The crisis and the third floor

The Parasha in our everyday life - Tzav - 5782

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Rosh Yeshivat Hesder 'Meir Harel' Modi'in

One of the most important challenges in a time of crisis is to get life back on track as quickly and as much as possible. Life routine has the capacity of healing and empowering strength. Sinking into a crisis exacerbates its damage. There are ongoing crisis situations where one has to simultaneously deal with managing the crisis and getting back to a routine.

Naturally, most of the public attention is given to the difficult war in Ukraine and its consequences. And especially on the issue of the refugees. As a result, important issues that are usually at the top of the list, have been pushed to the corner. As the war continues, one should pay attention to many other important matters that need to be addressed at the same time. There are points that arise as a result of events that have happened and are on the agenda. And there are others that need to be addressed; need to be raised from time to time proactively. It is therefore appropriate that we write ourselves a 'reminder' so that we do not forget about them, similar to the 'reminder' of important things that we write down to remind ourselves, at a set time.

This week's Torah portion is read and studied in a coordinated manner in all Jewish communities. This coordinated reading has many important aspects, one of which is that reading the Parasha brings up for discussion important issues mentioned in it, which should be brought up periodically and proactively. The different Parashot in Sefer Vayikra raise in-depth issues. On a superficial look, they seem far removed from our daily routine, because we do not have a Temple, but in an in-depth look, these are important elements in our spiritual world. One of them is - what is the model for a life of holiness in our everyday life?

There is a deep connection between the work in the Temple and the sacrifices on one side, and the place of holiness in our lives on the other. In our personal lives and in the life of the nation. Delving into the Sacrifices doctrine allows us to better understand the ideal of holiness in our lives.

There is usually a tendency to describe the relationship between the natural world and the sacred world as two floors.

The ordinary person lives in the natural world, a world of the mundane, where he channels his subsistence needs, his impulses, and the pursuit of achievements and assets.

It is common to think that someone who seeks' holiness' in his life is required to "go up a floor, to the second floor" to 'sacrifice' parts of his natural world, and to 'withdraw' from them to a certain extent.

The second floor looks like a contradiction and antithesis of the first floor.

However, according to the Kabbala, this second floor is not the floor of 'holiness' but the floor of 'purity' and 'celibacy'. The 'sanctity' floor is in the 'third floor', in which there is no retirement from life, but the sanctification of life itself:

והנה אראה אותך יתרון אחד גדול אשר לדרך הקבלה  מדרך הפשט. הנה לפי הפשט- כל דברי העולם הזה הם דברים גופנים וחסרונות של אדם, להיותו עפר מן האדמה. והרוצה להיות חסיד- לא יוכל אלא לפרוש מן ההנאות כל מה שיוכל, ולא יהנה אלא מה שמוכרח לו לחיותו...והמעשה ההוא ישאר טוב, לפי שאינו אלא הכרחי כדי לחיות...אך עם כל זה, הנה לא ישוב עצם המעשה שלא להיות חסרון אנושי, ואם גם זולתו היה אפשר לעשות- היה יותר טוב. יתרה הקבלה, כי הנה לפי דרכה המעשים עצמם חוזרים להיות טובים ותקונים עליונים. והיינו כי כך הכין הרצון העליון- שיהיו דברי העולם הזה  מתקדשים  על ידי מה שהאדם משתמש מהם לצרכו והנאתו.

"And here I will show you Kabbala's one great advantage over the Pshat. By the Pshat - all the things of this world are physical things and shortcomings of man, to be dirt from the earth. And whoever wants to be a follower - can only be if he gives up worldly pleasures as much as he can, and will enjoy only what he must to live ... and that will remain good, according to which it is necessary only to live ... world should be sanctified by what man uses them for his consumption and pleasure. The advantage of the Kabbala lies in the fact that the actions themselves become good and supreme again. And this is what was meant to be by G-d — that the words of this world should be sanctified by what man uses them for in his consumption and pleasure" (Ramchal- Maamar HaVikuach).

