The verses before us are familiar to all, as they serve as the Haftarah for Parashat Emor. From here onward, Yechezkel turns to speak of the worthy: until now he dealt with the unworthy - from Yisrael, from the Levi'im, and from the Kohanim - who will be excluded from the service of the Beit HaMikdash; and now he reveals who will indeed merit to serve in the House of Hashem. Further in the chapter, we will encounter a series of verses describing the status of the Kohanim in the Future to Come, including matters that seem entirely obvious, things forbidden even to ordinary Yisraelim, and things permitted to the Kohanim - all of which require explanation.
וְהַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם בְּנֵי צָדוֹק אֲשֶׁר שָׁמְרוּ אֶת מִשְׁמֶרֶת מִקְדָּשִׁי בִּתְעוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעָלַי הֵמָּה יִקְרְבוּ אֵלַי לְשָׁרְתֵנִי וְעָמְדוּ לְפָנַי לְהַקְרִיב לִי חֵלֶב וָדָם נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - But the Kohanim, the Levi'im, the sons of Tzadok, who kept the charge of My Sanctuary when the Children of Yisrael strayed from Me, they shall draw near to Me to minister to Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me fat and blood, says the Lord Hashem.
At a time when everyone strayed from the Holy One, blessed be He, there was a group that remained close and cleaved to Him - the Kohanim, the Levi'im, the sons of Tzadok. They are the ones who will merit in the Third Beit HaMikdash to be the ministers of the House of Hashem and to offer the sacrifices. And this does not mean the peripheral tasks, such as washing the floors or rinsing the entrails, but rather the central, exalted services: ascending the Mizbeach and the actual offering - "to offer to Me fat and blood."
הֵמָּה יָבֹאוּ אֶל מִקְדָּשִׁי וְהֵמָּה יִקְרְבוּ אֶל שֻׁלְחָנִי לְשָׁרְתֵנִי וְשָׁמְרוּ אֶת מִשְׁמַרְתִּי׃ - They shall enter My Sanctuary, and they shall draw near to My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.
"They shall draw near to My table" - this refers to partaking of the sacred offerings (kodashim). The rule is that one who does not perform the avodah does not partake of kodashim, with the exception of those with physical blemishes (ba'alei mumim), who are the only ones who do not perform the avodah yet may still partake of kodashim. These Kohanim, since they perform the avodah, will also partake of kodashim. Furthermore: "and they shall keep My charge" - not like the "charge of the House" mentioned earlier regarding the sinners, which consisted merely of washing the building and preparing the vessels, but the charge of the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself - that is, ascending the Mizbeach.
From here, the Chafetz Chaim derives a profound ethical lesson. There are challenging periods in faith, when many among the Jewish people sadly stray from the path. In his day, the Haskalah movement was consuming everything in its wake. As is well known, when people came to him asking for a blessing for viable offspring, for male sons, he told them: Male sons? I grieve over those who are already here - for anyone to whom a child is born does not know what will become of him tomorrow. And it was not without reason that the Holocaust took place in Europe, where assimilation was rampant, something that was not the case in Sephardic lands, and from there arose immense divine wrath.
And the Chafetz Chaim says: Observe: those who currently feel like a persecuted minority, looked down upon with condescension by those who have strayed from the path - "you are still clinging to those outdated ideas" - concerning them the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "They shall enter My Sanctuary, and they shall draw near to My table to minister to Me." In the Future to Come, the Holy One, blessed be He, will be revealed, and then it will become clear who rebelled against the King, and the distinction between one who served God and one who did not serve Him will be recognized. Therefore, it is worthwhile to exert effort and persevere despite the difficult trials, for those who withstand these fierce tests - "they shall draw near to Me to minister to Me"; and as for the fate of those who stumbled in the failures of their generation and served idols, we have already seen in the preceding verses.
