כלאי בגדים א

color: #555;

And therefore one must give the seh specifically to the Kohen — for the Kohen is the aspect of v'rav chesed [abundant kindness], the aspect of hadras panim [glory of the face], the aspect of dikna d'kahana rabba [the beard of the High Priest], who merits to draw the illumination of the face upon Israel — which is the aspect of awakening from sleep as mentioned — through which the aforementioned wealth is drawn — through which one merits contemplation as mentioned. And this is the aspect of the Priestly Blessing (birkas kohanim): the aspect of "Yevarechecha Hashem" — with money, that is, the aforementioned wealth. "Ya'er Hashem panav eilecha" — the aspect of haaras panim, hadras panim — which is the aspect of stories of ancient years (sipurei ma'asiyos shel shanim kadmoniyos), which are the aspect of v'rav chesed, the aspect of hadras panim, through which the holy face is restored and drawn upon Israel — which is the illumination of the face of God, the aspect of "Ya'er Hashem panav eilecha." For the Kohen is the aspect of the holy teacher (rav d'kedushah) who labors to awaken the children of Israel from their sleep, to arouse them toward Hashem Yisbarach. And he draws all the seventy faces of Torah for Israel, as it is written (Devarim 33): "They shall teach Your laws to Yaakov and Your Torah to Israel." And as it is written (Malachi 2): "For the lips of the Kohen shall preserve knowledge, and Torah shall they seek from his mouth," and so forth. And therefore the Kohen has the power to make the barren fruitful, as it is written: "And she shall be cleansed and shall conceive seed" (Bamidbar 5:28). And as it is written regarding Eli the Kohen: "And the God of Israel shall grant your request" (Shmuel I, 1:17). And therefore the essential drawing of yirah and length of days to Israel came through the Kohen, who was engaged in the service of the sacrifices in the Beis HaMikdash — which is the aspect of yirah, as it is written: "And he called the name of that place 'Hashem Yir'eh'" (Bereishis 22:14). For all the sacrifices are the aspect of the sprinkling of blood (zerikas damim), which is the aspect of yirah. And therefore it is written regarding the Kohen: "And I gave to him awe (mora) and before My name he withdrew" (Malachi 2:5) — for the essential service of the Kohen was to draw yirah to Israel through the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices in the Beis HaMikdash, all of which is the aspect of yirah as mentioned. And through this, life and length of days was drawn — for the essential source of life and length of days is from the Beis HaMikdash, for it is the house of our life. As our Sages of blessed memory said: the Altar was created to lengthen the days of man. And this is what we say: "And there we shall serve You in awe" — "in awe" specifically, for there is the essential place of yirah as mentioned. And this is: "as in days of old and as in ancient years" (Malachi 3:4). The aspect of "And the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim shall be pleasing to Hashem, as in days of old and as in ancient years" — "as in ancient years" specifically: the aspect of hadras panim, the aspect of stories of ancient years, through which one is awakened from sleep, through which one merits yirah, which is the aspect of the service of the Beis HaMikdash. And therefore the Kohen Gadol merited great wealth, as it is written: "And the Kohen Gadol above his brothers" (Vayikra 21:10) — and our Sages expounded: "Elevate him above his brothers" [in wealth] — for he merited the aforementioned holy wealth through the yirah drawn through hadras panim, through stories of ancient years, which is the aspect of v'rav chesed, the aspect of Kohen as mentioned. And through this wealth one merits the aforementioned contemplation. And this is the aspect of: "And the Kohen Gadol above his brothers upon whose head the anointing oil was poured" — this is the aspect of the aforementioned contemplation-mochin, which is the aspect of the holy anointing oil (shemen mishchas kodesh), as is brought: that the holy anointing oil is the aspect of the contemplation-mochin, that is, the aforementioned contemplation. And this is why the Torah gives the reason for its instruction to elevate and enrich the Kohen Gadol — as it is written: "The Kohen Gadol above his brothers — elevate him above his brothers." And the reason: "upon whose head the anointing oil was poured" — for he was