This week’s portion, T’zav – literally, [you shall] order them – is a direct continuation of last week’s portion. It is also read just before we celebrate Passover. My two short comments, accordingly, would follow this format as well.
Jeremiah: Back to Basics
In many cases, when a principled debate erupts between two strong parties neither would tend to publicly yield their stand – even ever so slightly – for fear that this narrow waiver would start a snow-ball effect, ending in losing the entire debate. That is one reason – among many – that the Middle-East peace negotiations have been stuck for so many years. This is also the main reason why all settlement negotiations in civil trials – either state or federal – are confidential. No one would know whether (or to what extent) a party was willing to let go of their clearly-stated stand.
Last week, I discussed in length the compromise that God (through Moshe) struck with the People of Israel, allowing them to worship Him through a series of well-orchestrated, highly detailed rituals that would enable them to satisfy their ever-lasting need to feel, see, smell, touch, and taste their worship. I am talking, of course, on the rituals of offerings.
This week’s portion is a direct continuance of that compromise. God sets up, in great details, the exact manners by which He should be worshipped. The problem, though, is the fear that this kind of worship would become the center of the Emu’nah (the belief) in God, rather than a mere accompanying ritual to the belief itself, which is – and always has been – the epicenter of the Jewish faith.
Alas, that yielding – ever so slightly – towards the people’s needs may be what, ultimately, has led to eradication of the Emu’nah over the years. And the people had to be reminded, time and again, that it is not the offering that matters, but rather the belief itself – back to the First Commandment (“I am the Lord your God”), back to the basics. To present this argument, allow me to quote (somewhat in length) from this week’s Haftara citing one of our greatest orators of all times, Prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah):
[And God said:] I have not spoken to your forefathers and I have not ordered them on the day I freed them from the land of Egypt to perform the sacrifices and about the offerings; for I have commanded them but this one thing: “Listen to my voice, and I shall be your God, and you shall be my people. And you shall walk in all the ways I have command and you shall be better for that.” But they have not listened, nor have they lent their ear to me, and they have formed their own groups, following their evil hearts and instincts, and they went backwards instead of forward. [And this is true] from the day your forefathers have left the land of Egypt
To cap this wonderful recitation, Yirmiyahu reminds us (in one of his most famous statements):
So said our Lord: Let not the wise man brag about his wisdom; and let not the brave man brag about his bravery; let not the rich man brag about his richness; for by this those who brag should brag: Find wisdom and know me, for I am the Lord who performs justice, law, and charity in the land – for these are the ones I have wished for. So said the Lord. [Jerrmiah 9:22]
Indeed, Yirmiyahu brings us back to the basics. And it’s good to be back.
So much for the offerings.
Passover – A Unique Read-Over Experience
For faithful readers of this blog, the reading of the Seder’s Hagaddah this year should be an interesting exercise in “selective re-readings.” On the one hand, we will recite many of the stories we read – and discussed – in the opening chapters of Exodus. On the other, we will almost completely omit the role of Moshe and instead focus on the Lord and His many wonderful deeds in taking us out of Egypt
My wife had asked me why is it that the two do not converge – why is it that we don’t read the relevant portions of Exodus during Passover? I don’t know the answer to that (and I invite any reader of this blog to educate me on this issue); but I have long thought that there is an added value in reading things again – especially when it is edited in a different way – a few weeks later, to gain a different perspective.
But the Passover dinner should not only a trip down memory lane; it can – and should – also be a very personal, reflective journey into one’s own psyche. Indeed, while the weekly reading is a collective effort (and so is this blog), the Hagadda orders us “in each generation and generation” to see ourselves is if we [the people] – each and every one of us, to be exact – have left the land of Egypt, the house of slavery, and became free (or, to quote a more modern prophet: “free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”)
So, ask yourself this while reading the Hagaddah this year: Have you walked the path towards freedom this year?
Shabbat Shalom & Happy Passover
Doron
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