A PERPETUAL FIRE SHALL BE KEPT BURNING ON THE ALTAR, NOT TO GO OUT.

(Vayikra 6:6)

 

Why was the fire on the altar rather than elsewhere? Scripture said: Make for me an altar of earth (Shemot 20). Why of earth? Because man was created from earth and he was called Adam because he was taken from the adama [earth]. We make fire offerings and sacrifices on the altar - which is made of earth - in order to gain atonement for the body, which is taken from the earth. How do we know that the soul also gains atonement? It is written: The soul of all flesh - its blood is in its soul (Vayikra 17), and it says it is the blood, as life, that effects atonement (loc cit) as it says, and they shall throw the blood on the altar (Vayikra 1), that is to say, they shall throw the blood - which is the soul - on the altar - which, like the body, is made of earth - and gain atonement for the soul.

What is mizbe’ah [altar]? [The letter] mem [stands for] mehila [absolution], for it absolves their sins. Zayin [stands for] zehut [entitlement], for it entitles them to a place in the world to come. Bet [is for the] berakha [blessing], for the Holy One blessed be He brings a blessing upon their handiwork. Het is for hayyim [life], for they are granted life in the world to come. He who deserts all of these - absolution, entitlement, blessing, and life - and goes and worships idols - shall be burned by His great fire, as it is said for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Devarim 4). How is He jealous? As it is written: I betroth you in faithfulness (Hosea 2); just as a husband is jealous for his wife, so too the Holy One blessed be He is jealous.

(Tanhuma Tzav 96:14)

 

The Shalshelet as Interpretive Cantillation

Yossi Morgenstern

Excluding leap years, parashat Tzav is always read on Shabbat HaGadol. On this Shabbat we are commanded to prepare for the upcoming Pesach holiday, to study the Haggadah and learn about the festival. There are those who claim that there is a correlation between the contents of the parshiyot and the seasons in which they are read. (For instance: Eichah esah levadi [how will I bear alone] (Devarim 1:12) is read on Shabbat Hazon, which always precedes the 9^th of Av. Also: The parshiyot touching upon repentance are read in the month of Elul.) I shall argue that such a connection exists between Shabbat HaGadol and parashat Tzav. And what is the locus of this connection? The cantillation sign known as the shalshelet.

The shalshelet is among the rarest of cantillation signs. Not including Proverbs, Job and Psalms (which use a different system of cantillation), it only appears seven times in all of Scripture, and of those, only four times in the Torah itself. Here I shall only consider its appearances in the Torah.

The shalshelet marks a break between words and it always appears towards the beginning of a verse, over a verb conjugated in the singular. It comes to tell us that the subject of the verb suffers a difficult moment of indecision and hesitation. Let us investigate the cause for indecision involved in each of the four cases in which the shalshelet appears in the Torah. We shall try to uncover the method behind the selection of these verses and how the use of the shalshelet which occurs in our parasha is connected with Pesach.

 

1) Bereishit 19:16:

Still he delayed. So the men seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters - in the Lord's mercy upon him - and brought him out and left him outside the city.

Rashi: Still he delayed - In order to save his property.

Lot was concerned about his wealth and property. At first he refused to obey the angel. Here we have a case of hesitation caused by greed.

 

2) Bereishit 24:12:

And he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me good fortune this day, and deal graciously with my master Abraham.

The shalshelet over the word vayomer [and he said] expresses his indecision regarding the fulfillment of Abraham's request. The word perhaps uttered by Eliezer in 5:24 expresses his hope that he will not be able to find a wife for Isaac, as explained by Rashi:

Peradventure the woman will not follow me - The word ulie [perhaps] is written without the letter vav so that it may be read eiylie [to me] Eliezer had a daughter and he was endeavoring to find some reason why Abraham should say that he must appeal to him [Eliezer] that he should give his daughter in marriage to Isaac. Abraham said to him, "My son is blessed and you are subject to a curse. One who is under a curse cannot unite with one who is blessed." (Rashi on Bereishit 24:39 Silberman translation).

This is a case of hesitation caused by the desire for status.

 

3) Bereishit 39: 8:

But he refused. He said to his master's wife, "Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands."

The shalshelet over the word va'yema'ein (but he refused) demonstrates Joseph's indecision regarding his behavior towards Potiphar's wife. This is a case of hesitation caused by bodily desire.

