Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Pinchas פינחס – Pleasant Work

In parshas Pinchas the Torah enumerates the sacrifices offered on the Jewish holidays starting with the daily offering. It is basically two lambs, one in the beginning of the day and the other at the end of the day. Its condiments are wine and flour mixed with olive oil. It is burnt on the altar the way it was done by Mount Sinai during the dedication of the Temple and is considered a pleasing fragrance to Hashem.

Much of Rashi’s commentary on this topic draws heavily from the Sifre. He notes that the children of Israel are commanded צו to bring the daily offering (see Numbers 28:2) and that similar language is used in the topic immediately preceding where Moshe commands וצויתה Joshua to be his successor. Rashi brings the Sifre that the people were aggravating and contrary as they wouldn’t accept him unless they saw Moshe give the order.

Concerning the daily offering Moshe refers to a parable about the changing of the guard from the Sifre in which the queen passes away. When the king takes a new wife, he tells her that she should instruct his children to obey him and act properly. Similarly the Holy One blessed be He is saying to Yehoshua that he should instruct the children of Israel not to behave disgracefully or give His honor to a foreign god. So to speak the daily offering is a reminder to be refined and to be loyal to the faith.

Joshua is described as spirited. Rashi explains this means that he was able to go against the spirit of all others. When Moshe appoints him to be leader of the nation, he does it in joy.  Yehoshua is later commanded, “This book of instruction should not depart from your mouth, you should meditate on it day and night, in order that you will be careful to do everything written in it”, (Joshua 28:1). This suggests that our daily routine should include religious education that is carried out with joy, even though we may need to overcome obstacles.

The Sifre quotes Shimon ben Azai that the pleasing fragrance to Hashem means is the pleasant spirit before G-d that comes from doing His will. He continues that all of the passages in the Chumash about the sacrifices do not use any name except for the Tetragrammaton. This is so that the apostates will not have an opportunity to dominate others and to teach us that whether someone accomplishes much or little, if it is a pleasing fragrance, than it is kosher. Various proofs are brought that Hashem does not need anything because the whole world belongs to him. He concludes that the only real gift is doing the will of heaven.

The Sifre comments that the verse, “A regular burnt offering that was instituted on Mount Sinai”, (Bamidbar 28:6) is meant to make a parallel between the offering that was made with the dedication of the Mishkan and the daily offering. At the end of the dedication Moshe Rabenu praised the people saying, “May Your works appear to Your servants, and Your beauty to their sons. And may the grace of the Lord our God be upon us, and the work of our hands establish for us, and the work of our hands establish it”, (Psalm 90:16-17). The hint is that one who does the equivalent of bringing a daily offering receives these blessings.

The daily offering is a lamb at the beginning of the day and another lamb at the end of the day. It is a moderate burden. Large bulls are brought for the holidays and the poor can bring a little pigeon. In discussing the service of heaven the Gemara says that the Holy One blessed be He does not come as a tyrant before His creation. As an example the decision of Raba is that one who is bothered by spending a very hot day in a succa is free to leave. The general idea is that one should put in a fair day’s work in their daily service of heaven; however the work should be pleasant.




לע"נ, הדוד ,לייב הערש בן אהרון ז"ל נלב"ע י"ז תמוז תשל"ב
Acknowledgements to websites: תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://hebrewbooks.org/,
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני  ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il




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