פרשת צו תש"ב - הלכות שונות

זאת תורת העולה, this portion now deals in greater detail with the variety of offerings which have been mentioned and discussed in some detail already in Parshat Vayikra.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd or of the flock.

Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the burnt-offering: it is that which goeth up on its firewood upon the altar all night unto the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereby.

He will place his hand [singular] It seems from a literal interpretation of the verse that he places a single hand (for we cannot assume that the scapegoat [16:21] resembles the other offerings, insofar as there Scripture specifically mentions how many hands are to be placed). However, the Exegetes, upon whom we rely, have determined that all laying on of hands involves both hands [Yoma 36a]. The animal which atones for an emergent impulse is called a burnt offering [literally: an arising]. Similarly, the animals brought to atone for sin and guilt are called sin-offerings and guilt-offerings, respectively.

It is the burnt-offering [Hebrew: ‘olah] so called because all of it ascends [Hebrew: ‘ olah] up to the Altar. This verse implies that one should not sacrifice the burnt-offering at night, because it must burn on the pyre all night. The word the pyre ends in an extra heh (or perhaps Hebrew contains both a masculine and a feminine form of the word).

מדו בד HIS LINEN ROBE — this is what is elsewhere termed the כתונת, the undercoat; and why then is it here called מדו? To intimate that it (the כתונת) must be made to his measure (מדו from מדד to “measure”) (Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 2 1; Yoma 23b).

מדו בד HIS LINEN ROBE — this is what is elsewhere termed the כתונת, the undercoat; and why then is it here called מדו? To intimate that it (the כתונת) must be made to his measure (מדו from מדד to “measure”) (Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 2 1; Yoma 23b).

a smock [Hebrew: middo] The Sages said [Yoma 23b] that this smock was tailored to his measurements [Hebrew: middato].

מדו, as in Numbers 23,18 בנו צפור, [in both instances the letter ו at the end is something extraneous. Ed.] It again occurs in that mode in Numbers 24,3. Basically the word מד refers to some kind of garment, especially work oriented or vocation oriented, as in Samuel I 4,12 where the expression ומדיו קרועים, refer to a “torn uniform.”

If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour soaked.

And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.

For [the] soul of the body is in the blood. The reason for the prohibition of blood is because Hashem created all the creatures of the lower world for man’s use, because from all these creatures, only man recognizes his Creator. Even so, originally, Hashem permitted man to eat only vegetation, but not animals with a living soul, as it says in Bereishis (1:29): “Behold, I have given you all seed-yielding herbs…” After the Flood, when the animals were saved in Noach’s merit and he sacrificed some of them, which fulfilled Hashem’s will, Hashem permitted man to slaughter animals, as it says (ibid. 9:3): “Every moving creature that lives, shall be yours for food; like the green vegetation [which I gave previously] I have [now] given you everything [for food]”; their life is for man. Hashem permitted the living animal bodies for man to be for his benefit and needs; the living soul (nefesh) in them will be for man’s atonement when they are brought before Hashem as sacrifices. They were not permitted to eat the nefesh; a being with a nefesh should not eat a nefesh, for all souls belong to Hashem. Man’s nefesh is like the animals’ nefesh, they belong to Him; “[For there is a happening for the children of men, and there is a happening for the beasts …] like the death of this one is the death of that one, and all have one spirit” (Koheles 3:19). The Greek philosophers saw it this way: A very clear and radiant spark comes out from the active intellect, and the spark of the animal soul comes out from it, and it is a complete soul in one side of its aspects. Therefore, it has intelligence to flee from harm and to pursue what is pleasurable for it, and it has recognition for things for which the animals have formed a habit. Animals have love, like the love of dogs for their masters; the nefesh has amazing recognition for the household members of their owners. Pigeons also have intelligence and recognition.