Readings for Saturday, March 30, 2024
Shabbat Parah
Two scrolls are used on this
Shabbat. The first is for the regular
weekly portion. The second is for the
special reading for Shabbat Parah.
Tzav
(Command)
6:1-8:36 Vayikra (Leviticus)
Tzav is the second sedrah
in the book of Vayikra (Leviticus). The sedrah takes its name from the first
Hebrew word of the second sentence in the reading. “Command (Tzav) Aaron and his sons saying…” As the Stone Chumash points out, up until now
“commandments regarding the offerings were introduced with ‘say’ or ‘speak’”
since the entire nation was being addressed. Here the Torah uses the word “command” in
terms of the sacrifices because God is addressing the Kohanim directly and
instructing them in the duties that they must carry out with zeal. Tzav is a highly repetitious portion since the
first part of the sedrah deals with the sacrifices already described in last
week’s sedrah, Vayikra. One of the major
differences has to do with order in which the sacrifices are presented. According to Etz Hayim, the sacrifices
in Vayikra move from voluntary to involuntary while In Tzav; the sacrifices are
listed in order of their holiness. The
second part of Tzav deals with ordination or consecration of the Kohanim.
Olah or Burnt Offering
(6:1-6)
Minhah or Grain
Offering (6:7-11)
Chatat or Sin Offering
(6:17-23)
Asham or Guilt Offering
(7:1-10)
Zevach Sh’lamim or
Offering of Well-Being (7:11-34)
Tzav
amplifies the information offered in Vayikra about this sacrifice. Tzav specifically mentions two different
types of, and reasons for, offering the Zevach Sh’lamim. One was a “Todah” or Thanksgiving Offering
(7:10). The other could be a “Nedavah”
or Freewill Offering (7:16). Apparently
included in the second group was the “Neder”, a sacrifice brought upon
fulfillment of a vow. The Hebrew word
Neder means vow.
Ordination or
Consecration of the Kohanim (8:1-36)
If
you think you have read this already, you are right. In chapter 29 of Shemot (Exodus), God tells
Moshe how to conduct the service of consecration. In Tzav, the ordination process actually
takes place. The consecration takes
seven days. The next sedrah will pick up
with the eighth day.
Themes:
Commandments
131.
The obligation to remove from the altar the ashes of offerings (6:3-4).
132-133.
The requirement to kindle a “perpetual” fire on the altar and never let it go
out (6:5-6).
134-135.
The commandment that priests are to eat the remnants of meal offerings but not
cook them so they become leavened (6:9-10).
136.
The Specification of the daily meal offerings brought by the High Priest -
beginning when he is anointed (6:13).
137.
The requirement that the priest’s meal offering should not be eaten (6:16).
138.
The specification of how priests are to offer the Chatat or Sin Offering
(6:18).
139.
The prohibition against eating the offering if any of the animal’s blood has
been brought into the Tent of the Meeting (6:23).
140.
The specification of the Asham or Guilt Offering (7:16).
141.
The specification of the Shalmim or Peace Offering (7:11-14).
142.
The specification against leaving overnight any remains of a Todah or
Thanksgiving Offering (7:15).
143.
The requirement to burn remnants of sacrifices on the third day after they are
offered (7:17).
144.
That a sacrifice becomes invalidated because of failure to obey the relevant
regulations (7:18).
145-146.
The prohibition against eating the meat of a defiled offering and the
requirement to burn such meat (7:19).
147.
The prohibition against eating Helev, or Forbidden Animal Fat (7:23).
148.
The prohibition against consuming an animal’s blood (7:26).
From
Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Kashrut
Some
of the Laws of Kashrut (keeping Kosher) have to do with dishes and how to
purify them. In reading 6:21, we see
some of the Torah underpinnings for the rulings about kitchenware made of
different materials.
Thanksgiving
In
the days of the Temple it was customary to bring offerings of Thanksgiving for
the joys of life. With the demise of the
Temple, the custom was established of giving a person an aliyah (calling them
up to the Torah) to celebrate moments of deliverance or joy. The Gomel or Thanksgiving Blessing is recited
at the end of the reading. While Psalm
107 lists four specific reasons for reciting Gomel, the most common one today
is recovery from a major illness or successful surgery. Additional moments of joy could include a
groom being called up on the Shabbat before the wedding or a father being
called up after the birth of a child. In
this last example a special prayer is said for the well-being of the mother. This is just one more example of how our
religious practices are rooted in the Temple service of old. According to some sages, once the Moshiach
has come, all of the sacrifices will disappear except the Sacrifice of
Thanksgiving. The other sacrifices have
to do with our shortcomings, which will no longer exist in the Messianic
Era. But even after the coming of the
Moshiach we will still be thankful for enjoying the blessings of the Lord.
