For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 35
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The Gemara inquires whether the Kohanim who offer Korbanos on behalf of the people are considered the messengers of the people or the messengers of Hashem.
The Talmud in Nedarim 35b describes the kohanim as sheluchei didan, our agents. When they perform the Temple service, the kohanim act as our emissaries.
Yet this idea — that the kohanim act as agents for the Jewish people — appears to violate the legal definition of a shaliach. An agent acts on behalf of the one sending him (the principal), executing his wishes. The agent, however, can only do that which the principal himself is authorized to do.
So how can the kohanim perform the Temple service on our behalf, when we as non-kohanim are not permitted to serve there?
The Gemara in Yoma (19a) and Kidushin (23b) discusses the same issue and immediately proves that the Kohanim must be the messengers of Hashem, from the rule that one cannot make a Shali'ach for something which he cannot do himself. Since a non-Kohen cannot offer Korbanos in the Beis ha'Mikdash (a Yisrael is permitted to perform only the Shechitah of a Korban and nothing else), he cannot make the Kohen his messenger to do so. It must be that the Kohanim are messengers of Hashem.
We explore this dual function the role of the Kohen and how it impacts his role and disqualifications...