Tag: Parshas Tzav

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Tzav -Alacrity After a Long Speech


Around this time of the year, specifically on the 23rd of Adar, which is April 2nd this year, Moshe started practicing erecting the Mishkan according to the Ramban in this week’s Torah portion of Tzav.
The Ramban says, “Rather, the correct interpretation is that we say that Moshe was commanded about the assembly of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) on the twenty-third day of Adar, and he assembled it [on that day]. As soon as the Tabernacle stood in its position, G-D, blessed be He, Who sits upon the Keruvim, called Moshe and commanded him about the actions involved in the bringing of the offerings — all those sections from the beginning of the Book of Vayikra until here. [This was because] He wanted to teach him the actions and statutes of all the offerings before he offered up any of them, since among the initiation-offerings were the sin-offering, burnt-offering and peace-offering, and they could only know all their laws from these sections with which He preceded [to command him]. Afterwards He said to him, Take Aharon and his sons with him etc., to urge him on when the time came for performing what He had told him at first — And this is the thing that you shall do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto Me etc., adding here, And you shall assemble all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, so that it should be done in the presence of all of them, that they should know that G-D, blessed be He, chose Aharon and his sons [to minister unto Him].
By way of the proper interpretation of Scripture, Moshe was commanded about the building of the Tabernacle prior to the incident of the golden calf [as is the order of these chapters in the Book of Shemos], and when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to him and promised him that He would cause His Divine Glory to dwell among them, Moshe understood of his own accord that the command concerning the Mishkan remained valid as before, and he then commanded Israel regarding it, as I have explained in the section of Vayakheil. After they had completed the work, he was then told the section of, On the first day of the first month shall you set up the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and he was then told, And you shall bring Aharon and his sons unto the door of the Tent of Meeting etc. Thus Moshe knew that Aharon and his sons also remained in their esteemed and beloved position before G-d. Here, He urged them again on the first day of the consecration, at the time of performing the command [And you shall bring Aharon and his sons etc.] Thus all the sections of the Torah are in chronological order, except that He placed before its sequence the verse, And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting (Shemos 40:34), which in the opinion of our Rabbis was on the eighth day of the initiation, in order to arrange in order the whole matter of the assembly of the Mishkan, it being the customary way of Scripture in all places to finish a subject that it has started to explain.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The Ramban is of the opinion that the Torah for the most part is written in chronological order therefore, Hashem first told Moshe about building the Mishkan (in Ki Sisa) before the sin of the golden calf. Then, after Hashem was appeased by Moshe’s prayers on behalf of the Jewish people and promised to rest his Shechina amongst them, meaning that He wanted the Mishkan built, then the Jews started building the Mishkan (in Vayakhel 35:1). After they finished building it, Hashem told them to put it together and they will start using the Mishkan on the first of Nissan at its consecration (this is mentioned in Pekudei 40:2, 12). Hashem then taught many of the laws about the various types of sacrifices that will be used in the inauguration of the Mishkan, (this is mentioned in Vayikra and the beginning of Tzav.) Finally, at this point (perek 8 in Tzav) on the 23rd of Adar, Moshe anoints Aharon and his family and practices, for the next 8 days, putting together and taking apart the Mishkan, as well as performing parts of the service until the ultimate inauguration of the Mishkan in the beginning of the Torah portion of Shemini, that will be read next week.

Among all this, the Ramban mentions after Hashem told Moshe to teach everyone about the laws of the sacrifices that Moshe should, “Take Aharon along with his sons, and the vestments, the anointing oil, the bull of sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread (Vayikra 8:2). Hashem told Moshe this, according to the Ramban, in order “to urge him on when the time came for performing what He had told him at first.” Meaning, Hashem told Moshe to ensure that Aharon and his sons acted with zrizus, alacrity, when performing G-D’s service. Why did Hashem, at this juncture, have to urge the kohanim to act with alacrity (zrizus) when performing G-D’s service? They were proven to be committed to serving Hashem, as the Ramban himself mentioned right before this request to urge them to perform with alacrity as he said, “Thus Moshe knew that Aharon and his sons also remained in their esteemed and beloved position before G-d.” Also, how can they let anyone down at such an ostentatious time, isn’t it obvious that they should get to work with the utmost speed and alacrity, why do they have to be reminded? If so, what does the Ramban mean when he says, “He urged them again on the first day of the consecration, at the time of performing the command?”