Appropriate Attire
The
Kohanim only wore their special garb while performing their duties in the
Tabernacle (6:3). When away from the
Tabernacle, such as when they carried out the ashes (6:4), the Kohanim put on
ordinary clothing. In keeping with the
spirit of these references to dress, a tradition of wearing one’s finest
garments on Shabbat and
The Ordination of the Kohanim
Why
did God have Moshe dab blood on the ridge of Aaron’s ear, the thumb of his
right hand and the big toe of his right foot? Nobody knows what this particular ritual meant
to our ancient forefathers. However, the
sages have provided us with some interpretations that might be meaningful to us
in our daily lives. According to some,
the three parts of the body mentioned are “an abbreviated code” for the entire
person. To serve God, we must serve him
with the entirety of our personage.
Blood is a symbol of ritual transition.
In the Brit Milah, the drop of blood is a symbol of transition into the
Covenant that God made with Abraham. At
Pesach, the blood on the doorposts marks the transition from death (for the
Egyptian) to life for the Israelites or the transition from slavery to
freedom. Here the blood marks the
passage of Aaron and his sons from being private individuals to being the Kohanim,
the public officials responsible for the ritual well-being of the
Israelites. Others have said that the
ear reminds us to always listen to God, the thumb (being part of the hand)
reminds us to always reach out to God and the toe (being part of the foot)
reminds us to move quickly to carry out the will of God.
Blood
The
Torah repeatedly commands us not consume blood.
So why are we commanded to put blood on the altar of atonement? The Israelites were commanded not to consume
blood because the pagans consumed it as part of their sacrifices. Also, animals drink blood. The commandments are intended, in part, to
differentiate us from the pagans and to help us control our animal soul. At the same time, blood is the life
force. That which is prohibited to man,
is not prohibited to the Lord. “The
holiness of the blood is demonstrated by putting it on the altar as something
only for God and not for humans.”
The Five Senses
The
sacrifices appealed to all five of our senses.
Since we can no longer offer sacrifices we have customs and ceremonies
to engage all five of our senses:
Sound
- The chanting of our prayers and the blowing of the shofar;
Sight
- The public display of the Torah and its ornaments;
Smell
- The spices of the Havdalah Ceremony;
Taste
- Matzah and Bitter Herbs; and
Touch
- The Lulav.
In Place of Sacrifices
Since
the
The Permanent Fire
The
Kohanim were commanded to keep a “permanent fire aflame on the Altar”
(6:5-6). There are those who contend
that the Sanctuary (be it the Mishkan or the
“Steak and Sacrifices” by W. Gunther Plaut
(The
following comes from the pen of one of the leading rabbis of the Reform
Movement. You might be a little surprised by what he has to say about animal
sacrifices.)
“Being
civilized, modern people, we are likely to shudder at the idea of slicing up
animals to express our devotion to God.
Of course, we see nothing wrong with a good steak for dinner, unless
perhaps the cardiologist advises against it.
But we leave the killing of animals to others and are not inclined to
improve our children’s education or our own by visiting a slaughterhouse. Yet whole chapters in the Torah are devoted
to animal sacrifices; the part of Tzav consists of little else. What are we to make of instructions
elaborating how the animal is to be slaughtered who may eat of it, what
disposition shall be made of the fat, and who shall keep the skin? Or of the rule that the elders of the
community will expiate an unwitting error made by the people through laying
their hands on a bull and slaughtering it?
The whole notion that the merciful Creator demands the killing of
innocent creatures as a sign of human obeisance seems at first glance to be an
obvious contradiction. Yet we would do
well to look a little further. First, we
should consider the times and circumstances to which this legislation addressed
itself. The Israelites in the Promised
Land were almost all farmers, and therefore had a special relationship to their
animals and often would know them by name.
