Tzav 5773 - Shabbat Hagadol - English

By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik

Kol Shearith Israel - Panama

Parashat Tzav, the second portion of Sefer Va-yikra (Leviticus), continues with the subject of the offerings that were done at the Mishkan (Tabernacle), which began in the previous parashah, and ends with the consecration of the priests.

An interesting fact, at least for those who love numbers, is that Tzav, the 25th parashah of the 54 found in the Torah, contains the center point of the Torah, no matter how we count, whether in verses (5,845), words (79,847), or letters (304,805).

Although the statistics are not always exact in all counts (the separation of verses, and even of words, sometimes differs between the versions of the text), all results always fall on chapter 8 of Va-yikra.  As regards to verses, the middle is generally located on the 7 or 8, the central word appears on 8:15 (there are other differences between “Yesod” and Vaikadesh”, which appear two words further on), and the middle letter appears at the beginning of 8:29.

Before this reality, it is surprising that the Talmud (Kidushin 30ª) affirms that the center of the Torah can be found on Parashat Shemini (Lev. 10:16 in what refers to words and 11:42 in letters) and on Parashat Tazria, Id. 13:36 in what refers to verses. Throughout the centuries, there have been multiple interpretations explaining these differences, which transcend the statistical or methodological error.  (These interpretations exceed the scope of this commentary.)

Another particularity of Parashat Tzav, apart from its centrality, is that it is read on Shabbat HaGadol, the Sabbath prior to the beginning of Pesach, 5 years out of 7.  (Parashat Acharei Mot is read on the other 2 years.)  This frequent connection invites us to look for a bond within the text, tying it with the festivity.  Reading different commentaries, I came up with some interesting facts.

First, the Matzah and the Chametz appear almost at the beginning of the parashah:

“What is left of it shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened cakes, in the sacred precinct; they shall eat it in the enclosure of the Tent of Meeting.  It shall not be baked with leaven…” (Lev. 6:9-10).

Second, the name Tzav of the parashah means “to command”, referring us to the word Mitzvah (order, divine precept). The Seder, the ritual Pesach supper, is counted by the Sefer HaChinuch (Rabbi Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona, 13th century) as mitzvah number 21 of the Torah, and by the RaMBaM (Maimonides, Spain, 12th century) as the 157th positive mitzvah, in his Sefer HaMitzvot.

In that sense, I would dare to affirm that the Pesach festival, which marks the beginning of our life as a people, and the Seder in particular, are the ritual experiences most observed by Jews worldwide.

And building another link with our parashah, we could say that from its origins, the Pesach Seder is characterized for being a homely ceremony, where each father becomes a priest, and each table becomes an altar.

The link between Pesach and Parashat Tzav takes us back to the issue of numbers and the center of the Torah.   When we stop at the middle of the text, we feel the physical balance between what we have read and what is still left to be read.  When we envision the entire text, we understand that we are at a turning point.

The festival of Pesach, symbolically, also places us at equilibrium between past and future.  We look back at our history, which starts with the departure from Egypt, while we aspire to glimpse the Messianic age.

Meanwhile, each one of us has the responsibility to pass from Avadim Hayinu (“We were slaves”), with which we start the Seder, to the renewed hope of L’shanah haba’ah b’Yerushalayim (“Next year in Jerusalem”), at its culmination.

Shabbat Shalom and Pesach Kasher v’Sameach,

Gustavo