Prepare For Holiness

The Mishna in Tammid (33a) says the kohen that offers the ketores carries it in a spoon which is inside the firepan.  The Gemorah in Yoma (58a) is unsure whether the Kohen Gadol may carry the incense of Yom Kippur using a firepan which is inside an outer firepan or not; do we say מין במינו חוצץ and therefore, the outer firepan is considered a חציצה between the hands of the kohen and the firepan which is the כלי שרת, or מין במינו אינו חוצץ?  Based upon this, the Rosh asks how can the kohen carry the spoon inside the firepan if it might be a חציצה?  Rav Chayim in Timmidin U’mussafin answers that the question of the Gemorah in Yoma is specific to the Kohan Gadol on Yom Kippur.  Because on Yom Kippur,  the possuk mandates that the Kohan Gadol must carry the ketores into the Kodesh Kadashim, והביא מבית לפרוכת, the והביא is part of the avodah and is subject to the pesul of chatzitzah.  However, the daily ketores, where there is no requirement of והביא, the carrying of the ketores is not part of the avodah and hence it can't have a pesul chatzitzah.

This patterns the avodah of these days.  What we see here is that in order to enter the Kodesh Kedoshim, part of the avodah is how you enter.  A lack of proper preparation is a lack in the avodah itself. One must prepare themselves to enter such a holy place.  That is the avodah of sefirah; to prepare for Shevout.  One who doesn't prepare is lacking in his Shevout!