The Prohibition to See the Ark (II)

What is forbidden to be seen?

 

            In this shiur, we will discuss the identity of the "holy thing" (kodesh) that is forbidden to be seen. As we shall see, there are several answers to this question.[1]

 

1. The primary meaning of the term "kodesh" is the ark. Thus, for example, we find in the description of the burdens of Levi'im:

 

And when Aharon and his sons have made an end of covering the holy (kodesh) and all the vessels of the holy, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kehat shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kehat in the Ohel Moed. (Bamidbar 4:15)

 

            In this sense, the word "kodesh" parallels and is identical to the sense of the word "mikdash" (as it appears in Bamidbar 10:21: "And the Kehati set forward, bearing the holy (mikdash), that they might set up the Mishkan against their arrival"). According to this understanding, what is prohibited is to see the ark and to touch it.

 

2. The word "kodesh" also denotes the Holy of Holies in general. Thus, for example, we find in Acharei Mot, "That he shall come not at all times to the holy place (kodesh) within the parokhet" (Vayikra 16:2), referring to the Holy of Holies.

 

3. Some wish to adduce proof from this verse that the term "kodesh"refers to the Heikhal.

 

4. Sometimes, the word "kodesh" refers to the entire camp of the Mishkan (Shemot 38:27) or, alternatively, the altar(Bamidbar 4:15).

 

            Thus, once again we encounter the phenomenon that a particular term bears a basic and more restricted meaning, as well as a broader meaning. The meaning of "kodesh" ranges from the ark, to the Heikhal, to the Holy of Holies, to the entire structure of the Mishkan, and even to the courtyard with the outer altar and the entrance to the Ohel Mo'ed. In other words, the term "kodesh" refers to the entirety of the sanctified area.[2]

 

The seeing of the ark by the people of Beit-Shemesh

 

            In the course of the battle at Even Ha-Ezer, the ark was captured by the Pelishtim. When the ark was returned seven months later, we read:

 

And they of Beit-Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it… And He smote the men of Beit-Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, smiting fifty thousand and seventy men of the people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beit-Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall He go up from us?" (I Shmuel 6:13-20)

 

            What was the sin of the people of Beit-Shemesh? The commentators offer several answers to this question.

 

            The gemara states:

 

"And He smote of the men of Beit-Shemesh, because they looked into the ark." Did God smite them because they looked into the ark? R. Abbahu and R. Elazar [disagree]: One said that they went on reaping while they prostrated themselves [before the ark]; the other said that they also used this [disrespectful] language to it: "Who embittered you that you were thus embittered, and what has come upon you that you are now appeased?" (Sota 35a)

 

The gemara first asks whether God's smiting of the people of Beit-Shemesh was a direct response to the fact that they had seen the ark. Two Amora'im propose two different answers:

 

1)      The people of Beit-Shemesh continued with their reaping and thus failed to show proper respect to the ark. According to this view, the problem was not that they saw the ark, but that they looked at the ark with scorn. That is to say, there was nothing wrong with their actual seeing of the ark, but only with the improper attitude that accompanied it. The ark of God arrived and the people of Bet-Shemesh continued with their reaping.

 

2)      The people of Beit-Shemesh uttered mocking words about the ark. Rashi explains:

 

"Who embittered you that you were thus embittered" – Who angered you when you became angry and did not rescue [yourself] from captivity, and now who appeased you when you were appeased to come on your own.

 

When the ark was captured, the Pelishtim put it in their idolatrous temple in Ashdod, and afterwards in Gat and Ekron. The people of Beit-Shemesh asked, "Who now appeased you that you have agreed to come on your own?" These are words of scorn and derision directed at the ark. In this view, the offense was not that that the people of Beit-Shemesh saw the ark, but that they spoke irreverently about it.

 

The Radak explains as follows:

 

To the point that owing to their great happiness, they burst through to see the ark and opened it and saw what was inside. Therefore they were punished, as it is written: "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die" (Bamidbar 4:20). (I Shmuel 6:13).

