Tzav 5776 - English

By Rabbi Guido Cohen

Asociación Israelita Montefiore Bogotá, Colombia.

The Parashah we read this week is called Tzav.  In it, the Torah continues teaching us about the laws relating to sacrifices in the times of our ancestors.

One of the sacrifices it describes is called Korban Ola.  It was an offering of an animal that had to be completely consumed by the fire burning in the altar.  In its description, we find two of the most beautiful verses in the Parashah:

“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out: every morning the priest shall feed wood to it, lay out the burnt offering on it, and turn into smoke the fat parts of the offerings of well-being. A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out.” (Lev. 6:5-6)

At first sight, these verses may seem irrelevant for our times, however we must decode their message so that the words can get new meaning as a relevant text in our lives.

Our sages teach us in the Talmud (Berachot 55:1) that ever since the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed, the table in each of our homes replaced the Temple tabernacle.  Another part of the Talmud (Taanit 7a) compares the words from the Torah with fire.  And regarding the priests, in the Torah we are told that the people of Israel are a “kingdom of priests” (Shmot 19).

If we read the verses from our Parashah again with the help of the interpretation key provided by these sources, we can understand the relevance of this text.  The fire is the Torah, the tabernacle is the table in each of our homes and we are the priests.  What is our role?  To ensure the fire never goes out in our tabernacle.  In other words, we are in charge of never letting the Torah disappear from our homes.

We have the responsibility to read, study and transmit the teachings from our tradition in order to transform the world we live in.  May this Parashah inspire us to bring a little bit more Torah into our homes every day, to perpetuate the eternal flame that burns generation after generation.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Guido Cohen