How can the Parasha help us grow this week?
Due to the Corona situation, Pesach just won’t be the same this year. The Seder is always one of the highlights of the year. Of course, we will still be able to celebrate the Seder and perform our halachic obligations on the night, but we will miss our traditional Seder with extended family and friends. Hopefully, during the Seder we will be able to close our eyes for a moment and remember the great Seders that we celebrated in the past and send a heart-felt tefillah to Hashem asking him to quickly restore us to normalcy.
In this week’s Parsha of Tzav we continue to learn the details of the Korbanot and the operation of the Bet Hamikdash. It can be difficult to connect to these Parshiyot on a personal level, because the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed so many years ago. The offering of Korbanot has now been replaced with prayer[1]. The Bet Hamikdash was replaced with the shul, a “Mikdash me’at”.[2] But this year our shuls have been taken from us as well! We don’t remember what it feels like to approach Hashem in the Bet Hamikdash, but we do remember what it feels like to daven in a minyan at shul and to recite Kaddish and other matters of sanctity. We are taught that when there is a minyan, the Divine Presence dwells there![3] This is now sorely lacking.
Let’s turn the pain and yearning for our traditional Pesach Seder and our minyanim towards Hashem and beg him to return them to us. But while we are at it, let’s take it one step further and beg Hashem to return us to the way things really should be – with the Bet Hamikdash in Yerushalayim so that we can carry out the halachot in this week’s Parsha!
Let’s now learn a commentary of the Ramban on this week’s Parsha in relation to the korban mincha (meal offering).
First, we need some background.
There are a number of types of meal offerings that were brought and which were eaten by the Kohanim[4] – the oven-baked offering, the deep‑pan offering, the pan-baked offering, the fine flour offering, the Omer (the meal offering of the first grain), the sin meal offering and the sotah meal offering.[5] The first three types are specifically mentioned in Vayikra 7:9 which is quoted below.
The Kohanim were divided into 24 weekly shifts that served in the Bet Hamikdash on a rotational basis. Each shift was further divided up into 7 groups with each group serving on a particular day of that week.
The group of Kohanim that served on a particular day would generally be entitled to share in the korbanot that were offered on that day.
The relevant pasukim state as follows:
Any meal offering that is baked in the oven and any that is made in a deep pan or upon a shallow pan – it shall be belong to the Kohen who offers it; it shall be his. (Vayikra 7:9)
And any meal offering that is mixed with oil or that is dry, it shall belong to all the sons of Aaron [i.e. all of the Kohanim], every man alike. (Vayikra 7:10)
The Ramban discusses the meaning of these two pasukim and he gives two possible explanations.
First explanation: the plain reading
A plain reading of the pasukim suggests very clearly that there are two categories of meal offerings.
The first category (verse 9 – consisting of the oven-baked offering, the deep‑pan offering and the pan-baked offering) belongs to the particular Kohen who brought that offering.
The second category (verse 10 – consisting of the other types of mincha offerings) were to be shared between all of the Kohanim who were on duty that day.[6]
The Ramban explains the rationale for this distinction between the two categories of offerings. The first category of meal offerings involved more exertion on the part of the officiating Kohen and therefore it was only fair that the Kohen should receive the entire mincha offering for himself.
Second explanation: the tradition of the Sages
The Ramban then provides us with the view of the Sages. They have a tradition that the verses are not to be interpreted according to the simple reading.
Rather, the Sages interpret pasuk 10 as referring to all mincha korbanot i.e. they are all shared between all of the Kohanim who are on duty that day.
Though pasuk 9 clearly refers to the individual Kohen that offers the korban in question, the Sages still interpret this pasuk as referring to all of the Kohanim who are on duty that day. Even though only one, or possibly two or three, Kohanim would actually be involved in offering each korban, in reality they were acting as agents for all of the Kohanim who were on duty that day. In this way, we can say that all Kohanim on duty are indirectly involved in offering each korban.
Conclusion
Even though the simple reading of the pasukim is the more obvious and logical, the Sage’s traditional view is still the accepted one – that all off the meal offerings were shared amongst all of the Kohanim who were on duty that day. The Ramban explains that this interpretation would be more likely to create peace and harmony between the Kohanim and shalom is of paramount importance.
The Sages interpretation shows us the importance and value of peace and harmony. To increase peace, the Sages even go against the plain meaning of the pasukim in the Torah!
Note: The next Darchai Noam will IY”H be for the week after Pesach – Parashat Tazria Metzora.
May we all have a kosher Pesach that is filled with simcha! (There is an obligation to have simcha on Yom Tov and despite the difficult circumstances, we must remember that Hashem does not give us a commandment that is impossible to observe.)
Let’s try something this week:
- Remember the importance of peace and harmony in our homes (especially when most of us are stuck at home!) If the Sages can interpret the Torah against the simple meaning of the pasukim, then we can make an extra effort to bring peace between people and help the Shechinah to rest in our homes.
- If we miss our typical Seder and davening in a minyan this year, we can try to turn that pain into a heart-felt prayer to Hashem – to return our shuls, to return our communal events, to return us to normalcy – and ultimately, to restore the Bet Hamikdash speedily in our days!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ledder
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[1] Gemara Brachot 26b.
[2] A small Mikdash, just a taste of what we used to have in the Bet Hamikdash (Yechezkel 11:16 and Gemara Megillah 29a).
[3] Brachot 6a, Tehillim 82:1.
[4] A portion of the korban was firstly offered on the alter. The Kohanim would then eat the remainder of the offering.
[5] There are other mincha offerings that were offered entirely on the alter and were not eaten by the Kohanim. These are not relevant to our discussion.
[6] The Ramban understands that “all the sons of Aaron” does not mean every single Kohen, but rather all of the Kohanim who were on duty that day, even if they were not involved in offering that particular korban.