 

            R. Yosef Kara explains:

 

And they should have fallen on their faces and knelt and prostrated themselves before it until one of them brought a cloth wholly of blue so that they may cover the ark with it and return it to the house of Avinadav. (I Shmuel 6:13)

 

Here too, the commentators attribute an attitude of derision to the people of Beit-Shemesh. They should have prostrated themselves, but they did nothing of the sort. Moreover, they should have covered the ark with a cloth, but they failed to do so, which implies that there was a problem with the very seeing of the ark.

 

            R. Yeshaya of Trani explains the passage in its plain sense:

 

"Because they looked into the ark" – And it is disrespectful to look into the ark, the place of the Shekhina, for surely the Levites were warned about this: "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die."

 

            To summarize the various approaches to the punishment meted out to the people of Beit-Shemesh:

 

1. Chazal in tractate Sota proposed two explanations that relate to the scorn demonstrated towards the ark without explicit connection to seeing it - The people went on with their reaping or they spoke derisively about the ark.

 

2. The Radak understood that the people actually opened the ark to see what was contained within.

 

3. R. Yosef Kara understood that their response should have included falling on their faces, but they failed to do and did not cover the ark.

 

4. It is disrespectful to look at the ark.

 

5. They saw more than what was fitting to see.

 

            We see that the commentators did not all understand the offense of the people of Beit-Shemesh in the context of seeing the ark, but rather attributed the punishment meted out to them to the scorn and derision that they showed to the ark, instead of respect.

 

Does the prohibition to see the Ark apply to all Generations?

 

            In the previous shiur, we saw the passage in tractate Yoma that distinguishes between the Mishkan and the permanent Mikdash. In the Mishkan, when the connection between God and the people of Israel was just beginning to develop, the people were forbidden to set their eyes on the ark, whereas in the Mikdash, where the connection was already well-founded, there was no such prohibition:

           

R. Katina said: Whenever Israel came up to the Festival, the curtain would be removed for them and the keruvim were shown to them, whose bodies were intertwisted with one another, and they would be thus addressed: Look! You are beloved before God as the love between man and woman. R. Chisda raised the following objection: "But they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered," in connection with which R. Yehuda said in the name of Rav: It means at the time when the vessels are being put into their cases. R. Nachman answered: That may be compared to a bride: As long as she is in her father's house, she is reserved in regard to her husband, but when she comes to her father-in-law's house, she is no more so reserved in regard to him. (Yoma 54a)

 

During the period of betrothal, when the connection between the bride and groom is just beginning to develop, the bride is reserved in regard to her groom, and therefore there is a prohibition to see. Similarly, Israel in the wilderness were not yet accustomed to the Shekhina, and they were thus bound by a prohibition not to see the ark. But after marriage, the bride is no longer reserved with respect to her husband, and similarly, when the Mikdash was built and the people of Israel were accustomed to the Shekhina that permanently resided among them, they could openly look at the ark.

 

            The gemara continues:

 

R. Chana son of R. Katina raised the following objection: It happened with a priest who was whiling away his time[3] etc. He was answered: You speak of a woman who has been divorced. When she is divorced, she goes back to her earlier love.

 

The gemara raises an objection from an incident involving a certain priest who died before he had the opportunity to point to the place where the ark had been stored away. One of the main reasons for this was so that the people should not come to see the ark. But according to R. Nachman, during the period of the Mikdash, Israel was like a bride in the house of her husband, and therefore they were permitted to look at the ark! R. Nachman answers that after the destruction of the First Temple, the people of Israel were banished from before the Shekhina, and therefore they returned to the modest behavior that they had practiced during the period of their betrothal and they were once again forbidden to see the ark.

 

            According to R. Nachman, then, there is a distinction between the time of the Mishkan and the Second Temple, when for reasons of modesty seeing the ark was forbidden, and the period of the First Temple, when it was permitted to see the ark owing to the Shekhina's permanent presence there. Thus, the prohibition to see the ark is limited in time and does not apply in all generations.

