Parashas Tzav – Waving at Hashem:
How many possuks/verses in this weeks sedra צו/Tzav? צ = 90 and ו = 6; therefore 96!
In this week's Parasha we continue with the theme of korbans/offerings with the Torah addressing the Kohanim and teaching them the additional laws that relate to the Mishkan service. We see in the first two chapters of Tzav that the previously mentioned offerings of the olah (the elevation-offering), minchah (meal-offering), shelamim (peace-offering), chatas (sin-offering) and the asham (guilt-offering) are now expanded on with regards to how they are prepared, offered and also included are other related laws. Chizkuni explains that parashas Vayikra incorporated commandments about offerings which pertain to the nation as a whole, whereas Tzav, mainly discusses those mitzvahs which are relevant to the realm of the Kohanim. This is evident from the first sentence of the
Parasha... “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Command Aharon and his sons (the Kohanim)...” [6:1-2].
For those who are sharp amongst you (or who have read up on the Midrashim), you would have noticed last week in sedra Vayikra, that Aharon was omitted from the entire parasha, with only his sons mentioned. We are told that the omission of his name expressed Hashem's continued resentment of him for having participated in the making of the Golden Calf. Moshe, being the concerned loving brother, however, had words with Hashem over this by using logic regarding the type of wood to be used on the mizbayach/altar... We are told that all types of wood are suitable for kindling a fire on the mizbayach except for the wood of grape vines and olive branches, these are not burned on the altar as they are accorded honorary status because of the fruits which they yield... the grape vine may not be used as fire wood since it supplies the wine for the nesachim/libations and the olive wood may not be used as the olives yield the oils for the menorah and the minchah offerings. Moshe argued by this logic, that if the grape vine and olive tree are honoured merely because of their produce then surely Aharon should be treated in an honourable manner and be addressed directly, in spite of the anger towards him, if only for the sake of the honourable sons he has produced. This argument was accepted by Hashem and this is why we see that Moshe is told to... “Command Aharon and his sons” [6:2] in this first sentence of the Parasha.
In Parashas Vayikra we saw that all commandments regarding offerings were introduced with either the word אמרת/say [1:2] or דבר/speak [4:2], our sedra however uses the word צו/command as the first word, so it is important to ask why all of a sudden such an emphatic term is now used? Rashi explains that this term expresses an urging, for it to be done at once and that they are being urged to be especially zealous in performing this service. Other mefarshim comment that by using this term it implies that the laws also apply for future generations and that they must be repeated constantly to these future generations. Perhaps the most cited approach, however, comes from Rabbi Shimon who explains that this type of expression is relevant to commandments that involve a monetary loss. When there is a loss to your pocket, such as the עולה/olah (elevation-offering) of this passage, we see that there is the risk that people lose enthusiasm, and therefore the Torah needs to 'command' us in order that we understand the importance of it. So where is this monetary loss Rabbi Shimon talks of?... As with all good Jewish questions, there are various answers on offer by our mefarshim...
The widest held opinion on this monetary loss is that it is the Kohanim who are having a monetary loss acted on them as they must give up their regular means of livelihood. This financial sacrifice is particularly acute in our case of an עולה/olah, from which the Kohanim receive nothing, since all the meat is burned on the mizbayach. With other offerings, the Kohanim would receive a part of it but only the hide goes to them with this particular offering and this is seen as hardly sufficient to make up for their loss of income.
According to the Ramban, the 'monetary loss' refers not to the service of the offering but to the financial burden of an offering that is mentioned in the latter stages of Parasha Tzav. On the first day of his service in the Beis HaMikdash, every Kohen must bring a meal-offering and the Kohen Gadol must bring a similar offering every single day, this is a monetary loss which needs the Torah's use of the word צו to undertake.
The Or HaChaim brings us the wild-card answer... he suggests that the offering that entails this monetary strain is that of the תמיד/tamid (which was the daily continual-offering), and that the financial sacrifice was not limited to the Kohanim, but involved the entire nation. The morningתמיד/tamid was the key offering of the day, because no other korbans may be brought prior to it. The Or HaChaim goes on to explain that consequently, during the siege of Jerusalem, every day the Jewish people paid enormous sums to their attackers for the lambs that were needed for the תמיד/tamid (As described in Bava Kamma 82b).
We therefore see that when it is going to cost us, the Torah needs to urge us... using the word צו in this case. This shows how the Torah has incredible insight into human nature, realising how difficult we find it to do mitzvahs when it is going to cost us dearly. According to Rabbi Kaplan, the easiest mitzvahs to perform is that of the שלוח הקן/shiloo'uch ha'cain, which is the mitzvah of sending the mother bird from the nest (Devarim 22:6), simply due to it costing no money... all you need to do is find a nest and scare away the mother bird (the details of this rather peculiar mitzvah can be found in Parashas Ki Seitzei and are beyond the scope of this discussion). People find Tzedakah one of the hardest mitzvahs to perform and this is partly why we are set a specific percentage as the minimum amount to be given away... once again the Torah is commanding us due to the human nature of loving money. A Jew is told that he should invest at least a tenth of his money in Tzedakah, and we are taught that handing out charity is not to be regarded as a 'loss', rather it is the best investment a person can make for himself, the only kind which is unquestionably beneficial for himself. Rashi brings down a beautiful story to fortify this point...