 

4) Vayikra 8:23:

And it was slaughtered. Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

If we have succeeded in explaining the three earlier uses of the shalshelet in the Torah as signifying a moment of indecision, why would we expect Moses to be especially indecisive and hesitant in the verse from our parasha?

(There are differences of opinion regarding whether Moses or Aaron slaughtered the animal mentioned in our verse. I follow Sifra 179's view that Moses was the slaughterer. In Bar-Ilan University's parashat hashavua sheet for Tzav of 5756, Rabbi Shlomo Pik claims that according to the plain meaning of the text, Aaron was the slaughterer and that he hesitated out of fear that he may not be worthy).

On each of the seven Days of Ordination, three offerings were made: a sin offering, a burnt offering and a peace offering. Tension builds from slaughter to slaughter. This is expressed by the cantillation sign appearing above the word vayish'hat (and it was slaughtered) in each verse. Verse 15, referring to the sin offering, uses the sign reviya, which marks a break of moderate significance. Verse 19 deals with the burnt offering, and the very first word of the verse, vayish'hat, is marked with an etnahta, signifying the most important division of the verse. Our verse treats the ram of ordination, and is marked with a shalshelet. There are those who explain that in the course of the service, Moses experienced spiritual exaltation while performing the tasks that would be later reserved for the High Priest. While dismayed by the thought that he will soon have to abandon this role, he remains true to the divine command. (See Goren Zechariyah, Ta'amei Ha'Mikra Ke'Parshanut, Ha'Kibbutz Ha'Meuhad, 5755, pp. 75-6.)

It seems to me that Moses' hesitancy had a completely different cause. The third slaughter, on the seventh of the Days of Ordination, was Moses' final ritual act before handing over the priestly role to Aaron. In the course of those days, Moses served as an educator. Just before he executes the slaughter and completes his job, Moses asks himself: Have I taught flawlessly? Perhaps I have failed in my preparation of Aaron for his role? That is why the word vayish'hat is marked with a shalshelet. The great teacher is subjecting himself to merciless self-criticism.

Unlike Lot, Eliezer, and Joseph, Moses' hesitation is positively motivated; not by greed or status or carnal desire, but by concern for his student and the future of the priesthood. Perhaps the cantillation signs reflect the Mishnah's statement in Pirkei Avot (4:21): "Rabbi Eliezer says: Jealousy and desire and status drive a person from the world." Moses, who was principally concerned with building up the world, did not hesitate because of jealousy, desire, or status.

When we read the shalshelet on Shabbat HaGadol - the day when we must educate our children in preparation for Pesach - let us take Moses' example to heart. Let each of us ask himself or herself: Have I taught my children in the best way possible? Have I given all that I can give? Were my answers to the Four Questions no more than empty formalities? Have I fulfilled the commandment of and you shall tell your child (Shemot 13:8)? Let us adopt Moses' self-questioning hesitancy, and be granted, God willing, a kosher and joyful holiday.

Yossi Morgenstern is a computer programmer

 

 

Command Aaron: this is the law of the burnt offering - the Law of One who “Aggrandizes Himself”

The Holy One blessed be He said: Any one who aggrandizes himself will end up going to the fire, for its is said, that is the olah [burnt offering, literally that which goes up or he who raises himself up, i.e. takes on airs] on the fire.

The generation of the Flood [were self-aggrandizers] for they said Who is the almighty that we should worship Him? (Job 21). Therefore, they were sentenced to the fire, for it is said but when they thaw, they vanish in the heat, etc. (Job 6) and it is written, their remnant was consumed by fire (Job 22).

And regarding the people of Sodom [it is written] and the Lord rained brimstone and fire upon Sodom and upon Gemorrah (Bereishit 19).

Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should hearken to His voice? (Shemot 5), and aggrandized himself, saying, my Nile is my own, I made it for myself (Ezekiel 29). Therefore [he was burned] on its fire, for it says then the Lord thundered from heaven...Out of the brilliance before Him hail and fiery coals pierced His clouds (Psalms 18), and it says there was hail and fire flashing (Shemot 9).

Sancherib aggrandized himself as well, for it is said I rose to the mountain heights, to the remotest parts of Lebanon (II Kings 19). What happened to him? Through your envoys you have blasphemed my Lord (ibid) - he blasphemed by means of an envoy [malakh], so an angel [malakh] was sent to strike him. What did he do to him? Instead of his glory he will surely burn as a fire burns (Isaiah 10).