From here onward, Yechezkel describes the reality of the Kohanim in the Future to Come, and Chazal have already dealt with the understanding of these matters. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (daf 13b) states: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, in truth, remember that man for good, and his name is Chananyah ben Chizkiyah, for were it not for him, the Book of Yechezkel would have been suppressed (hidden away), because its words seemed to contradict the words of the Torah. The Sages sought to suppress it; what did Chananyah ben Chizkiyah do? They brought up three hundred jugs of oil to his attic - both to provide light for learning Torah at night and for his sustenance - and he sat in the attic and expounded upon them, until he reconciled all the verses that appeared to contradict one another. We will see some of these reconciliations below.
וְהָיָה בְּבוֹאָם אֶל שַׁעֲרֵי הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית בִּגְדֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִלְבָּשׁוּ וְלֹא יַעֲלֶה עֲלֵיהֶם צֶמֶר בְּשָׁרְתָם בְּשַׁעֲרֵי הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית וָבָיְתָה׃ - And it shall be, when they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they shall wear linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner courtyard and inward.
פַּאֲרֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִהְיוּ עַל רֹאשָׁם וּמִכְנְסֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִהְיוּ עַל מָתְנֵיהֶם לֹא יַחְגְּרוּ בַּיָּזַע׃ - Linen turbans shall be upon their heads, and linen breeches shall be upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with [anything that causes] sweat.
The garments of the kohanim were all made of bad, which is linen. The tunic: "they shall wear linen garments"; the turbans: "linen turbans," for the pe'erim are the turbans (migba'ot) that adorn their heads; the breeches were also of linen; and the sash was not to contain any wool either. Wool warms the body and causes sweating, and people wear wool in the winter to keep warm; regarding this it is said: "they shall not gird themselves with sweat" - meaning they shall not gird themselves with a sash made of a material that causes sweat. This is how the Malbim explains it in his second interpretation.
The Radak, on the other hand, cites the words of Chazal, explaining that "they shall not gird themselves with sweat" does not refer to the material, but rather to the placement: they must not tie the sash too high up, coming out from under the armpits, where sweat accumulates, nor too low, below the waist, where there is also excessive sweat, but rather they must gird it precisely at the waist.
The Malbim further explains based on the familiar halachah: The sash of an ordinary kohen was made of kilayim (a mixture of wool and linen), which was permitted to him during the Temple service. By contrast, the sash of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur was made of butz, pure linen. Incidentally, this is one of the halachic complications regarding renewing the sacrificial service in our times: performing the service without the priestly garments is impossible, as that invalidates the service; yet performing it with the priestly garments requires wearing kilayim, and it is not clear that this is permitted nowadays, which raises the concern of committing a transgression. Although the Rav of Kalish and others considered renewing the service in their day to offer the Korban Pesach - since ritual impurity is permitted in communal offerings - most of the Torah leaders rejected the idea, and one of the reasons was this issue of the sash.
It turns out, says the Malbim, that Yechezkel is teaching us that in the future, ordinary kohanim will be elevated to the level of the Kohen Gadol in certain respects. And this is the meaning of "they shall not gird themselves with sweat" - they will not gird themselves with a sash containing wool, but rather one like the sash of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, which was made entirely of linen. The kohanim in the Third Temple will rise in status and approach the exalted level of the Kohen Gadol.
And according to the opinion that even in our times an ordinary kohen does not wear a sash containing wool, but rather one made of linen alone - an opinion we do not follow in halachah - what novelty is being taught here? The Malbim explains: that is the very point being taught. Although the ordinary kohen will be elevated in certain matters to the status of the Kohen Gadol, this applies specifically to areas of greater stringency, such as hair trimming and marrying a virgin, as we will see below, but not to altering the commandment of the garments to turn what was once linen into kilayim - regarding that, no change was stated.
וּבְצֵאתָם אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַחִיצוֹנָה אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַחִיצוֹנָה אֶל הָעָם יִפְשְׁטוּ אֶת בִּגְדֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה מְשָׁרְתִם בָּם וְהִנִּיחוּ אוֹתָם בְּלִשְׁכֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְלָבְשׁוּ בְּגָדִים אֲחֵרִים וְלֹא יְקַדְּשׁוּ אֶת הָעָם בְּבִגְדֵיהֶם׃ - And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they minister and deposit them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.