anointed upon his head with the holy anointing oil, which is the aspect of the aforementioned contemplation, and he must constantly draw and illuminate upon his head the aforementioned anointing oil — the aforementioned contemplation — in the aspect of (Koheles 9): "And let oil upon your head not be lacking." Therefore he merited great wealth, for through this one merits the aforementioned contemplation. And this is the aspect of (Tehillim 133): "Like the good oil upon the head, descending upon the beard, the beard of Aharon," and so forth. That is, the aspect of the holy anointing oil — the aforementioned contemplation — which one merits through the tikkunim of Atik, through the aspect of Zaken: which is the aspect of "descending upon the beard, the beard of Aharon" — for this contemplation one receives through wealth that is drawn through the aspect of Zaken as mentioned. And this is: "Like the dew of Chermon descending upon the mountains of Tziyon, for there Hashem commanded the blessing, life," and so forth. That is: a great bounty and blessing — the aspect of the great aforementioned wealth. And this blessing and bounty of wealth one receives through the aspect of life and length of days, which is the aspect of Zaken as mentioned. And this is "like the dew of Chermon" — the drawing of the bounty called by the name of the dew of blessing — that is, great wealth — "descending upon the mountains of Tziyon", that is, the aspect of the Beis HaMikdash, which is the aspect of yirah as mentioned. And as it is written: "How awesome is this place!" — "for there Hashem commanded the blessing, life" — for the essential blessing and bounty of wealth Hashem commanded there specifically, for it is impossible to receive this bounty of holy wealth except through the aspect of "Yiras Hashem tosif yamim" [the fear of Hashem adds days] — which is the aspect of life and length of days — the aspect of "for there Hashem commanded the blessing, life," and so forth, as mentioned. And all the Kohanim are included in the Kohen Gadol, for he includes them all. And therefore the rest of the Kohanim — most of them, if not all — also merited great holy wealth. For the incense (ketores) brings wealth, and no one ever altered it for his own sake so that all the Kohanim would become wealthy — for they all merited the aforementioned wealth drawn through the yirah that is the aspect of the service of the Kohanim in the Beis HaMikdash, through which one merits the aforementioned contemplation, the aspect of holy anointing oil (shemen mishchas kodesh) as mentioned. And therefore the Kohanim were sanctified in the holiness of the covenant more than all Israel — for they were commanded additional commandments in the holiness of the covenant beyond the rest of Israel, as it is written: "They shall be holy," and so forth — "A divorced woman, a harlot, or a profaned woman they shall not take," and so forth. And as it is written (Devarim 33): "For they guarded Your utterance and Your covenant they preserved." For they merit yirah as mentioned, through which one merits guarding of the covenant, as is explained in the aforementioned discourse — through which one merits the aforementioned wealth, as is explained there in the aforementioned discourse. See there.

And therefore the Beis HaMikdash — which is the place of yirah — had in it extraordinarily great wealth: all the wealth of the world that was in the treasuries of the House of Hashem, which King David (may peace be upon him) had gathered, and the other kings had gathered immense wealth from all the kings and had placed it all in the treasuries of the House of Hashem. For the Beis HaMikdash is the aspect of the aforementioned contemplation, which is called kodesh [holiness] — for whoever has da'as [knowledge/awareness of God], it is as if the Beis HaMikdash was built in his days (Berachos 33a). And therefore it was necessary that there be extraordinarily great wealth there — all the wealth of the world — in order to draw to that place the aforementioned contemplation. And the wealth of the Beis HaMikdash was drawn through the immense yirah that was there, as it is written: "How awesome is this place!" and so forth, as mentioned. And therefore the seventy Sanhedrin sat there, who would reveal all seventy faces of Torah — for every difficult matter would be brought before them, for there all seventy faces of Torah were illuminated, through which one merits the aforementioned contemplation.