 

            This also follows from the words of the Rambam in his Sefer Ha-Mitzvot, where he writes that it is incorrect to count among the 613 Torah laws a mitzva that does not apply in all generations:

 

A mitzva that does not apply in all generations is not an inheritance for us, for the term inheritance applies to that which is constant for all generations, as it is stated: "Like the days of heaven on earth"… Others have already erred about this principle and counted: "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered." And they counted…. And these applied only in the wilderness. And even though [the Sages] said: "Where is there an allusion to one who steals the kisva? As it is stated: 'That they come not to see how the holy things are stolen, lest they [the purloiners] die,'" they said "an allusion," but this is not the plain sense of the verse. This is also not listed among those who are liable for death at the hand of God, as is explained in the Tosefta and in Sanhedrin. (Sefer Ha-Mitzvot,Principle 3)

 

According to the Rambam, this mitzva applied only in the wilderness, but not in later generations. In contrast, a number of Rishonim maintain that the mitzva applies in all generations. This was the view of R. Sa'adya Gaon and the Halakhot Gedolot, as well as the Sefer Ha-Yere'im, who writes as follows:

"But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die." And you shall fear your God, and put His fear on your faces, and show respect to His holy vessels. He warned about the holy vessels when they are being put away in their cases to be carried, as it is written in Parashat Bamidbar Sinai: "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered." This means: They shall not come to see [them] as they are being placed in their cases, when they are as if swallowed up by them. By right, this should have been counted among those who are liable for death at the hand of heaven, even though we find in Sanhedrin, chapter Elu Ha-Nisrafin (81b), that the punishment is left to zealots, therefore I did not count it. As it was taught: "If one steals the kisva… he is punished by zealots. And we ask: What is the kisva? R. Yehuda said: The service vessels of the Temple. And thus it is stated: 'And the vessels [kesot] of libation.' And where is this alluded to? 'That they come not to see how the holy things are stolen, lest they [the purloiners] die.'" This means: They shall die at the hands of zealots, and not by death at the hand of heaven. And also R. Yehudai Gaon counted this among the negative precepts. (no. 352)

 

            The Ramban, in his strictures to the Rambam's Sefer Ha-Mitzvot (principle 3) disagrees with the Rambam and says that the verse, "But they shall not go in to see," includes a prohibition for all generations not to steal the service vessels in the Temple (as we saw in Sanhedrin 81b).

 

            According to Rabbeinu Elyakim,this prohibition applied even in Eretz Yisrael until the construction of the permanent Mikdash in Jerusalem. One of his proofs, of course, is the fact that the people of Beit-Shemesh were smitten for seeing the ark.[4]

 

            The question was also raised whether this prohibition to see applied only to the ark or to the other vessels as well. There are various opinions among Chazal regarding this issue. Some expand the prohibition to include all the vessels, while others limit it specifically to the ark. We will not expand here upon the various proofs for each position.

 

To whom is the prohibition Addressed?

 

            Is there a difference regarding this prohibition between priests and Levites? The commentators adopt different positions on this issue.

 

            According to the plain sense of the words of the Ramban, the priests belong to the Kehatites and are therefore included in the prohibition to see the ark. This seems to be the understanding of the midrash that we saw in the previous shiur:

 

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: When they take the Mishkan apart, the Kehatites shall not remove the parokhet from in front of the ark, but rather the sons of Aharon shall enter and remove it because they are priests… What did the sons of Aharon do when they took down the parokhet? R. Chama bar R. Chanina said: There were large poles with hooks of gold on top, and some say of iron, and they lifted up the parokhet and unhooked it. And nevertheless they did not bring it down all at once, so that they should not see the ark. Rather they brought it down little by little, so that they covered the ark… Three hundred priests immersed it, and two High Priests carried it on poles before the ark. And afterwards they put on it a covering of tachash skins, so that nothing at all be seen of the ark. This is what it says (Bamidbar 4:6): "And they shall put on it the covering of tachash skins." (Bamidbar Rabba 4:13)