Why is "into the outer court" repeated twice? Rashi explains that when exiting from within, there is an outer court that is the area of the kohanim, and beyond that there is another outer court, which is the Women's Courtyard (Ezrat Nashim); therefore, it is stated twice.
The Malbim explains differently: The first mention of "into the outer court" refers to the "Chambers of the Twenty." As we have seen, there were chambers in the outer court which, although physically located in a section of the outer court not designated for the kohanim, nevertheless held the halachic status of the Priestly Courtyard (Ezrat Kohanim). They were called the Chambers of the Twenty because they encompassed twenty cubits upon which the sanctity of Ezrat Kohanim was conferred, permitting the consumption of sacrifices of the highest sanctity (kodshei kodashim) there and observing all the laws of the Courtyard. The second mention of "into the outer court" refers to exiting into the Courtyard of the Israelites (Ezrat Yisrael), the courtyard designated for the public, which is why it says there "to the people" - an area not endowed with the sanctity of the Courtyard, where the people would stand.
There, in the holy chambers - the Chambers of the Twenty sanctified with the sanctity of the Courtyard - they would take off their priestly garments, store them away, and put on other garments: ordinary, everyday clothing. Here the Malbim returns to explain that due to their distinction, the kohanim are elevated in this matter as well to the level of the Kohen Gadol. For regarding him too, it is stated: "And he shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there, and put on other garments." The difference is that the Kohen Gadol, once he removed the garments he had worn once, would never wear them again - though some say he would not wear them again on that same Yom Kippur, but could do so on a subsequent Yom Kippur - whereas the kohanim here put them back on repeatedly.
And why were they not to go out to the people in their holy garments? "And they shall not sanctify the people with their garments" - so that they would not reach the people or approach them in sacred attire; therefore, they leave the holy garments there and go out to the people in ordinary clothes. The Radak explains this expression differently: if they were to come out to the people wearing the holy garments, it would appear as though the people possessed the same degree of sanctity as they did, as if conveying, "I can come close to them and have no concern about contact with them." Yet that is not the case; a clear distinction must be made, recognizing that the people are not on the same level of sanctity as the kohanim. There is a boundary, and therefore the kohen must remove the garments in the Courtyard - in the Chambers of the Twenty, which share the status of the inner Courtyard - and only then go out to the people in ordinary clothes.
וְרֹאשָׁם לֹא יְגַלֵּחוּ וּפֶרַע לֹא יְשַׁלֵּחוּ כָּסוֹם יִכְסְמוּ אֶת רָאשֵׁיהֶם׃ - "They shall not shave their heads, nor let their locks grow wild; they shall carefully trim their heads."
This is yet another elevated practice that they will observe, similar to the Kohen Gadol, of whom it is said that he would trim his head in this manner (kasom yichsemu). The term kasom comes from the word kusemes (spelt), and Chazal explain that spelt grows with the top of one grain alongside the root of another. Such was the form of this haircut, known as the haircut of Ben Elasah: they would cut the hair with immense precision to a specific length, so that the tip of one hair - the edge of the hair - lay alongside the root of the adjacent one. This haircut required tremendous expertise; today one could do this in a moment with clippers, but to cut someone's hair manually with such exactness required exceptional craftsmanship, and this was the unique haircut of the Kohen Gadol.
What does the verse come to teach us? "Nor let their locks grow wild" - he must not let his hair grow wild, for a kohen is forbidden to perform the Temple service or enter the Sanctuary with wild, untended hair. And despite this, "they shall not shave their heads" - they are not to shave completely either, but rather "they shall carefully trim their heads," like the haircut of the Kohen Gadol. In this as well, we see an expression of the elevated level the kohanim will possess in the Third Beis HaMikdash.
וְיַיִן לֹא יִשְׁתּוּ כׇּל כֹּהֵן בְּבוֹאָם אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית׃ - "Nor shall any kohen drink wine when they enter the inner court."
