Siman 128, Se'if 6 · The source of the halachah: the words of the Zohar

Shulchan Aruch, Siman 128, se'if 6
"And the Levi pours water over their hands."
(Shulchan Aruch)

The source of the halachah: the words of the Zohar

• No source in Chazal: This halachah, that specifically the Leviim wash the hands of the Kohanim before Birkas Kohanim, does not appear in the Gemara and is not mentioned anywhere in the words of Chazal.
• How the Beis Yosef handled it: He was familiar with the minhag, but he could not locate a source for it and wondered about it, until he found the matter in the Zohar. On the strength of the Zohar he brought the halachah down in the Shulchan Aruch.

When there is no Levi: a bechor, a firstborn who opened the womb (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 22)

"And the Levi pours water: when there is no Levi, a firstborn who opened the womb pours, since he too has a certain sanctity."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• The Leviim took the place of the firstborn: At the time of the Exodus it was the firstborn who held the level of sanctity and served in holy matters, and when the Mishkan was erected the Leviim entered in their place. From here we see that a measure of sanctity remains in a bechor.
• Peter rechem and pidyon haben: The first of everything belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He (as with bikkurim), and therefore the firstborn son fundamentally belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. That remaining sanctity in him is redeemed through pidyon haben.

The order of preference for pouring the water

1. A Levi: He is the one fit to pour, since his level of sanctity is above that of a Yisrael.
2. A bechor, a firstborn who opened the womb: Where there is no Levi, because he has a certain sanctity.
3. The Kohen himself: When there is neither a Levi nor a bechor, it is better that the Kohen wash himself rather than have a Yisrael pour over his hands.

• The reason for this order: The intent of the Zohar is that whoever washes the Kohen's hands should himself be on a level of sanctity. Being washed by a Yisrael is considered a diminishing of the Kohen's honor, and therefore it is preferable that he wash himself.

A dispute regarding the bechor

• The source in the Bach: Rav Yoel Sirkis, author of the Bayis Chadash, is the one who innovated that the bechor enters in place of the Levi, and his wording is cited in the Be'er Heitev (os 8): "And if there is no Levi there, a firstborn who opened the womb pours, for he is holy and enters in place of a Levi."
• Those who disagree: Some disagreed and argued that a bechor has no advantage over any other Yisrael, since he has already been redeemed. As long as he has not been redeemed one can say that sanctity remains in him, but after the pidyon he is an ordinary Yisrael. In those places the bechor did not wash, and if there was no Levi the Kohen washed himself.
• The Magen Avraham: only a firstborn to the mother: "Specifically a firstborn to the mother, but for a firstborn to the father alone we do not find any sanctity." The Torah made the redemption depend on opening the womb, and therefore we follow the mother.
• In practice: The minhag is that a bechor does wash, as the Mishnah Berurah writes.

A question: why is a bechor not called to the Torah in place of a Levi?

• The question: If a bechor enters in place of the Levi regarding pouring the water, why is it that when there is no Levi in shul we do not call up a bechor for the second aliyah?
• We do not find this discussed: There is no trace of a discussion of this question among the poskim, and it seems that it did not trouble them.
• One possibility: Since the very halachah of the bechor is subject to dispute, calling him to the Torah could have generated arguments in shul over whether it is coming to him or not.
• A distinction between the two: The bechor has a role like a Levi with regard to serving the Kohen, but that does not mean he comes in place of the Levi with regard to the reading of the Torah. The two are not identical, and the matter requires further study.

A Levi who is a talmid chacham and Kohanim who are simple people

The source in the Be'er Heitev and in Sefer She'al David

• The Be'er Heitev (os 8): He expands on this subject more than the Mishnah Berurah does, and cites the words of the Gaon Rav David Oppenheim in his sefer She'al David (siman 98), which was still in manuscript in their day.
• Who was Rav David Oppenheim: A rav in Prague, a great gaon, wealthy and a generous supporter. He owned the largest library of his time, bought seforim and manuscripts and supported publishers, yet he never printed his own works in his lifetime. Only in our generation has part of his writings been published. After his passing his entire library was sold to Oxford in England, and it sits there to this very day, known as the Oppenheim Collection.
• Another question discussed there: Whether one Kohen may serve another Kohen, that is, that the Kohanim take turns and wash one another's hands. This is not what is held in halachah.

The various opinions regarding a Levi who is a talmid chacham

Here is the problem that troubled the generations: the Levi is a talmid chacham, the rav of the city, and the Kohanim are simple people. Should he wash their hands?