(Tanhuma Tzav 2)

 

Then he removed his clothing and dressed in other clothing and removed the ashes to a pure place.

(Vayikra 6:44)

 

Our rabbi taught: Then he removed... and dressed in other clothing and removed the ashes to a pure place. This sounds to me to be similar to Yom Kippur, that he removes his holy garb and wears regular clothing? The verse teaches us: Then he removed his clothing and dressed in other clothing - the clothing that he puts on are comparable to the clothing that he removed; just as those were holy garb, so too, these are holy garb.

If so, what is learned [from the word] other? [That the clothing he puts on are] less important than they.

Rabbi Eliezer says: other... and removed - this teaches that the priests who bore physical defects could remove the ashes.

Mar said: Other - less important than them, as is taught by the school of Rabbi Yishmael, for the school of R.Yishmael teaches: The clothing that he wore when preparing a stew for his master - he shall not wear them while mixing a drink for his master.

(Yoma 23b)

 

...every trace of yesterday’s sacrifice is to be removed from the hearth on the altar, so that the service of the new day can be started on completely fresh ground. Under these circumstances, the law, that occupation with the achievements of the previous day, removal [of the ashes], and indeed [their] lifting too, should be done in worn-out, less valuable garments, gets its understandable meaning. The past is to be there and not forgotten, but it is to be retired to the background, and is not to invest us with pride before the fresh task to which each new day calls us.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch ad loc, Isaac Levy translation)

 

Those who cheat laborers of their hire... who subvert the [the cause of] the stranger: God’s Judgment of Those Who Mistreat the Weak (from the haftorah).

 

Resh Lakish said: Anyone who subverts the legal case of a stranger - it is as if he subverted the Divine judgment, for it said: who subvert [mateh] the [the cause of] the stranger. The text actually reads mati - subverts Me.

(Hagigah 5a)

 

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai would expound: I will step forward to contend against you in law, and I will act as a relentless witness against those who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, the orphan, and stranger, etc. (Malachi 3:5). Woe unto us since the day of the reproach, for Scripture connected subverting the stranger with serious transgressions. Therefore, the Holy One blessed be He warned [us]: Do not subvert judgment.

Rabbi Hima bar Oshiyah said: When a man is worried about his eyes, he pays a great sum to the doctor [even though] it is questionable whether he will be cured or not. But one who takes a bribe blinds his own eyes, distorts judgment, and causes Israel to be exiled from its land, and brings famine upon the world, for it says justice, pursue justice, etc. If you pursue justice, you shall live and inherit the land. But if not, you shall not inherit.

(Tanhuma Shoftim 8)

 

I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. He shall reconcile fathers with sons and sons with their fathers, so that, when I come I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.

(Malachi 3:23-4 from the haftorah for Shabbat HaGadol)

 

Rabbi Joshua said: I received a tradition from Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai who heard it from his teacher, who heard from his teacher - a halakhah given to Moses on Mount Sinai - saying that Elijah will not arrive in order to proclaim some pure and others impure, to push away [demote someone's pedigree] or draw near [improve someone's pedigree]. Rather he will push away those who were brought near by force, and draw near those pushed away by force. The Beit Tzarifah family lived across the Jordan, and Ben Tzion pushed them off by use of force. Another family there was brought near thanks to Ben Tzion's violence. These are the kinds of cases in which Elijah will intercede, declaring pure and impure, bringing near and pushing away.

Rabbi Yehudah said: [Elijah will come] to bring near, but not to push away.

Rabbi Shimon said: To settle disagreements [regarding halakhah].

The Sages say: Not to push off or draw near, but rather to make peace in the world, for it is said: Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you and it concludes, he shall reconcile fathers with sons and sons with fathers.

(Mishnah Eduyot 8:7)

 

The question has been asked, what is the difference between the view of the Sages and that of the first rabbi quoted in the mishnah. It would appear that his statement jibes with the Sage's opinion that Elijah will come "to make peace in the world."

Prof. Hanokh Albek explains the Sage's statement from this mishnah by supplying it with an additional word: "to make peace in the entire world." That is to say, while the other Tannaim in our mishnah understand Elijah's mission as involving the establishment of peace between fathers and sons, and the settlement of disagreements between Jews, the Sages emphasized the word "world" in order to say that peace would be established not only within the Jewish People, but also throughout the entire world.

(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Sihot al Hagei Yisrael, 64-5)

 

 

 

 

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