Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tsav: Being Honest with Yourself


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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