Thoughts on Parashat Tzav
Menachem Mirski
There are basically two opposite attitudes human beings can adopt towards their existence: a deep humility towards the infinity of the universe and the infinite complexity of human life, as well as the position of arrogance – a position of ‘solipsistic narcissism’ where everything, including other human beings, is treated as an object that has been created only to serve us and our ventures. The vast majority of people live somewhere between these two extremes; at one end of this spectrum live the saints, on the other – sociopaths and psychopaths. On the saints’ side of this spectrum, sacrifices play a major role; on the other end of it sacrifices do not exist.
Our parasha for this week talks extensively about sacrifices:
יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it. […] The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out: every morning the priest shall feed wood to it, lay out the burnt offering on it, and turn into smoke the fat parts of the offerings of well-being. A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out. (Leviticus 6:1-2;5-6)
The Torah distinguishes between two categories of offerings: voluntary sacrifices, such burnt offering, meal offering and peace offering (olah, mincha and shelamim) as well as obligatory sacrifices such as guilt and sin offerings (asham and chatat). Therefore, the system of sacrifices was only partly tied to moral conduct and those who did not sin were obligated to make sacrifices as well. What could the purposes of this be?
Firstly, sacrifices were rituals. Rituals have many functions i.e. they bind the community together and fill our life with meaning. This refers even to common, ‘secular’ rituals; therefore undermining or destroying social conventions and practices, especially without offering their replacements, is psychologically destabilizing for humans and often harms social relationships. Rituals have always been meant to prevent that from happening. For many of us today these ancient sacrificial rituals seem bizarre, if not meaningless and useless. But for the ancient Israelites, on the contrary, they were overflowing with meanings. Thus, even though our rituals and the sacrifices have historically changed, they are meaningful for us in a similar way the sacrifices at the Temple were meaningful for our ancient ancestors.
Secondly, the sacrifices themselves had always been meant to temper human desires; not only the ‘regular’ selfish, individual desires but also the desire to be ‘like God’, which very often appears in people of the highest social strata. That’s why the kohanim – the community leaders, the ruling class – were also obligated to give sacrifices to God – to a being that had always been higher than them; the function of the sacrifices made by them was to ensure that they will never forget that they are not like God and can never act like one.
Appropriate sacrifices and necessary to establish a harmonious life between human beings. What may be an example of an appropriate sacrifice? A peaceful admission of defeat or failure, for example: “I didn’t get this job; someone more competent got it and that’s not only ok – that’s good”. One of the many positives of this attitude is personal/professional growth: I didn’t get this job because someone else wes better, so I have to put in more work to be better and not lose next time. The opposite attitude consists of denial and anger stemming from a feeling that ‘life is not fair’. This can only bring resentment and more anger; when escalated, it can bring only terrible things, like violence or war. Therefore, even though life is very often not fair, not every feeling or stance that ‘life is not fair’ is ultimately right and that is something we should keep in mind whenever we feel that something ‘not fair’ has been done to us.
Shabbat shalom!
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