“It happened once in a year of drought that the emperor Monobaz unlocked the vaults containing his treasures and distributed them with an open hand among the needy. His family unanimously arose in opposition against his magnanimous actions... 'Your forefathers' they protested, 'expended much effort and toil to accumulate this fortune and to increase the family fortune. How can you now squander it on the poor?'. He replied, 'My fathers gathered treasure on earth, I am storing a treasure in Heaven. My fathers stored it in an insecure place, I store it securely. My fathers stored it without profit, I am investing it beneficially. My fathers accumulated treasures of money, I am accumulating treasures of souls. My fathers put aside for others, I am putting aside for myself. My fathers stored in this world, I am storing in the World-To-Come'. From this response they could see that investing money in mitzvahs is an eternal investment.”
In the latter parts of the sedra we are introduced to the idea of how certain parts of the offering were to be 'waved, as a wave service before Hashem' [7:30]. Now when I first came across this I immediately thought, 'how very strange' and quickly looked into the reason for it. What basically happens is that before the parts are placed on the Altar or presented to the Kohanim, they are waved in four directions, and then lifted up and lowered, very similar to what we do with a Lulav on Succos. In fact within the names for this ritual,תנופה תרומה/te'noo'fa te'roo'ma, we see indications of exactly what this service was, תנופה/te'noo'fa implying waving and תרומה/te'roo'ma meaning a raised-up gift. So why was all this weird waving and raising taking place?... These motions signify that G-d controls existence everywhere, in all four directions, above and below. According to Rabbi Hirsch, the reason this service takes place is to teach us that a major component of satisfaction with one's lot in life is one's recognition that he is G-d's servant and that his perception of this world must be based on the outlook of the Torah. Rabbi Bachya points out that the chosen organs to 'wave', the breast and thigh, are designated because they represent accomplishment and motion. The breast houses the heart, which is the seat of desire; and the thigh represents the ability to move. Therefore when we wave these specific organs, we acknowledge that these functions are in G-d's control. So with the basic idea being the implication that Hashem is in control of everything, I think this is an ideal place to end with one of my favourite hashgachah peratis stories, told by the great Ben Ish Chai... I advise you to follow the story very carefully and you will see signs of how ingeniously and carefully Hashem runs the world... (some of the names and places in the story might have been changed)
Once there was a wealthy carpenter named Avraham living in Jerusalem. One night a thief entered his home and stole a large sum of gold coins. The thief took the coins and fled to Tiberius. On the way, he dehydrated due to the heat, passed out, and eventually died. A young man named Ephraim who happened to be in the area found the body. After giving it a proper burial, he took the gold coins. A short while later, Ephraim got word that his father was sick. He went to visit his father in his hometown and hid the gold coins in a hollow tree in the backyard. A few days later, Ephraim's father died. During the shivah week, a storm struck, uprooting many tress, including the hollow tree with the hidden coins. A man named Yitzhak found the tree, which had been blown away during the storm, out in a public park. Yitzhak took the tree with him next time he went to Jerusalem and sold it as lumber to none other than Avraham, the wealthy carpenter. While cutting the tree into lumber, Avraham found the coins and recognised them as the ones that had been stolen from him. In the meantime, Ephraim came to Jerusalem looking for work. Eventually he found himself a job as an apprentice with none other than Avraham, the wealthy carpenter. One day during a break in their work Avraham told Ephraim the story of the coins and how they had been stolen and had come back to him in the hollow tree. Ephraim told him that it was he who had hidden the coins in the tree when he heard news of his fathers illness. After Ephraim had identified the tree, Avraham wanted to reward him for being part of the chain that had returned his coins, but Ephraim refused to accept any reward. Avraham therefore had his wife bake a loaf of bread and hide the coins in the loaf. When Ephraim left for vacation, Avraham gave him the bread to take with him. On his way, Ephraim was stopped by a border guard, who happened to see the bread sticking out of his basket and asked if he could buy it. Ephraim sold him the bread, not knowing that the coins were baked inside it. The border guard then took the bread and went to Jerusalem to give it as a gift at the wedding of the son of... none other than Avraham, the wealthy carpenter. Ephraim eventually returned to Jerusalem and Avraham had Ephraim marry his daughter.
How do we know that this story is true? Because I am Avraham... no only joking but this really is an incredible sequence of events told over by one of the greatest Rabbis of his generation. What we can take from it is that Hashem is fully in control of everything which is exactly what we will be reading about during the Seder, how each plague represents his dominance over everything from the dust of the earth, to the heavens above and to us personally. This Shabbat is Shabbat HaGadol, and it is named this because before the Jewish people left Egypt, they were commanded to take a lamb on the tenth of Nissan in preparation to slaughter it for the korban Pesach. Although the Egyptians worshipped the lamb, they looked on helplessly and did not attack the Jews. The Jews showed ultimate faith in Hashem through this act, which must have seemed like suicide amongst their lamb-loving Egyptian neighbours. This miracle is commemorated on the Shabbat before Pesach, since the tenth of Nissan that year was before Shabbat.
With that I wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom this Shabbat HaGadol and a Chag Somayach. There won't be a Dvar Torah next week as we read a special reading from Ki Sisa as it is Pesach Shabbat Chol Hamoed, but time-permitting I will try and send out a few words on Pesach. לשנה הבאה בירושלים! Next Year in Jerusalem!
Daniel Sandground, (student at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva, Jerusalem)
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