1. The Maharai Halevi (siman 39) and the Magen Avraham: "He need not pour water over their hands; rather, they should wash themselves."
2. The Maharash Halevi: "It is a measure of chassidus for a Levi who is a talmid chacham to pour water over the hands of Kohanim even though they are simple people." Nevertheless, if the Levi sees that "the hour requires conducting oneself with distinction," he is entitled not to wash them, for it is certainly forbidden to demean the honor of the Torah.
3. When there are Kohanim of both types: If there are at the same time Kohanim who are talmidei chachamim and Kohanim who are simple people, he may not pour for the talmid chacham and not for the simple one; rather, he should either pour for all of them or not pour at all (Maharai Halevi).
4. The Pri Chadash: He is stringent in the other direction and writes that a Levi is chayav misah if he pours water for simple people, and even when there are talmidei chachamim among them, and all the more so when they are all simple people. His basis: a talmid chacham who demeans his Torah is chayav misah.
5. The Knesses HaGedolah: He brought opinions to the opposite effect, that even if they are all simple people the Levi who is a talmid chacham is obligated to pour water over their hands.

(The dispute stretches from one extreme to the other, and there is no uniform ruling.)

The considerations on both sides

• The argument to obligate the Levi: The Kohen received his appointment from the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Levi's Torah does not have the power to detract from that status.
• The distinction: The Levi does not hold up the Kohen at all. If there is no Levi and no bechor, the Kohen washes himself, which shows that the Levi's washing is not an integral part of the mitzvah but a hiddur mitzvah, that it is finer and more fitting for the Levi to serve the Kohen.
• The basis of the Pri Chadash: This is not a reasoning he invented on his own. The Gemara says that a talmid chacham is forbidden to degrade himself. For example, in the sugya learned that very day in the Daf Yomi: when a well needs to be dug to supply drinking water for the whole city and everyone goes out to dig, it is not fitting for talmidei chachamim to dig.
• The logic behind it: The talmid chacham represents the Torah, and the Torah should not be degraded. Even though the act itself is for the benefit of the public, not everyone who sees it understands it that way, and it can lead to disgrace of the Torah. Against this there are those who disagree, and the reasoning is not accepted by all.
• About the expression "chayav misah": It was clarified that the intent is not actual death but the language of Chazal with regard to Heaven, and so too in the language of the Gemara regarding a talmid chacham who does not conduct himself properly (the precise wording of the Gemara was not quoted in the shiur).

An incident with Rav Herzog

• The background: Rav Herzog, who was Chief Rabbi of Israel, was a Levi. He did not want to rule for himself in this question and asked another rav (whose name was not mentioned in the shiur).
• The ruling he was given: In a large shul and in public, such as Yeshurun in Yerushalayim, he does not wash the hands of the Kohanim, since that is not appropriate for the standing of the Chief Rabbi in front of a large crowd. But in a private minyan in his home, with twenty or thirty people, there he does wash, since everyone there understands the matter of a Levi washing for a Kohen.
• The practice continued in the family: So his son conducted himself after him, the one who served as President of the State, and so too the current President, and all three followed that same ruling.
• The source for this information: Rav Neria Gutel, who was head of Michlelet Orot, wrote an article on the subject in the journal Techumin, published by Machon Tzomet, in which he cited the ruling and checked how people actually conduct themselves.
• The nature of the ruling: It is a compromise between the two sides, in one setting yes and in another no, and each person should act according to his own understanding.

In passing · The honor of the Torah and the obligations of a talmid chacham

• A chacham is recognized by his deeds: The Rambam writes that just as a chacham is recognized by his views, so he is recognized by his deeds, by his clothing, by his manner of walking, by his food and by his drink. The talmid chacham represents the Torah, and on that basis he has obligations and not only privileges.
• Rav Goren: Even though in the IDF short sleeves are worn in the summer, Rav Goren never went about in the army in short sleeves, even though it was hot, because he saw himself as representing the Torah.
• A parallel from the wider world: Attorneys in court also wrap themselves in a robe, because the garment serves the function of honoring the place.
• Judgment, not one blanket rule: There are two sides to this. Just as there are leaders who are never seen in the supermarket and travel in an official car, and there are prime ministers who ride the bus, so too here, these are right and those are right, and one should not draw conclusions from a single detail but rather look at the whole picture.

Waiving one's honor

• A rav who waives his honor: A rav may waive his honor and his waiver is effective in certain matters, but he cannot waive it one hundred percent, because it is not his private honor but the honor of the Torah.
• A father who waives his honor: A father can waive it entirely. Strictly by the halachah a son must stand when his father enters the house until he sits down, and we do not practice this today, because the father waives his honor.
• The teacher and the students: There was a time when students would stand when the teacher entered the classroom, and today the order has been reversed and it is the teacher who stands before them.