All kohanim are warned against drinking wine, and note the novel insight here. We know that a kohen is forbidden to enter intoxicated or with untended hair, and one might have thought that this restriction applies specifically to the kohanim of the sons of Tzadok who perform the sacrificial service, whereas the other kohanim - those who enter inside merely to clean the courtyard and do not participate in the service - might be permitted to drink wine. Therefore, the prophet finds it necessary to emphasize: "Nor shall any kohen drink wine when they enter the inner court" - even the kohanim who were disqualified must not drink wine, and the prohibition of drinking wine remains in force for all of them.
וְאַלְמָנָה וּגְרוּשָׁה לֹא יִקְחוּ לָהֶם לְנָשִׁים כִּי אִם בְּתוּלֹת מִזֶּרַע בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר תִּהְיֶה אַלְמָנָה מִכֹּהֵן יִקָּחוּ׃ - "Neither shall they take for their wives a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the seed of the House of Israel; yet a widow who is the widow of a kohen they may take."
Here lies a great difficulty in relation to Toras Moshe. An ordinary kohen (kohen hedyot) is only forbidden to marry a divorcee, but a widow is permitted to him; only the Kohen Gadol is forbidden to marry a widow, as it says, "Only a virgin from his people shall he take as a wife." The reason a divorcee is considered more blemished than a widow is that with a divorcee there is still the concern of "two minds in bed" - that she is with him while her thoughts remain on her former husband, who is still alive, whereas in the case of a widow, her husband is no longer in this world.
As for why the Kohen Gadol is forbidden to marry a widow as well, some say that the Kohen Gadol was proficient in the pronunciation of the Divine Name, and there was a concern that he might see a married woman, desire her, utter the Divine Name to dispatch her husband to the next world, and then take her as his wife; therefore it was decreed that under no circumstances may a Kohen Gadol marry a widow. This is one explanation brought down. The simpler explanation is based on his sanctity: that a widow has already been married, and given the supreme stature of the Kohen Gadol, he is required to marry only a woman who has never been with any man before. But why here is the ordinary kohen instructed, "Neither shall they take for their wives a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins"?
Rashi resolves this, but his reconciliation strains the plain meaning of the verse considerably. Let us explain it simply according to the Malbim: based on the principle already established - that in the Future to come, the kohanim will be elevated to the level of the Kohen Gadol in several respects, though not in all of them - here the elevation is that they will not marry a widow, but rather a virgin daughter of Israel, just like the Kohen Gadol who was bound by this even in the times of the First and Second Beis HaMikdash. However, if the widow is the daughter of a kohen and her first husband was also a kohen, they may indeed marry her.
Why permit this to them, given that for the Kohen Gadol, even a widow who is the daughter of a kohen widowed from a kohen is forbidden, and only a virgin is permitted to him? But that is precisely the point: in order to distinguish them from the Kohen Gadol. By having said, "They shall not take a widow," the text already likened them to the Kohen Gadol, so Scripture comes and states: not entirely. There is something forbidden to the Kohen Gadol yet permitted to them - a widow who is the daughter of a kohen widowed from a kohen; whereas the Kohen Gadol is admonished, "Rather, he shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife," and is forbidden to marry any widow of any kind.
וְאֶת עַמִּי יוֹרוּ בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל וּבֵין טָמֵא לְטָהוֹר יוֹדִעֻם׃ - And they shall instruct My people between the holy and the profane, and inform them between the unclean and the clean.
The kohanim will be the teachers of the people, both in the laws of consecrated items and in the laws of ritual purity and impurity, as it is stated, "For the lips of a kohen should safeguard knowledge, and they will seek Torah from his mouth." The Malbim makes a precise observation: the laws of kodashim (consecrated items and sacrifices) are entrusted exclusively to the kohanim, as they are constantly engaged with the holy matters; concerning this, the verse says, "And they shall instruct My people" - actual halachic ruling. The laws of ritual purity and impurity, however, applied to everyone and everyone engaged in them, as was the case in the days of Chizkiyahu, when everyone was proficient in the laws of tumah and taharah. Therefore, in that realm it was enough merely to notify them if impurity had touched something and the like - "and inform them" - and formal legal rulings were not needed, for the entire populace was versed in these laws, as all were required to be vigilant with them.