However, if you look at the chronology of events where Hashem just taught a whole slew of laws of how to work in the Mishkan, i.e, the sacrificial service, then it’s the proper thing to refocus and urge them to perform with alacrity. This is because it is human nature for people to become overwhelmed when thrown at them a whole bunch of rules, no matter how great they are, so by reenforcing the resolve to perform with zerizus (alacrity) it refocused them to start off on the right foot.

This is an incredible lesson in communication that, when giving a whole list of instructions, review the general purpose of the instructions at the very end so that the person being instructed can regain his or her baring and quickly get onto fulfilling what they were instructed to do.

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Tzav – A Party for Hashem’s Superstars 


The Mishna Berura (429:2:7) says we don’t say tachanun the entire month of Nissan because on Rosh Chodesh Nissan began the dedication of the Mishkan where each of the 12 tribes brought their sacrifice each day, which was considered 12 days of yom tov. Then comes preparing and slaughtering the korban Pesach, Pesach itself, and most of the month is completed, so for the whole month we don’t say tachanun.
 It’s very apropos then that this week’s Torah portion of Tzav discusses the preparations for the dedication of the Mishkan, which took place for seven days prior to Rosh Chodesh Nissan. In fact Chassidim have a custom to not say tachanun for these 7 days as well. The end of the Torah portion discusses the process of installing Aharon and his sons as kohanim to serve in the mishkan. Anointing them, the process of dressing them in their priestly garments, and the offerings that were brought for their inauguration. The pasuk says “Then Moshe took them from on their palms and caused them to go up in smoke on the alter after the burnt-offering; they were inauguration offerings, for a satisfying aroma; it was a fire-offering to Hashem” (Vayikra 8:28).

The Moshav Zekeinim, who is one of the Baalei Tosfos, comments on this pasuk: “the inauguration offerings were called a satisfying aroma, meaning Hashem was joyful and made a yom tov (a holiday) with the inauguration because He acquired a loved one who He had chosen, as it says in Megilla 10b: ‘And it was on the 8th day’ that day was like no other for Hashem ever since He created His world. And [the gemara] learns it out from a gezeira shava it says there the word ‘vayehi’ and it says before in Breishis perek 1 ‘vayehi erev vayehi boker’ (it will be evening and it will be morning). Isn’t it a kal vachomer, fortiori, for just as a human king acquires a loved one and throws a party for him, all the more so The King of Kings, The Holy One Blessed Be He, who appointed a kohen and chose him to serve Him.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
One can relate to a king being happy over acquiring a loved one and throwing a party. It’s like an NFL franchise signing the best quarterback in the league. After the signing no doubt there would be champagne, and an elaborate party amongst the owners, staff, and the quarterback and his family. It is a time of joy because so much potential for success is being bet upon the signing. But why does it then make sense that Hashem’s appointing Aharon and his family as the kohanim who will be in charge of the service in the Mishkan and Beis Hamikdash is such an excitement for Him that it’s compared to when He created the world? When Hashem created the world, He set nature into motion in the most perfect way possible. All of nature did and does Hashem’s bidding, flawlessly. The sun rises and sets at the right time, the seasons happen exactly how Hashem wants them to happen, each species of animals and vegetation have a specific purpose in the grand scheme of things, and do their jobs as Hashem precisely programmed them to do. This incredible work of art, this world that Hashem created with all that is inside, is understandably a joyous masterpiece worth celebrating. How then are the kohanim, who are only human beings, granted, are charged with doing Hashem’s service, but it’s certainly not as thrilling and “earth shattering” of a feat as creation itself, to be equally as joyous and exciting the creation of the world?

However, the reality is that we underestimate the greatness of man and the potential they can reach. Hashem was so excited about appointing priests that would lead the way in serving Hashem the best possible way frail human beings can, and the potential for them to reach great heights and create such a bond with their Father in Heaven for themselves and on behalf of His children is so incredible and inexplicably exhilarating that Hashem justly equated it with when He created Heaven and Earth.

We must appreciate gadlus ha’adam, the greatness of mankind, and how much Hashem believes in us and the success He expects us to accomplish. With this attitude we can indeed have much success and reach the height of perfection that Hashem expects His loved ones to attain.

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Tzav – For the Honor of the Children

This Dvar Torah is dedicated in memory of my Rosh HaYeshiva, Moreinu viRabbeinu HaRav Alter Chanoch Henoch ben Chaim Dovid Leibowitz ztzk”l, Rosh Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim, upon his yahretzeit which was Yud Nissan.

