Torah Study: Parshat Tzav

(5) From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said that even though the fire descended from the Heavens in the days of Moshe, it is a commandment to bring [it] from the commoners, as it is stated (Leviticus 1:7), "And the sons of Aharon shall place fire, etc." And (Mishnah Tamid 2) they would set up wood in the morning and make a large arrangement of wood at the top of the altar, as it is stated (Leviticus 6:5), "and the priest would burn wood each morning." And besides the wood that was set up in the arrangement, it was a commandment upon the priest to bring up two blocks of wood, as it is stated, "and the priest would burn wood (etsim, which is plural)" - and the minimum of etsim is two. And so [too,] would they add two blocks of wood with the daily afternoon sacrifice; and two priests would bring them up, as it is stated, "and they shall set up" - but [for that] of the morning, [it was only] one priest.

(1) אש תמיד, “a perpetual fire;” it will be kept burning even on the Sabbath, even if for some reason it became ritually impure. (2) לא תכבה, “where it will not go out.” Even while the Israelites were journeying through the desert, G-d’s honour demanded that precautions be taken that this flame be kept going. According to Rabbi Yehudah in the Sifra. they used a kind of metal dome fixed above it to insure that it was kept going. [Seeing that the clouds of glory kept the people protected from rain, sandstorms and other inclemency of weather, this does not sound so exceptional. Ed.]

(8) A handful of the choice flour and oil of the meal offering shall be taken from it, with all the frankincense that is on the meal offering, and this token portion shall be turned into smoke on the altar as a pleasing odor to the LORD.

(2) בקמצו WITH HIS GRASP — This implies that he shall not make a measure for the קומץ (he must not use a measure that holds as much as his fist and in that remove the flour) (Sifra, Tzav, Section 2 5; Yoma 47a).

(7) They may not give terumah according to measure, or weight, or number, but one may give it from that which has already been measured, weighed or counted. They may not give terumah in a basket or a hamper of a measured capacity, but one may give in it when it is a half or a third filled. He may not give a half of seah in a seah measuring vessel, for this half constitutes a known measure.

(10) It shall not be baked with leaven; I have given it as their portion from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

(6) In keeping with this, I have witnessed a worthy custom according to which the lulav branches are placed with the chametz in the fire. Although there is an esoteric reason for this, the one mentioned frequently by the authorities is that since they were used for one mitzvah, let them be used for another mitzvah. The point to remember is that the elimination of the chametz symbolizes liberation from the Sitra Achara. ...in the burning of chametz the yetzer hara will be eliminated from the world, and we will [be] in holiness and all shells of evil will be eliminated from the world and God will be One and God's Name One.

R. Tzvi Hirsch Kaidanover (18th c.)

(13) This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the LORD on the occasion of his anointment: a tenth of an ephah of choice flour as a regular meal offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening,

(1) This is the ritual of the guilt offering (reparation offering): it is most holy. (2) The guilt offering shall be slaughtered at the spot where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the blood shall be dashed on all sides of the altar.