The first three aliyas of parshas
Tsav are an expansion of the subjects in parshas VaYikra. The tone of VaYikra
is to take existing ideas of sacrifices and explain how an ordinary Jew is to
offer them. Tsav deals with the same sacrifices but details the service of the
Cohanim in regards to them.
The guilt offering (קרבן אשם) is the last of the sacrifices discussed in parshas VaYikra
(chapter 5). It deals with six types of situations:
1. Withholding testimony
concerning an oath (VaYikra 5:1)
2. Unwittingly becoming ritually
unclean (טמא) through touching the carcass of a ritually
unclean animal (Ibid 2)
3. Violation of an oath
unwittingly made (Ibid 4)
4. Making
personal use of items whose sanctity was forgotten (מעילה) (Ibid 14)
5. Uncertainty if the law was
violated (Ibid 17)
6. Robbery by way of fraud or
denial (Ibid 21)
The shared element between them
is that guilt is easily denied. In one case there is a genuine doubt. The first
and last cases make use of conscious evasion. The middle cases involve
forgetfulness and ignorance. In the last three cases a ram must be brought as a
guilt offering. In the first three cases the sacrifice depends on the financial
state of the violator. Generally a ewe or a nanny goat is brought. If this is
not affordable two pigeons are brought whose heads are nipped off. One of them
is reckoned as a sin offering. If even this is not affordable then two liters
of flour are sacrificed.
Additional details about the
guilt offering are added in parshas Tsav (chapter 7), among them that it is
similar to the sin offering. The Chumash continues that any sacrifice that has
touched anything impure may not be eaten and must be burnt (VaYikra 7:20). Even
stricter, a person who eats sacrificial flesh in a state of ritual impurity
will be cut off (חייב
כרית). In addition there is a
mitzvah generally prohibiting a person who is ritually impure from entering the
Temple (ספר המצות עח).
One is not prohibited against
being ritually impure. Never the less the Chumash takes a dim view of this
condition. Ritual impurity only requires a guilt offering only if the person
defiled a sacrifice or entered the Temple
grounds in this state. However if a person simply reads the section of the
Chumash where the topic is introduced it sounds as if it is a generally prohibition
against ritual impurity. Purity is a major foundation of the law and is
extended to many topics among them the delineation of animals which may or may
not be eaten.
The end of parshas Tsav describes
the inauguration of the priests. The first action taken is to bathe Aharon and
his sons. After dressing them in the sacred raiment, the special anointing oil
is placed on Aharon's head, the Mishkan, and its articles.
The message that is being
intimated is that one should be pleasing and not disgusting. In addition purity
is very delicate. Never the less we pick up on it. Maybe only subconsciously we
know if a person has touched a dead lizard or perhaps secretly lied or stole
something. It is also more offensive if a person who is unclean comes in contact
with things that are specifically pure. A special sacrifice may be necessary to
remove the stain. On the other hand the remedy may be extremely easy, simply
properly bathing. More than that, a person should have the fragrance of
sanctity, like the Temple
and the High Priest.
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