Part of the sacred work of the priests was eating from the sacrifices. Physical eating is the atonement:

והנה האיש המתקדש בקדושת בוראו אפילו מעשיו הגשמיים חוזרים להיות ענייני קדושה ממש, וסימניך אכילת קדשים שהיא עצמה מצות עשה, ואמרו ז"ל (פסחים נט ב): כהנים אוכלים ובעלים מתכפרים.

"Behold, for the man sanctified with the holiness of his Creator, even his physical deeds become actual matters of holiness. A sign of this is in "the eating of temple offerings", which our sages of blessed memory said: "the priests eat and the owners obtain atonement" (Mesilat Yesharim 26)

It can also be learned in our Parasha, from a different action in the Temple - "Altar Ashes":

וְלָבַ֨שׁ הַכֹּהֵ֜ן מִדּ֣וֹ בַ֗ד וּמִֽכְנְסֵי־בַד֮ יִלְבַּ֣שׁ עַל־בְּשָׂרוֹ֒ וְהֵרִ֣ים אֶת־הַדֶּ֗שֶׁן אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֹּאכַ֥ל הָאֵ֛שׁ אֶת־הָעֹלָ֖ה עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חַ וְשָׂמ֕וֹ אֵ֖צֶל הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃

"The priest shall dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar". (Vayikra 6:3)

Removing the ashes and the remainder from the altar. "This is the first assignment every morning" (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ibid)

It is not just an act of cleaning debris to clear the altar for a new sacrifice (Chinuch), but a sacred work performed in the ashes.

First clearing off the ashes and then all the rest. This act is sacred and therefore it must be done in the priestly garments, the same as the rest of the sacred works

(וְרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן אָמַר כֵּיוָן דִּכְתִיב וְלָבַשׁ הַכֹּהֵן מִדּוֹ בַד וְגוֹ׳ כֵּיוָן דִּצְרִיךְ לְבִגְדֵי כְהוּנָּה בִּקְדוּשְּׁתֵיהּ קָאֵי)

("Rabbi Yoḥanan explains: Since taking the ashes outside the Temple also requires the priestly vestments, albeit garments of lesser quality than those used to remove the ashes from the altar, evidently the ash remains in its consecrated state). (Meilah 9a)

Moreover, the ashes themselves if enjoyed for other purposes it is considered as ‘embezzlement’. (The Gemara clarifies this dispute: Before the removal of the ashes, everyone agrees that one who derives benefit from it is liable for misuse of consecrated property- ibid).

"הקרבנות, המסמנים את המפעלים המוחשיים, שהם מכוונים להגיע בתמציתם ויסודם לכונה האלהית העליונה, של החיים ושל המציאות, הם מורים עם זה בפרטיותם, בהערכת עבודתם היותר מפורסמת, הקטרתם ועכולם וההתנהגות עם אפרם, את כל התכן של כל המעשים כולם, שיסוד קדושתם התמציתית היא עולה למעלה. מפני פעולתם על הרצון, על המחשבה, ועל כל נטית החיים, מזדכך על ידם השכל, מיטהרים על ידם כל הכחות, הנפשיים והגופניים, של האדם"

"The sacrifices, which mark the tangible enterprises, which they aim to reach in their essence and foundation to the supreme divine, of life and of reality, teach with their details, and appreciation of their most famous work, their incense and all the behavior with the ashes, the whole essence of deeds. The foundation of their concise sanctity is ascending,

Because they work over the desires, the thoughts and on the whole inclination of life, the mind is purified by them, purifying by them all of man's energies, mental and physical." (Olat Reiyah Korbanot Part 1)

The ashes are the lowest part of the sacrifice, which remains from the sacrificial process, and dealing with it is part of the work. To teach us that holiness penetrates even in the lowest level of our acts and reality.