Or HaChaim on Leviticus 10:19/אור החיים על ויקרא י׳:י״ט

1 וידבר אהרון אל משה. Aaron spoke (harshly) to Moses. Torat Kohanim reminds us that the word דבר invariably signals harsh talk. Why was Aaron justified in adopting this tone of voice when speaking to Moses? Moses had not even addressed him, much less criticised him! Perhaps Aaron had felt slighted by Moses' angry reproof in verse 16-17 to his sons why they had not eaten the meat of the sin-offering. Moses' accusation did not sound unlike a curse. Aaron felt that at a time when he was still in shock from the death of his two older sons and Satan had a relatively free hand that such an accusation would endanger the lives of his surviving sons. Aaron's outburst may therefore be interpreted as the complaint of a father whose feelings of mercy towards his children have been aroused.

2הן היום, "behold, this very day, etc." Our sages in Zevachim 101 understand this expression as follows: "did Eleazar and Ittamar offer the sin-offerings this day, a day when they are prohibited of performing the service seeing their brothers have not yet been interred and this is why you acuse them of have burned the meat? It was I who have offered the sacrifice and in my capacity as High Priest I am entitled to perform this sacrifice even while in mourning for my sons who have not yet been interred!" The implication is "why did you accuse my sons of something they have not been guilty of at all?"

3The plain meaning of the verse is this: הן היום הקריבו, Nadav and Avihu offered their burnt-offerings and their sin-offerings in the presence of the Lord this very day. Aaron reminded Moses that he was an אונן, a mourner who had not yet commenced the mourning rites as his sons had not yet been buried ואכלתי חטאת היום, He went on: "If I had eaten the regular sin-offering this day?" i.e. the sin-offering which is offered on every New Moon. This was Aaron's way of hinting that there is a difference between eating of the meal-offering which was a one-time offering and eating of the sin-offering which was part of a cycle of regular public offerings. He questioned: "would it have been pleasing in the eyes of the Lord if I had eaten this offering?"

4Perhaps we can prove from here under what circumstances a disciple is permitted to give a halachic ruling in the presence of his teacher instead of referring the problem to the teacher first. I have seen a comment by the רא"ש on Eyruvin 63 that in the situation quoted of Ravina examining the knife of a ritual slaughterer in a location some distance removed from his teacher Rav Ashi, that in such a situation the teacher may be presumed not to feel that his dignity has been offended. [The subject matter discussed in the Talmud there is the permissibility of students giving halachic rulings in the area presided over by their teacher. The standard opinion is that even a relatively simple query such as if one may use a fully formed egg found inside a hen after one has slaughtered it together with milk, the query must be submitted to the local Rabbi. Ed.] At any rate, it seems that Aaron had taken it upon himself to give a ruling and thereby offended the honour of Moses his teacher. Perhaps we can answer this by saying that Aaron's decision was not really what we call a halachic ruling. Aaron had simply used logic. We know from Deut. 26,14 that the farmer had to declare that he had not eaten of the second tithes or the like while in a state of אנינות, pre-mourning. Seeing that the level of sanctity of such tithes was on a far lower level than that of the sin-offering, Aaron simply reasoned that he would most certainly be forbidden to partake of the meat of that offering (compare Rashi on Yuma 5 and Zevachim 101). He himself had been taught the law about the tithes by Moses. All he had done therefore was apply what Moses had taught him to a different situation. He had therefore thought that Moses himself had instructed him to burn the meat seeing there was no one authorised to eat it. This is much less than the example given in the Talmud about the egg found within the chicken we mentioned earlier. It is worthwile to study what Tossaphot have to say on that subject in Eyruvin 62.