פרשת שמיני תשכ"א - אהרן ובניו הנותרים

Then Moses said unto Aaron: ‘This is it that the LORD spoke, saying: Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.

This is what the LORD meant when He said: Where had He spoken this? In the statement (Exodus 29:43), “And there I will be met by the children of Israel and it (the Tabernacle) shall be sanctified by My glory (בכבודי).” Read not here בִכְבוֹדִי, “by My Glory” but בִּמְכֻבָּדַי, “through My honoured ones” (Zevachim 115b). Moses here said to Aaron: “My brother, Aaron! I knew that this House was to be sanctified by those who are beloved of the Omnipresent God and I thought it would be either through me or through thee; now I see that these (thy sons who have died) are greater than me and than thee!” (Leviticus Rabbah 12 2). these are [the words] of Rashi from a midrash of our Rabbis. But if so, its understanding would be [as if the words stated], "and I will be sanctified by My glory," such that I will be holy in the eyes of all of the people and of My honored ones." And [R. Ibn Ezra] also said, "'This is what God has told me' - God has already told me that He will manifest His holiness through those who are near Him — even if they must suffer for it, as in the passage 'You only have I known…' (Amos 3:2) [etc.," as in the citation above].Thus the verse means, “When I manifest myself in holiness among them, then I shall be glorified; and I shall be glorified in the face of all the people, and they shall fear Me.” But if so, it was told, but not written down [in the Torah] - that God informed him of His ways, that this trait of His is like this. And in my opinion, according to the plain-sense, there is no need for all this because God "said" God's decrees, and thoughts, and the matter of God's ways. And this "speech" is entirely "I said to myself," (Ecclesiastes 1:16) i.e. "I thought this." "This is the reason why Joshua had the circumcision performed." (Joshua 5:4) This is the matter of "because of the money." (Genesis 43:18) And so to, "and let her be a wife to your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken." (Genesis 24:51) And similarly, "He laid its foundations at the cost of Abiram his first-born, and set its gates in place at the cost of Segub his youngest, in accordance with the words that the LORD had spoken through Joshua son of Nun." (1 Kings 16:34) So behold, really Moses said in this verse was: "This is what the LORD meant when He said to Himself, through those near to Me I show Myself holy so that my holiness will not be ruined and I will gain glory before all the people so that they will behave respectfully in my Tabernacle. And the reason that Aaron was silent was that he was crying loudly and fell silent.

...His heart became like an inanimate (domem) rock, and he did not raise his voice in crying or eulogy, as would a father for [his] children; he also did not accept condolences from Moses. For he had no breath left in him, nor did he have any speech...

’Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

ולהבדיל AND TO DISTINGUISH [BETWEEN THE HOLY AND THE UNHOLY] — i. e., Observe this law in order that ye may be able to distinguish between a holy (valid) sacrificial act and one which has become profane (invalid). Thus you may learn that if one performed a sacrificial rite in a state of intoxication his ministry was invalid (Sifra, Shemini, Section 1 8; Zevachim 17b).

ולהורת AND TO TEACH [THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — This informs us that an intoxicated person is forbidden to pronounce religious decisions. One might think that if he does so he is liable to the death penalty! It, however, says: “[Do not drink wine] thou (Aaron), nor thy sons with thee … lest ye die” — priests when they minister in a state of intoxication are punishable by death, but the Sages when they thus render decisions are not punishable by death (Sifra, Shemini, Section 1 6).

they died before God thinking they were doing something acceptable to God.

This is what God has told me God has already told me that He will manifest His holiness through those who are near Him — even if they must suffer for it, as in the passage “You only have I known…” [Amos 3:2]. Thus the verse means, “When I manifest myself in holiness among them, then I shall be glorified; and I shall be glorified in the face of all the people, and they shall fear Me.”

your brethren the whole house of Israel The inclusion of Levites in the house of Israel is alluded to in the parasha of R’eh [Deuteronomy 12:17].