Netvort Parshas Tzav 5770: Peace
in Our Time
By Rabbi Joshua (peacefully known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
Parshas Tzav presents the laws of the various sacrifices from the angle of the
kohanim, exploring in detail the role that they have in bringing these sacrifices
in the Mishkan. One of the sacrifices which is presented in greater detail in
parshas Tzav than in parshas Vayikra is that of the shelamim, or peace
sacrifice. Both the famed Rav Gavriel Zev Margolis, in his commentary Toras
Gavriel, and Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, in his Peamim, which is a collection of his
talks on the weekly Torah reading, expand on the importance of this sacrifice
in the overall scheme of the service performed in the Mishkan, in different but
ultimately related ways.
One of the details of the korban shelamim that appears for the first time in
parshas Tzav is the fact that the one who brings the sacrifices partakes
of it. Although Rashi in Parshas Vayikra mentions a midrash that the shelamim
is given that name because it brings peace in the sense that the kohanim, the
ones who bring the sacrifice, and the altar all receive a portion of it, still,
the fact that the owner receives a portion is not mentioned in the Torah
itself until Parshas Tzav. Thus, the element of peace found in the sacrifices
receives its greatest prominence in parshas Tzav. Perhaps this is what
led Rav Margolis to cite in his commentary to Parshas Tzav a Midrash found in
Tanna De Bei Eliyahu, chapter 17, that elaborates on the factor of peace
involved in the sacrifices. The midrash says that once the Jews at Mt. Sinai
said that they would accept the Torah God told them to build Him a Tabernacle.
Rav Velvele explains this on the basis of the comments of the Dubna Maggid, in
his Ohel Yaakov, on a Midrash Tanchuma to the verse in Parshas Tzav which
introduces the section on the shelamim sacrifice.
The Tanchuma says that when the nations of Amon and Moav heard about the
command to the Jews to bring sacrifices, they went to Bilaam and asked why they
too had not been given this command. Bilaam answered that the sacrifices are
only for shalom, for peace. The Jews, who accepted the Torah, were also
given the mitzvah of bringing sacrifices, but the other nations, who did not
accept the Torah, were not given that command. The Dubna Maggid explains that
before the Torah was given the world stood on one pillar, that of chesed, or
acts of kindness. Once the Torah was given, however, the world was like a
stool with only two legs which is unstable. Therefore, the Torah was given, to
restore stability to the world. The meaning of this says the Maggid is that
once the Torah was given its stability was threatened by the possibility of
people transgressing its laws. Therefore, the Jewish nation had to be commanded
to bring sacrifices to correct any instability that they would cause through
failing to observe the Torah correctly. Rav Margolis adds that based on this
explanation of the Maggid, we can better understand a statement that appears at
the end of a number of Talmudic tractates, that God did not find a better
vessel to contain blessing than peace. This statement indicates that peace is a
vessel, not a blessing in and of itself. There must be content in the vessel in
order for a blessing to come about. Peace, then, is a vessel that preserves the
blessing that comes with the Torah. The best example of peace brought about
through sacrifices, as Rashi in parshas Vayikra noted, is the korban shelamim,
and that is why this teaching is most relevant to this section of our parsha.
Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook discusses a different aspect of the shelamim sacrifice,
that of the role of the Jewish nation as a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation, which is the charge given to them at Mt. Sinai before the Torah was
given. Partaking in the flesh of the sacrifices is something that only the
Jews do. Non-Jews can bring sacrifices to the Mishkan and the Beis HaMikdash,
but only in the form of an olah sacrifice, which is completely burned on the
altar. The Jewish people were given the capacity to sanctify time, and a
primary example of doing this is by eating a portion of their sacrifice to the Mishkan
within a certain time frame. This capacity to sanctify time was given to the
nation with the mitzvah of sanctifying the new month, which was the first
mitzvah given to the Jews as a nation. The other nations of the world do not
have this capacity, and therefore can only bring sacrifices that are completely
burned on the altar.
The comments of both Rav Velvele and Rav Tzvi Yehudah are better understood
with the backdrop of the words of the Netziv which we mentioned in last week’s
message. The Netziv writes, in his introduction to his commentary to the book
of Shemos, that this book describes the spiritual completion of the universe,
and, in this sense, is really a second description of the world's creation and
creation of the universe. In order for the universe to retain its stability,
there is a need for sacrifices to reconnect the forces that are torn asunder
when the Torah is not observed properly. Moreover, by means of the Torah,
time, which has been given over to man to use or misuse, can be used to give
ultimate spiritual meaning to the physical universe created by God.
A joyous Pesach to all from the Netvort conglomerate.
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