They were not accustomed to a daily diet of meat, and in that respect
were no different from the vast masses of humanity then or now. Animals were domesticated for sale or for the
milk or wool they produced. They
represented capital that one did not eat up lightly. Consuming meat was reserved for special
occasions. Chief among these were visits
to the nearest shrine and, later, to the central sanctuary in Jerusalem. These pilgrimages were acts of festive
celebration, expressed as thanksgiving or expiation for sins committed, and
marked major events in life. The pilgrim
would take an animal along and slaughter it in the holy precincts. As an act of worship, sacrifice had two
important side effects. For one, it
served to lessen the guilt a farmer felt (and feels) when he killed a creature
he had from its birth. This guilt was
attenuated when the killing was done to honor God and when the meal was shared
with others. In balancing the desire to
eat meat and the moral problem of killing animals, sacrificial ritual was an
extension of the wider dietary laws.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine,
one wrote that all the laws of Kashrut are devised to remind us constantly that
we are eating the flesh of once-living creatures. For that reason, for instance, we do not
consume animals’ blood, which in biblical tradition is considered “life
itself.” Another side effect of bringing
the offering in a holy environment was the deep impression the ritual was sure
to make. This was not just killing for
the sake of pleasurable feasting; it was done for God’s sake. One came closer to God through voluntary
giving of one’s possessions, through sacrificing something. (The word “sacrifice” combines the Latin word
facere which means ‘to make or
render’ and the Latin word sacer
which means ‘holy.’ It is a translation
of the Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban,
which literally means ‘bringing close’ as in ‘bringing close to God.’) And what do we do today? We buy meat at the butcher’s or in grocery
store already cellophane-wrapped. Small
children have no real inkling of where the meat came from. Any connection to the living creature is
totally absent. These animals are to
have been “harvested” in some mysterious way, which even adults would rather
not know about. In contrast, our
biblical ancestors never reduced animals to the status of things. Yet we tend to feel smugly superior to those
ancient times. We do so with little
reason.”
Second
Scroll
Special Reading for Shabbat Parah
(Sabbath of the (Red) Heifer)
19:1-22 Bamidbar (Numbers)
Shabbat Parah - Sabbath of the (Red) Heifer is the third of the four special Sabbaths
(not counting Shabbat Ha-Gadol) that precede the holiday of Pesach. Each of these special Sabbaths has a special
connection with the story of the Exodus or the preparations for observing the
holiday. On Shabbat Parah two scrolls
are taken from the ark. The first scroll
is used for reading the sedrah of the week.
The second scroll contains the special reading for the holiday, the
first 22 verses from chapter 19 of Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers). This passage deals with the ritual of the Red
Heifer. In Hebrew, the Red Heifer is
called the Parah Adumah. Parah
is translated as cow or heifer. Adumah is the Hebrew word for red. Hence the name of the Sabbath is “Shabbat
Parah.” The ashes of the Red Heifer were
used for ritual purification. In the
days of the Temple, those who were unclean could not participate in the
sacrificial process. This reading
reminds us of the importance of cleansing oneself prior to taking part in the
sacrifices for Pesach. We do not offer
sacrifices. Nor are we able to use the
ashes of the Red Heifer. So the reading
provides a symbolic method of connecting us with the ancient ritual. It also can remind us that Pesach is a time
of new beginnings and that the time prior to Pesach can be used to cleanse
ourselves spiritually just as we cleanse our homes of chametz.
A Tale of Two Bovines
At this time of
the year we read the stories of two forms of livestock - The Golden Calf and
the Red Heifer. In the material world, a
calf made of gold would certainly fetch a higher price than a cow that has not
shown that it can produce a calf. But in
the spiritual world, the world where the word of God dominates, the red heifer
is of the greater value because, unlike the Golden Calf, it serves His purpose. When we measure the true value of things, it
might help us to remember that the ultimate Judge is the one who determines
worth, not the Wall Street Financiers or the gnomes of Zurich.
Special
Haftarah for Shabbat Parah
36:16-38 (Ashkenazim)
36: 16-36 (Sephardim)
Ezekiel
The Man: Ezekiel was one of the three
Major Prophets. He was a younger
contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. He
was part of the Jewish population that went into exile after the destruction of
the First Temple. He preached to the
Jews of Babylonia in what were some of the darkest days in ancient Jewish
History.
The Message:
Ezekiel assured the people that they would return to their homeland
after the Exile. Here he stressed the
importance of obeying a strict moral code once they had returned to the
Promised Land. Exile had been punishment
for disobeying the commandments.
Redemption would only be successful if the commandments were followed.
Theme-Link:
Usually there is a connection between the haftarah and the weekly Torah
portion. This is not one of those
times. This week the connection is with
events on the calendar - namely Shabbat Parah.
The emphasis of the special Torah portion for Shabbat Parah is on the
need for ritual cleanliness. This is
tied directly to preparing for the observance of Pesach. The haftarah serves to reinforce a similar
message of the need for purity in all of our actions.
Copyright;
March, 2024; Mitchell A. Levin
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