וְעַל רִיב הֵמָּה יַעַמְדוּ לְמִשְׁפָּט בְּמִשְׁפָּטַי יִשְׁפְּטוּהוּ וְאֶת תּוֹרֹתַי וְאֶת חֻקֹּתַי בְּכׇל מוֹעֲדַי יִשְׁמֹרוּ וְאֶת שַׁבְּתוֹתַי יְקַדֵּשׁוּ׃ - And concerning a dispute they shall stand in judgment, by My ordinances they shall judge it; and My teachings and My statutes in all My appointed seasons they shall observe, and My Sabbaths they shall sanctify.
"Concerning a dispute" - they will serve as part of the Sanhedrin, for the Sanhedrin is appointed over disputes, to adjudicate monetary laws and capital cases. "By My ordinances they shall judge it" - according to My ordinances, which are the laws of the Torah; not according to Ottoman law, British law, or unfamiliar legal systems as we know today, but strictly according to Torah law.
The Malbim notes that this alludes to "salvations, wisdom, and knowledge" (Yeshayahu 33:6), where Chazal find an allusion to the Six Orders of the Mishnah: "salvations" corresponds to monetary and damages law (Seder Nezikin) - which is "concerning a dispute"; "wisdom" corresponds to Seder Kodashim - which is "between the holy and the profane" mentioned above; "knowledge" corresponds to Seder Teharot - which is "and between the unclean and the clean they shall inform them." The Malbim adds: "And My teachings and My statutes" refer to the halachot of Seder Zera'im and Seder Nashim, which contain statutes such as the forbidden relations and kilayim (prohibited mixtures), which fall under the category of "a decree I have decreed," as well as rational teachings (torot). "In all My appointed seasons" refers to Seder Mo'ed, which they must likewise observe and study. "And My Sabbaths they shall sanctify" - although Shabbat also belongs to Seder Mo'ed, it is singled out specifically to admonish them regarding Shabbat.
Why was it necessary to emphasize this? The Malbim explains: because for kohanim, the suspension of Shabbat prohibitions was permitted in several respects during the Temple service - they slaughter on Shabbat, offer sacrifices, flay the animals, and perform all the tasks of the sacrificial service on Shabbat; furthermore, Rabbinic prohibitions were set aside, as "there is no shevut (Rabbinic resting requirement) in the Mikdash." Therefore, it is stated, "and My Sabbaths they shall sanctify," to caution them regarding the observance of Shabbat: although in certain matters it was permitted to them, in all other matters they must be meticulous and vigilant just like any other person.
וְאֶל מֵת אָדָם לֹא יָבוֹא לְטָמְאָה כִּי אִם לְאָב וּלְאֵם וּלְבֵן וּלְבַת לְאָח וּלְאָחוֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָיְתָה לְאִישׁ יִטַּמָּאוּ׃ - And he shall not come near a dead human being to become defiled; however, for a father, for a mother, for a son, for a daughter, for a brother, and for a sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.
The difficulty here is that these laws are seemingly obvious, for they are explicitly written in Parashat Emor - which is also one of the reasons this haftarah is read on Parashat Emor. There it is stated, "Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aharon... None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his nearest kin: for his mother, for his father, for his son, and for his daughter... for them he may defile himself." A regular kohen is permitted to defile himself for seven close relatives and is forbidden from other relatives, whereas the Kohen Gadol is forbidden to defile himself for any relative, as it is stated, "And from the Sanctuary he shall not go out." If so, what innovation is the prophet teaching us here? It is something every schoolchild knows!
