Parshat Tsav
04.04.2019
This Shabbat has a special name. It is called Shabbat Ha-Gadol, the Great Sabbath. It is one of the two Shabbatot in the year when the rabbi is required to give a sermon*. Your rabbi is supposed to remind you about all the Jewish laws of Pesach, so that you may spend the following week preparing everything properly. Traditionally it was quite a long sermon, because there is a lot to do. This year, we are sending Or Ammim-niks an e-mail with information (and charoset recipes) for those who will join us for our virtual Seder on Zoom next Wednesday night at 19:00.
This week’s Torah reading is Parshat Tsav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36). Following on from last week, God gives Moses further information about the korbanot (sacrifices) to be offered by the priests on behalf of the people. God tells Moses to command (“tsav”) Aaron and his sons to follow God’s instructions.
“Tsav” is a hard word for Progressive Jews. According to tradition, when God commands us to do something, we must obey. We should trust that it is the right thing to do, even if we do not like it or understand why. After all, as the Sages teach us, God’s commandments were given to protect us, and to help us to live good lives. Yet it is hard to submit just because God told us to. We are intelligent beings, designed to ask questions, and learn from our experience. We like to go through a linear process, and base our belief on some kind of rational argument. What do Progressive Jews do with the mitzvot? We do not steal, but we may not keep kosher. Or maybe we do. We may light Shabbat candles when 3 stars are visible in the sky, but we will drive to the synagogue service. We help the stranger, the orphan and the widow. And we include our LGBTQ family and friends. We make Jewish choices, based on our learning from Torah, and the world around us. We are privileged to have that freedom.
That is exactly what Pesach is all about, but we are not there yet. We will talk about it together next week. We will look at what God did as well as what God said. For now we are still in Mitzrayim, literally narrow places (& the Biblical name for the land of Egypt). Our mitzrayim today may be more physically comfortable than the slave quarters of our ancestors, but the loss of our freedom of movement brings our community closer to the tale told in the Torah, closer than we may ever have been before.
This week the Torah returns to the korbanot we studied in the previous portion, and looks at them from the perspective of the priests. Once again we might say: but the Temple is destroyed, and the priests are gone, and the sacrifices are no longer possible. How is the work of Aaron and the priests relevant to our lives?
The words that stand out for me this week are in chapter 8, verses 23-4. They describe the ordination of Aaron and his sons, as they become the priests who will translate the offerings of the people into the fulfilment of God’s commandments. A ram is slaughtered:
“and Moses took some of its blood, and placed it on the cartilage of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron’s sons forward, and Moses placed some of the blood on the cartilage of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet."
What is the significance of these particular parts of the body? They highlight the skills that were most important in the work of the priests. That they should listen, should really pay attention to what is being said to them. That they should be aware of what they do with their hands. And that they should watch where their feet are going.
Once again, the world of the priests is gone. However now, under lockdown, surely these words, words that describe holy work, speak directly to us:
What should we do when the world that we know, to which we are accustomed, is gone? When the places we went and the things that we did are no longer viable?
Our feet should stay home, unless we need food or medicine, or it is an emergency.
Before we touch any thing or anybody, have we washed our hands?
And we must listen to the instructions we are given, in order to stay as safe and well as possible.
Do we accept the words of God as orders, as mitzvot? It is a difficult question. And I’m not sure it is the correct question at this moment in time. Will these actions protect us, and help us to live good lives? That is a more pertinent question. I believe so, and thus I will follow them to the best of my ability.
Wishing that we shall all stay safe and well.
Shabbat shalom.
* the other is Shabbat Shuva, between Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur, when the rabbi should remind everyone to make teshuvah (to apologise and make restitution for the damage we have done) before the end of the 10 Days of Penitence.
