SONSINO'S TORAH COMMENTS ON TZAV

SONSINO’S BLOG: TORAH COMMENTS ON TZAV, Lev. 6:1-8:36, 3/24/18

1.     The Torah portion deals primarily with two subjects: The sacrifices offered by the priests and the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests.

2.     God says to Moses: “Assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (8:3). In reality, people congregated in the outer section of the courtyard, and not in front of the Tent. Was there room for all of them? (See Lev. Rab. 9:9). Maybe the leaders represented them. Message: when there is good will, there is room for everyone.

3.     Priests wore fancy clothes, including an EPHOD (usually not translated). What is it? In Old Assyrian, an epattum is a costly garment, originally used in robing statues of the gods. Maybe an EPHOD is a robe made of wool and linen, with gold threads attached to the fabric, which gave it a golden appearance (See, Levine, JPS Torah, p.50).

4.     “A perpetual fire (esh tamid) shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out” (Lev. 6: 6). Lesson: today we do not have priests, so all Jews, clergy  or not,  are responsible to keep the flame of Judaism alive.