ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas Tzav

          by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem


The World Of The Supernatural

     (8:23) "And he slaughtered..." The cantillation mark (trop)
for this word is the famous dramatic 'shalsheles', which appears
four times in the Torah. Perhaps each time signals the elimination
of the most intense danger there ever was to each of the four
chief revelations of Hashem in this world. To elaborate:
     Avraham instilled in the world Hashem's trait of kindness
(for example, he was outstanding in receiving guests), and the
greatest danger within kindness is that it not function within a
framework of 'din', meaning a halachic, logically weighted, value
system. Such kindness leads to murder, as when Yoav killed Avner
for killing Avner's brother in self-defense. Yoav's 'kindness' to
his brother's memory was unfounded in 'din', and therefore
misplaced. The marriage of Yitzchak, who exemplified din, to Rivkah,
who exuded kindness, provided the world with the example of this
balance. Eliezer, searching for a wife for Yitzchak, had every
reason to ensure his trip fail: he himself had an unmarried
daughter. So when Eliezer prayed for a kind wife for Yitzchak (the
first shalsheles), this great danger within kindness was removed.
     Yitzchak instilled the trait of total worship with ones whole
being into this world (for example, his calm attitude at the
akeida), which arose from his strict judgement of religious issues.
The danger within worship is that one may prefer to worship a mere
token, subjugate power, like the sun or a magical idol, because
Hashem's presence is so intangible. The Shechinah, Hashem's
special presence, only rests among at least 22,000 Jews, and also
needs (as it were) a House, with a dedicated priestly family. The
danger was eliminated by the initiation of Aharon and his sons,
when Moshe slaughtered the concluding offering of the initiation.
     Yaakov instilled the trait of honesty in this world (for example,
his loyal service to Lavan), which comes from a person's need to
bind himself to another. The highest connection to Hashem is through
the mind, in the study of Torah, which demands total honesty to bind
ones mind to Hashem's own truth. The danger here is that a person's
desire to bind himself can be redirected to physical gratification,
with no regard for moral standards. A person can be bound 'up', or
bound 'down', but not both at once, so when Yaakov's extension, his
son Yosef, resisted temptation, he removed the danger to Truth.
     The fourth trait is recognition of Hashem's rule over the world,
which is not at history's beginning, but at its end, where it will
culminate in the coming of Moshiach. Life's purpose demands that this
trait be concealed, to allow free choice, but it was partially
revealed in the reign of Dovid HaMelech, the forebear of Moshiach.
Hashem always prepared the light of Moshiach in 'secret', seemingly
improper or foreign ways, to conceal its spiritual power. The root
of Moshiach is Lot, who took Avraham's teachings into hiding, as it
were, where they remained spiritually dormant in the immoral nations
of Ammon and Moav, until the pure Ruth emerged to be Dovid's great-
grandmother. Lot had to be hidden, but if he had responded to the
destruction of S'dom by returning to Avraham, the plan would have
failed. When he 'delayed', indicating his attachment to worldliness,
it became certain that he would not go back, and the plan was sealed.

A Time To Laugh

     (7:12) "If for a thanks-offering..." One of the four obligators
of a thanks-offering is sailing at sea, or nowadays, also flying
overseas in an airplane. A famous Rabbi was flying for his first
time, with a student. He said, 'I am afraid. Torah has been learned
all over the world, but in the airspace we fly through, there may
never have been Torah-study to provide us with spiritual protection.'
He proceeded to study uninterrupted for the duration of the flight.
Remarked the student, concluding his retelling of the story, 'I think
that underneath, he was just afraid of flying.'

Worthy Of Note

     (6:18) "In the samae place where the 'olah' is slaughtered,,,"
The gemara (Yeru. Yevam. 8:3) explains that the olah and chatas are
slaughtered in the same area to conceal the identity of the sinners
bringing a chatas. The problem: shortly, the kohain will complete
the service, and each korban's is very different! The answer is that
no one will no whose korban is whose by that point, but the owner of
the korban must be present at the place of slaughtering, and if there
were sepoarate places, the chatas-bringers would stand out.

From the Gemara

     (7:1) Menachos 110a - Anyone who studies the laws of a korban,
it is as if the person brought that korban.
     (7:34) Menachos 18b - A kohain who denies that the service of
the Beis HaMikdash is commanded by Hashem, has no priestly rights.
     (8:5) Moshe was required to read aloud the parsha of the
priestly initiation to the Jews - had he not, it would have been invalid.

Rare And Unusual Words

     (8:7) "Avneit" The gemara at the beginning of Yoma discusses
whether the belt worn by the Kohain Gadol was also worn by the other
kohanim, because his belt contained shatnez, and one opinion holds
that theirs did not. That opinion proves it from this pasuk, which
implies that Aharon's belt was put on with his other clothes. But
in Vayikra we see that all the belts were put on together, so our
pasuk must instead mean that Aharon had a different belt, not that

it was put on at a different time.

Mitzvah Digest

131) Someone must remove some of the ashes from the altar each morning.
132) Someone must light a constant fire on the altar every day.
133) One may not put out the constant fire on the altar.
134) The Kohanim eat the part of the Mincha which is not offered.
135) One may not allow the eaten part of the Mincha to become chametz.
136) The Kohain Gadol must bring a special Minacha every day.
137) One may not eat of a Mincha brought by a Kohain.
138) One must only treat the korban Chatas acc. to the halacha.
139) One may not eat from a Chatas brought within the Sanctuary.
140) One must only treat the korban Asham acc. to the halacha.
141) One must only treat the korban Sh'lamim acc. to the halacha.
142) One may not leave over meat from a korban Todah to the next day.
143) Someone must burn any meat of a korban which passes its time
     limit for being eaten.
144) One may not eat meat of a korban whose main tasks were done
     with the intention of eating the meat at a forbidden time.
145) One may not eat meat of a korban which became impure.
146) Someone must burn any meat of a korban which became impure.
147) One may not eat the fat of a kosher domesticated animal.
148) One may not eat the blood of an animal or bird.