Parshat Tzav; Leviticus 6:1-8:36 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
Our Torah portion this week, Tzav, continues the themes of last week by going into great detail about the kinds of offerings that the Children of Israel are to bring to the Tabernacle. Aaron as High Priests and his sons (and later his descendants) will offer these sacrifices upon the altar in the Tent of Meeting as a way to worship God. The offerings that were discussed in the last week’s portion, the Olah, Minchah, Chatat and Zevach Shelmim offerings are reviewed again and additional details about the offerings are revealed. This is because while last week’s portion is directed primarily to those who bring the offerings, this week’s portion, Tzav clearly addresses the priests who will have to accept the offering, prepare it and offer it upon the altar. The opening words state this: “Command Aaron and his sons (Lev. 6:2)”. The portion reveals other important points that priests must take note of including some detailed instructions for cleaning the altar of the ashes of the sacrifice and maintaining the fire at the altar.
No job is too messy or beneath the priest. They slaughter the animals. The priest act as a butcher in any market would, preparing, cleaning and dividing the parts for use. They offer it upon the altar. But the priest must also remove the ashes that build up on the altar following the burnt offerings and tend to the flames. This isn’t left to some lower caste or functionary to do. Each step is seen as part of the priest’s sacred duties. This is holy work and the removal of the ashes is called terumat hadeshen. The ashes are cleaned out daily and it was the first order of business each morning. The priest would remove the buildup from the previous day’s offerings.
Even for cleaning out the altar of ashes, the priest must dress in his special linen priestly garments (Lev. 6:3). The message is that this ritual of cleansing is as much a sacred part of the offering as the moment offering is placed on the altar itself. Then the priest must change clothes and take the ashes out of the tabernacle and out of the camp itself. “He shall take off his garments, and wear other garments, and remove the ashes to outside the camp, to a place of holiness. And the fire upon the altar shall burn upon it..." (Lev.6:4-5).
This symbolic change of clothes is discussed in many commentaries.
Rabbi Michah Ben Asher says that it is important for the priest to wear the sacred, special clothes, even for these menial tasks of removing the ashes from the altar. He teaches that we learn from this that any ritual that we perform should be done for the glory of God and with great attention to detail no matter how small or menial it may seem. While the great commentator Rashi, Rabbi Shimon Ben Yitzchaki explains that the priest is not obligated to change his clothes, but rather he should not get his ritual garments dirty while taking out the ashes. Thus he goes on to state that the clothing the priest should put on must be lesser or regular garments—not priestly garb. When the priest goes out of the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle or later the Temple, they should not wear the sacred ritual garments. Bachya ibn Pekuda comments on the change of clothing for the actual removal of the ashes outside of the Tabernacle. He says this change of clothing is an act of humility. The priest must outside the Tabernacle be like the rest of the people, and dress more humbly, so that his pride would recede.
While we are not priests and are not cleaning the ashes from the altar of sacrifices we can learn something even from this seemingly minute point of Torah. The priests, ordained by Moses and dedicated to the service of God (later in this portion) were separated and set off from the rest of the Children of Israel. The priesthood eventually would not even have land in Eretz Yisrael. Because they were so intimate with the Divine Presence they were awed, revered and held a special place among the people. But even they had tasks to do in service of God that seemed mundane. But make no mistake, even cleaning the ashes out and carrying them out of the camp was a holy act.
Sometimes in our own lives we think the menial, the drudgery of some tasks, things that will prepare us for performing mitzvot are some how not in service of God or not in service of the holy. Certainly every Bar or Bat mitzvah student’s years of study and drilling of Hebrew letters and prayers doesn’t seem in service of a spiritual moment in their lives but indeed it is. Cleaning the house for Pesach, ridding our homes of chometz doesn’t seem like a holy act but it is in preparation for observing the mitzvah of the Passover holiday and the Seder. The efforts to make even these tasks holy is what we learn from these passages in Parshat Tzav. Even the cleaning of ashes by the priest was a sacred moment that enabled another sacred moment—the offering of the new day to take place.
In our preparations may we be a scrupulous and may we see that even our preparations to observe Jewish life, whether cooking the Sabbath or holiday meal, planning the wedding, finding the wine for kiddish is a sacred task.
Posted by Lee at March 26, 2007 09:15 AM
