Shiurim & Adult Education

Learning is a vital part of our ethos and vision and we would like to respond to our members needs and requirements. Initially the Dayan has established a programme offering weekly sessions for both men and women but please do let us know if you would like any additional learning sessions and we will do our best to find you a suitable chavruta.



THOUGHTS ON TZAV BY PAUL KOSLOVER

Parshat Tzav continues the themes of the book of Vayikra.  We are given laws of the korbanot, laws about the roles of the priests in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. 

But unexpectedly there is a prohibition of chametz.  For the korban mincha, the mincha offering, the priests were to take flour and oil, and some frankincense for the scent, and offer it to Hashem on the mizbayach, the altar.  We are told:  מצות תאכל [The mincha] should be eaten as matzot.  לא תאפה חמץ Don’t bake the bread with chametz. 

If we look back in Vayikra chapter 2, the prohibition of chametz is applied to any offering brought on the altar… חמץ ,תעשה לא… and in Exodus, chapter 23, לא-תזבח על-חמץ, דם-זבחי Don’t offer the blood of a sacrifice to me, with chametz.  Why is chametz forbidden?

Exodus 23 brings this law in the context of a few other laws as follows:

לא-תזבח על-חמץ, דם-זבחי Don’t offer the blood of a sacrifice to me, with chametz. [Then:]; ולא-ילין חלב-חגי, עד-בקר Don’t leave the leftover fats from my feast-offering until the morning. [ Next:] ראשית, בכורי אדמתך, תביא, ּבית יהוה אלהיך Bring the first fruits that you grow, to the house of God. [And one more:] לא-תבשל גדי, בחלב אמו Don’t cook a kid in its mother’s milk.

The theme that is common between these laws is one of humility.

The law of bikkurim teaches us when the fruit and grain yield their produce to take the first fruits and bring it straight to Hashem’s house.   The farmer is reminded to feel humility, to see that he is not the centre of the world.

Turning to the mitzvah not to cook a kid in its mother’s milk, Rabbi Fohrman explains that milk is the beautiful and important link between mother and child, providing life and nourishment for her child.  If that milk is used as just another ingredient, we see both as nothing but ingredients for our own needs.  By not doing so we are showing humility in recognizing that relationship and that these animals are not merely for me.

The prohibition against leaving leftover fats on the altar indicates that neglecting to burn all of it effectively means that you would only partly show gratitude.

Forbidding chametz fits this theme.  Matza is the simplest bread possible with flour combined with water or oil baked quickly.  Chametz requires yeast to be grown – and in days of old yeast itself had to be actively grown.   When Hashem says no chametz on the altar it is a reminder to bring offerings with humility.  To recognize that what we have, even what we’ve made, does not begin and end with us.  Only then, can we recognize our Creator, and really connect with Hashem that we didn’t do this alone. 

Shabbat Shalom 

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