruach hakodesh that Chana deserved for her request for a child to be answered. However, her heart still needed to be a bit more broken, which is what he meant with his words. She replied (ibid:15): “No, my master, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit, and...I poured out my soul before the Hashem.”
She was saying that her heart was, in fact, completely broken. When Eli saw that her words were having the desired result, and that her heart was truly broken, he told her that she could go home in peace, and Hashem would fulfill her request.