The Malbim explains: according to the principles we have established, the matter is profoundly clear. Even though the regular kohanim were granted the elevated status of Kohanim Gedolim in several respects - not marrying a widow, the regulations regarding haircuts, and more - in the matter of ritual defilement they remain distinct from the Kohen Gadol: the Kohen Gadol is warned not to defile himself even for his seven close relatives, whereas they will retain their existing halachic status and be permitted to defile themselves for the seven relatives. This itself is the novel point: in this regard, their status does not change, and they do not assume the standing of the Kohen Gadol.
And the reason, the Malbim explains, is that everything we said about them attaining an elevated status applies specifically to matters that do not involve the nullification of a mitzvah. When he cuts his hair like a Kohen Gadol, he has not nullified a mitzvah, but merely taken on an elevated practice. When he does not marry a widow, he has not nullified a mitzvah, for he may marry any other permissible woman, and this is merely a higher standard. But if you were to say that he may not become ritually impure for his relatives - this would nullify a mitzvah: the mitzvah of accompanying the deceased and tending to the burial. And in matters where a mitzvah would be nullified, the Torah did not impose upon them the strictures of Kohanim Gedolim.
וְאַחֲרֵי טׇהֳרָתוֹ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים יִסְפְּרוּ לוֹ׃ - "And after his purification, they shall count seven days for him."
This verse can be understood in two ways: according to one, it contains a novel ruling, and according to the other, it introduces nothing new. First, let us review the law of one who becomes impure by a corpse: halachah dictates that one who is defiled by a corpse counts seven days, is sprinkled with the ashes of the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer) on the third and seventh days, and then becomes pure. According to the Malbim's explanation, there is a novel ruling here: "And after his purification" - after he counts seven days and becomes pure, an additional seven days are counted. That is to say, an added degree of sanctity beyond what exists today: he will not enter the Temple immediately upon purification, but in the future, in the Third Temple, he will wait another seven days, and only then will he be permitted to enter the Temple. As for the phrase "they shall count for him," the Malbim explains that his brother kohanim - not biological brothers, but his fellow kohanim - are the ones who count for him; that is, they will take care to keep distance from him for another seven days.
Rashi, however, explains it according to its plain meaning: "And after his purification" - once the kohen ceases his contact with impurity, his process of purification begins. This refers to the standard seven days of purification, the very seven days during which he is sprinkled on the third and seventh days. This is also the interpretation of Chazal. But why does the verse say "after his purification," when purification actually occurs only at the end of the seven days? It means after his separation from the corpse. The Malbim, however, is troubled by what novelty the verse would be teaching according to this approach, which is why he explains that it refers to an additional seven days.
וּבְיוֹם בֹּאוֹ אֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית לְשָׁרֵת בַּקֹּדֶשׁ יַקְרִיב חַטָּאתוֹ נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - "And on the day he enters the Sanctuary, into the inner courtyard to minister in the Sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord God."
Here, the Malbim explains, the verse is speaking of the minchat chinuch (inaugural meal offering), the special offering a kohen brings on the day he is initiated into the Temple service. He asks: What is the novelty here, given that this law applies even now and is not unique to the future - is this not something any schoolchild knows? Rather, the verse comes to teach a new law: just as in the Second Temple many kohanim returned to serve even though they had already served in the First Temple - and one must examine how this was possible, since seventy years had passed, and a kohen who served in the First Temple was at least twenty years old, so consider the age of those kohanim who returned, and a kohen whose hands tremble is disqualified from service. In any event, the Malbim's explanation is directed toward the Third Temple: in the Third Temple, kohanim who served in the First and Second Temples will arise at the Resurrection of the Dead, and we have already seen that Yechezkel himself will serve. One might have thought that they would no longer need to bring a minchat chinuch, since they were already initiated into the service and served during their lifetimes. Therefore, the verse teaches us: "And on the day he enters the Sanctuary... he shall offer his sin offering," as though he were beginning anew.
וְהָיְתָה לָהֶם לְנַחֲלָה אֲנִי נַחֲלָתָם וַאֲחֻזָּה לֹא תִתְּנוּ לָהֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אֲנִי אֲחֻזָּתָם׃ - "And it shall be to them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession."