Only because of Moshe Rabbeinu’s prayer was Hashem willing to send a message to Aharon in the beginning of this week’s Torah portion of Tzav. If not for this prayer, Hashem would not want anything to do with Aharon Kohen Gadol after his involvement with the sin of the Golden Calf.
In fact, the Rosh summarizing a Medrish Rabba (Vayikra 7:1) in the beginning of this week’s parsha of Tzav which asks, “’Why wasn’t the name of Aharon mentioned in the Torah portion of Vayikra? It was because he was reprimanded for the action of the golden calf, only his sons [were mentioned, ‘Bnei Aharon’ or ‘hakohen.’ And the two times (2:3&10) in last week’s parsha that it says Aharon and his sons was only because the Torah had to differentiate between the kohen gadol and the other kohanim so Hashem felt it was not worth using extra ink just to punish Aharon.] Moshe said before Hashem, ‘Master Of The World is a pit ever hated and it’s water pleasant? Didn’t you have mercy on the olive and warned not to cut olive wood for the sake of the oil which is needed for light and meal offerings? So to, the children of Aharon are beloved before you and you don’t have mercy on the honor of their father?’ Only then did The Master acquiesce to the student and said, ‘Command Aharon’ (Vayikra 6:2).’ One can ask, what does hatred towards the father have to do with loving the sons? This can be answered with a parable to a king who had servants and two lads were guardsmen who were handsome and very strong who always walked with him. Their father was a villager. The king said it is better to make the father a knight in order to call the children sons of knights, even though the father was appalling in the king’s eyes. So too, the children of Aharon were beloved by Hashem and in their honor He called to their father and commanded him what He commanded.” (Click here and here for Hebrew text.)
We must put into perspective Aharon’s involvement in the sin of the golden calf. He by no means had any intent of creating an idol or in fact doubted that his brother Moshe would come back. Indeed, he only advised the ringleaders of the rebellion to make the golden calf in order to buy time for Moshe to come back, because they had miscalculated Moshe’s return. Aharon told them to collect gold jewelry from their wives, who he knew would refuse, but he did not realize the men would force it off them. This was after his uncle, Chur, was already killed by the mob trying to calm them down. So, whatever got Hashem upset and therefore decided to not address Aharon in the Torah portion of Vayikra, and only do so after Moshe beseeched Him to do so for his children’s sake, it must have been because of some very slight misjudgment that lead to the whole debacle. Aharon is known to have been one who ran after peace, a rodef shalom; but Hashem judges his righteous strictly, according to their level. This is analogous to a concept the Ramban mentions in the beginning of his sefer about reward and punishment, Sha’ar HaGemul, where he talks about the famous Chaza”l of when Hashem judges the world on Rosh Hashana, those who are righteous go straight to life, those who are wicked go straight to death and those in the middle are held in limbo until Yom Kippur. The Ramban mentions that included in ‘the wicked’ are “those of good deeds who transgress only one sin but are sentenced on Rosh Hashana to death, meaning they will die this coming year or live through some challenging illnesses, a life of suffering and tribulation, which just means he was sentenced to a judgement of a totally wicked person even though he is in fact righteous and deserving of life in the World to Come.” We see that a person can be viewed in “the eyes of Hashem” as being wicked at this moment, even though he is in fact very righteous. For this reason Aharon fell out of favor with Hashem after his involvement with the sin of the golden calf.

But what did it help to ask Hashem to elevate Aharon’s status for the sake of his children, out of respect for them, which really is for Hashem’s honor as well? Isn’t it a game, doesn’t it sound like a lack of truth to promote someone who doesn’t deserve a promotion on his own merits?

However, of course that can’t be true. Hashem is absolutely honest and by definition He is perfectly truthful. Rather it must be that granted on his own personal merits Aharon did not deserve to be addressed at that time, which when thinking about it is a great travesty for him because the Book of Vayikra, the service of the Kohanim in the Mishkan is Aharon’s whole essence. It’s his most important role in life and now Hashem refuses to talk to him about it, only to his children?! However, the very fact that he has children so beloved to Hashem is a merit for his promotion and that is duly justified.

Coincidentally (or not so coincidentally…) this week’s haftorah for Shabbos Hagadol concludes, “that he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers” (Malachi 3:24).