 

            Elsewhere, however, the midrash states:

 

"But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered." R. Yehuda Ha-Levi the son of R. Shalom said: If you wish to learn in which case the Kehatites died, learn it from this verse: "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered." This teaches that when they came to carry the ark, they would remove the parokhet from before it, and their eyes would see the ark. Therefore, they would die, as it is stated: "For no man shall see Me and live" (Shemot 33:20). What did Moshe do to help them? God said to him: When they take the Mishkan apart, the Kehatites shall not remove the parokhet from in front of the ark, but rather the sons of Aharon shall enter and remove it because they are priests. And they shall cover the ark, and so too the table and all the vessels. This will help them so that they not die, if they do not look at the ark. (Bamidbar Rabba 5:9)

 

            This midrash clearly distinguishes between priests and Levites. What is the basis for this distinction? The innermost roles belong to the priests. Thus, the priests guard from inside, whereas the Levites guard from the outside; the priests go in to perform the service inside the Mishkan and the Mikdash, whereas the Levites do not. Does this mean that the priests are permitted to see what is forbidden to the Levites to see?[5]

 

            The gemara at the end of tractate Eiruvin states:

 

Our Rabbis taught: All may enter the Heikhal to build, to repair, or to take out ritual impurity. But it is a mitzvathat the priests do it. If no priests are available, Levites may enter. If no Levites are available, Israelites may enter. But in all these cases, only ritually pure persons may enter, whereas ritually impure persons many not. (Eiruvin 105a)

 

When it is necessary to enter the Heikhal to build, to repair, or to remove ritual impurity, there is an order of preference. It is preferable that the work be carried out by priests; if there are no priests, the Levites; and if there are no Levites, then ordinary Israelites. Here too we see a clear preference for the priests.

 

            It is possible that the distinction between priests and Levites applies also to the matter of touching the ark. R. Zalman Sorotzkin, the Slutzker Rav, asks in his book Oznayim La-Torah on Parashat Bamidbar:

 

How were Aharon and his sons permitted to see the ark? Surely it was only once a year that Aharon was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, and only with the cloud of incense, so that he not see the Shekhina, and also about him it says: "That he not die," which implies that if he enters not in that manner, he will die. How then were he and his sons, who were ordinary priests, permitted to see the ark and touch it?

It may be suggested that the priests, who took down the parokhet and covered the ark with it, were like artisans, who are permitted to enter the Holy of Holies to build or repair, and the mitzva is that they be priests, if that is possible (Eiruvin 105; Rambam, Hilkhot Beit Ha-Bechira 7:23). And Aharon and his sons, when they disassembled the Mishkan, took it apart in order to build it somewhere else, and therefore they were permitted, there being no other alternative, to take down the parokhet and cover the ark with it. But the Levites were not permitted to do so, since it was possible to be done by the priests and because it was necessary also to touch the ark. The verse is precise in its formulation: "They shall not go in to see." Since this service could be performed by the priests, the Levites coming merely to see is certainly forbidden.

 

R. Sorotzkin draws a parallel between the priests and the artisans, who are permitted to enter the Holy of Holies. The Levites were not permitted to enter because the work could be performed by the priests and because it was necessary to touch the ark. Accordingly, a clear distinction is made between priests and Levites.

 

            In any event, the midrash in Bamidbar Rabba (5:9) clearly defines the basis of the prohibition to see the ark, citing the verse: "For no man shall see Me and live" (Shemot 33:20). This verse is found in God's answer to Moshe's request in the wake of the pardon granted for the sin of the golden calf: "I pray You, show me Your glory."

 

 

, full_html, In this shiur, we will discuss the identity of the "holy thing" (kodesh) that is forbidden to be seen. As we shall see, there are several answers to this question.