הַמִּנְחָה וְהַחַטָּאת וְהָאָשָׁם הֵמָּה יֹאכְלוּם וְכׇל חֵרֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל לָהֶם יִהְיֶה׃ - "The meal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering they shall eat; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs."
The Radak explains that "And it shall be to them for an inheritance" refers to the priesthood itself - that the priesthood will be an inheritance for them. The Malbim, by contrast, explains that it refers to the subsequent verse, which is why we read the two verses together: "And it shall be to them for an inheritance" - what shall be? "The meal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering," as it is written: "This shall be yours from the most holy offerings... of all their offerings, of all their meal offerings, of all their sin offerings, and of all their guilt offerings." This is their inheritance, the portion allotted to them - the meal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering are the portion of the kohanim, and regarding this it is said, "I am their inheritance." "And you shall give them no possession" - meaning that in the future, the Levi'im too will not receive a share in the Land; the kohanim will have no possession, as it says, "and in their land you shall have no inheritance," and in the future, the Levi'im will also have no tribal territory. "And every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs" - as written in the Torah, "every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours," meaning that whatever a person devotes (as cherem) goes to the kohanim, and they are the ones who receive it.
וְרֵאשִׁית כׇּל בִּכּוּרֵי כֹל וְכׇל תְּרוּמַת כֹּל מִכֹּל תְּרוּמוֹתֵיכֶם לַכֹּהֲנִים יִהְיֶה וְרֵאשִׁית עֲרִסוֹתֵיכֶם תִּתְּנוּ לַכֹּהֵן לְהָנִיחַ בְּרָכָה אֶל בֵּיתֶךָ׃ - "And the first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every terumah of everything from all your gifts, shall belong to the kohanim; and the first of your dough you shall give to the kohen, to cause a blessing to rest upon your house."
The word "kol" (all/every) appears five times in this single verse. "And the first" refers to the priestly gifts termed "first": reishit hagez (the first of the shearing), as well as terumah, which is the first portion a person separates, and terumat ma'aser, which is the "first" separated from the tithe. "The firstfruits of everything" refers to the standard bikkurim that were brought. "And every terumah of everything from all your gifts shall belong to the kohanim" means that all forms of terumah belong to the kohanim. "And the first of your dough" refers to challah, which likewise belongs to the kohen. And through this comes "to cause a blessing to rest upon your house" - that blessing will reside in his home, as it is said, "and what any man gives to the kohen shall be his." And Chazal expound: whatever a person gives to the kohen - "shall be his," this is what he actually retains. A person thinks that by giving, he has suffered a loss, but he is told: quite the contrary; what will truly remain yours? What you gave to the kohen. "And what any man gives to the kohen shall be his," and then he will have blessing in his home.
כׇּל נְבֵלָה וּטְרֵפָה מִן הָעוֹף וּמִן הַבְּהֵמָה לֹא יֹאכְלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים׃ - Any carcass or torn animal, of bird or beast, the Kohanim shall not eat.
The chapter concludes with a puzzling matter, for a carcass (neveilah) and a torn animal (tereifah), whether of bird or beast, are forbidden both to Kohanim and to ordinary Israelites - so why was it necessary to state it here? Rashi cites the teaching of Chazal in Menachot 45a: Since in the case of Kohanim we find that melikah (pinching the back of the neck) was permitted, one might have thought that they have different rules regarding the laws of neveilah and tereifah and that the standard laws do not apply to them. Melikah is slaughter performed with the thumbnail, where they press into the nape of the bird's neck and sever its throat in this manner. This is technically a carcass that was not slaughtered according to standard procedure, yet it is permitted to Kohanim. Therefore, the Torah comes and teaches: this entire dispensation applies only to Kohanim, and only to birds that were prepared and offered as a sacrifice in the Beit HaMikdash - namely, the bird sin offering (chatat ha'of). But aside from this, melikah was not permitted to them; a Kohen at home cannot take a dove, perform melikah on it, and eat it, and if he did so, he is considered one who eats neveilah. This itself is what it comes to teach us: so that you would not think that they may also eat non-sacred meat (chullin) without standard ritual slaughter; therefore, the prophet comes and emphasizes this point.
