Parashat Tzav 5782

by Rabbi Margie Cella

This week’s parashah continues the description of the various types of sacrifices. Here we learn about the burnt, meal, sin, guilt, and peace offerings: what was sacrificed, the reasons for each, and who got to eat the sacrifice. Only Aaron and his male descendants were permitted to eat the priestly portion, only peace offerings were eaten by the person who brought them. Neither the blood nor the fat was to be consumed by anyone.

Next Moses gathered all the people to the tabernacle to witness the ordination of Aaron and his sons. He washed them, dressed them in their priestly garments, offered a bull and two rams as sacrifices; taking the blood from the second ram, he smeared it on the right ear, thumb, and big toe of each man to indicate his subservience to God. Finally, he gave them strict instructions not to leave the Tent for seven days.

The haftarah is a prophecy from approximately 597 BCE; the people had become lawless, even observing pagan worship and child sacrifice, both abominations to Hashem. Jeremiah chastises them for bringing sacrifices while practicing immorality and foretells their horrific doom (which will come at the hands of the Babylonians, who will destroy Solomon’s Temple). To end on a positive note, two verses are added from chapter 9 that exhort the people not to trust in their wisdom, strength, or riches, but rather only God; and to emulate God with acts of kindness and justice. Hashem prefers these to insincere sacrifices.

The parashah lays out the details of the sacrifices and the value Hashem places on their meticulous observance; the blood on the ear of the priests emphasizes the complete obedience that is desired. The haftarah shows a nation so far removed from what God desires that we are told twice (verses 24, 26) that they did “not listen or give ear.” As a result, Jeremiah said, their sacrifices were worthless.

The combined message of these two texts is that we must have a proper healthy balance in our lives between observance of mitzvot on the one hand, and ethical, moral behavior on the other. If we can maintain that balance, then that is the way in which we can draw close to the Divine.