Double Atonement

And Moses said to Aaron: approach the altar, and offer your sin-offering, and your burnt-offering, and make atonement (v’caper) for yourself and for the people; and present the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.             Leviticus 9:7

Ba’al haTurim connects our verse’s double use of “v’caper” with that of two other verses: “and make atonement for them,” [Numbers 17:11] (concerning the incense) and “And atone for our sin.” [Psalms 79:9] As our Sages noted, these verses teach that just as offerings effect atonement for sin, so too does the incense [Babylonian Talmud, Zevaḥim 88b].

        My father suggested an additional teaching of the common use of the word “v’caper”: the Kohain, whose function it is to be the nation’s spiritual leader and guide, must be prepared to make his own offerings on behalf of the people, in order to help them achieve atonement, and may not satisfy himself with merely encouraging others to make their offerings. The verse from Numbers teaches that the Kohain must be ready even to face the angel of death, in order to save the people, as Aaron himself did. [Numbers 17:12-13]