In fact, this is not an innovation in the words of Yechezkel, for in the Torah it is already stated concerning Kohanim, "A carcass or a torn animal he shall not eat" (Vayikra 22:8), and there too this is the novel insight: even though they were permitted to eat what underwent melikah in the Beit HaMikdash, do not think that they have different rules regarding the laws of carcasses and torn animals.
And Rabbi Yochanan in the Gemara there in Menachot 45a says: "This passage Elijah is destined to expound." He says this regarding all the difficulties we have with these verses that appear incomprehensible - Elijah the Prophet will come and expound and clarify for us the matters that are concealed from us. We will likewise see later regarding the sacrifices that will be offered in the future, which are offerings that seemingly are unfamiliar to us or do not conform to the standards known to us.
The Malbim cites another explanation: it is not necessary to interpret "neveilah and tereifah" strictly in its literal sense; rather, it is possible that it refers to something that resembles neveilah and tereifah, namely a beheimah mesukenet (an animal in danger of dying). As we saw earlier, this is how Chazal interpreted the verse, "I have not eaten of a carcass or a torn animal" (Yechezkel 4:14) - which seems puzzling at first glance: would a person boast that he did not eat a carcass or a torn animal? All the more so a prophet, who, as the Rambam writes, is not overcome by his evil inclination in anything in the world and upholds exceptionally high standards - would he boast of this? Rather, Chazal explain that he did not eat "kus kus" meat - that is, meat of an animal that was on the verge of death and already sickly, where they hurriedly call the slaughterer and tell him "kus" (slaughter, slaughter the animal quickly before it dies and cannot be used). By the letter of the law, this animal is permitted, but it is not entirely clear and pristine, since once illness has set in, there is already a flaw in it. Thus, it can be explained here as well: not literal neveilah and tereifah, but something close to neveilah and tereifah - an animal in imminent danger of dying, which they must not eat either, even though strictly speaking it is permitted.
And the Radak writes: that which is written, "neveilah and tereifah they shall not eat" is like what is written in the Torah, "A carcass or a torn animal he shall not eat to defile himself with it" (Vayikra 22:8), and although Yisrael are also warned regarding this, the Kohanim are warned even more strictly. If so, the special command to the Kohanim, in the Torah as well as in our verse, is not because they have different laws, but to add an additional warning to their warning. Just as we find many times that a particular matter is stated in the Torah multiple times, and the Gemara explains that it comes to add an additional prohibition and warning upon warning. So too here: the Kohanim are supremely holy, and therefore require extra warnings; they must be sevenfold more cautious in this than any other person, for they are constantly in the Beit HaMikdash and are cautioned regarding ritual impurity more than ordinary Israelites. The Abarbanel also wrote according to this explanation.
In these verses, Yechezkel describes the reward of the sons of Tzadok, that group that remained attached to the Holy One, blessed be He, at a time when all of Israel went astray; they will merit performing the prominent services in the Third Temple - a profound moral lesson drawn from this by the Chafetz Chaim for all who withstand the trials of the generation. From here on, the prophet sets forth a series of laws regarding the Kohanim, which according to the Malbim share a single foundation: in the future to come, ordinary Kohanim (Kohanim Hedyotot) will rise to the level of the Kohen Gadol in certain matters - in wearing a sash with no wool, in the closely trimmed haircut (kasum), in the prohibition of marrying a widow, and in the addition of seven days of purification - but only in matters that represent a spiritual elevation and involve no cancellation of a mitzvah; therefore, regarding defilement for the seven close relatives, their original law remains. In addition, the prohibition of wine for any serving Kohen was mentioned, instructing the people in the six orders of the Mishnah, the inheritance and gifts of the Kohanim along with the blessing that follows such giving, and the prohibition of neveilah and tereifah. And concerning all the obscure matters in this passage, Rabbi Yochanan said: "This passage Elijah is destined to expound."