The tzaddik who encompasses the whole nation

בפרשת קח את אהרן כו' ואת כו' העדה הקהל כו' ותקהל העדה שהחזיק מועט את המרובה.

On the parsha of "Take Aharon [and his sons] … and assemble the entire congregation," concerning "And the congregation was assembled" — that the few held the many.

The Torah commands Aharon to gather the whole nation to the entrance of the Mishkan, a small space that miraculously contained the entire multitude — the "few holding the many."

הענין הוא כי זה עדות על אהרן הכהן שהוא כולל כל בנ"י.

The matter is this: this is testimony about Aharon the Kohen, that he encompasses all of Bnei Yisrael.

The miracle of the small place holding the many testifies that Aharon himself is a unifying figure who contains within him the entire nation.

כמו שביהמ"ק הוא מקום האחדות וכולל כל המקומות ולכן מיעוט מחזיק המרובה במקום וכמו [כן*] בנפשות יש נפש צדיק הכולל ומחזיק הרבה נפשות ע"י שהוא דבוק באחדות השורש.

Just as the Bais Hamikdash is the place of unity and includes all places — therefore the small holds the many in space — so too among souls there is the soul of the tzaddik who encompasses and holds many souls, by virtue of his being attached to the unity of the Root.

Wherever there is bittul to the One Source, separateness dissolves and the small contains the great: the Mikdash holds all space, and the tzaddik's soul holds many souls, because both cling to the underlying oneness.

וכמו כן בשנה בשבתות ויו"ט שהם דבקים בשורש ומחזיקין ומעלין כל הזמנים.

And so too in the year, in the Shabbosos and Yamim Tovim, which are attached to the Root and hold and elevate all the times.

The same principle operates in time: Shabbos and the festivals are bound to the Source, and they gather up and uplift all the ordinary days around them.

לכן בשבת מתאחדין ברזא דאחד.

Therefore on Shabbos all becomes unified in the "secret of the One."

On Shabbos everything is drawn back into oneness, the mystery of the One, where multiplicity is reabsorbed into its single Root.

וכתיב אשרי תבחר ותקרב כו' נשבעה בטוב ביתך.

And it is written, "Fortunate is the one You choose and bring near … may we be sated with the goodness of Your House" (Tehillim 65:5).

The verse links the one whom Hashem chooses and draws close with the whole nation's being satisfied from the goodness of His House.

שע"י שנבחר אהרן מכלל ישראל. על ידו נשבעה כולנו מטוב ביתך שיצא מן הכלל ללמד על הכלל כולו יצא:

That through Aharon's being chosen out of the whole of Yisrael, by means of him we are all sated from the goodness of Your House — for "something singled out from a general category to teach, teaches about the whole category" (a hermeneutical rule of Chazal).

Aharon was set apart not for himself alone; like a detail extracted to illuminate the whole rule, his being chosen channels the goodness of Hashem's House to all of Bnei Yisrael, since he encompasses and represents the entire nation.

Summary: A small place holding a great multitude testifies to a deeper principle: whatever clings to the unity of its Root can contain far more than itself. The Bais Hamikdash holds all space, Shabbos and Yom Tov uplift all time, and the tzaddik — here, Aharon — encompasses all of Bnei Yisrael, so that his being chosen draws Hashem's goodness down to the entire nation.