Netvort parshas Tzav 5771:     Something's Missing
By Rabbi Joshua (distractedly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

This week's parsha begins with God telling Moshe to command Aharon and his sons regarding the laws of sacrifices that they are obligated to carry out. God tells Moshe, "Command (Tzav) Aharon and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the olah offering...' (Vayikra 6:1).  Rashi, quoting the midrash, comments that the word 'Tzav' is an expression of urging on, for the immediate moment, and for future generations.  The midrash, as cited by Rashi, continues, and mentions Rabbi Shimon, who says that it is especially necessary to use this kind of expression in regard to a mitzvah that involves a monetary loss.  Many commentaries are bothered by the obvious question, exactly what monetary loss is involved here?  As Ramban points out, the sacrifice referred to in this verse is the daily olah sacrifice, which was paid for from communal funds, not from the pocket of the kohanim specifically.  Some commentators on Rashi, including Rabbi Dovid Ha-Levi Segel in his Divrei Dovid, explain that since the flesh of this sacrifice is completely burned on the altar, and the kohanim derive no benefit from it other than its skin, it is considered as the equivalent of a loss situation.  This explanation is problematic, because the kohanim are not actually losing something in this situation, but merely not gaining much from their labors - perhaps a kind of cost efficiency question, when one considers the amount of work they must put into bringing the olah sacrifice.

Ramban himself writes that the midrash is referring here, not to the olah sacrifice, but to the twice daily meal offering, the minchas chavitin, that the kohein godol was obligated to bring from his own funds.  This explanation involves a difficulty, because there is a gap between the first verse, in which the expression 'Tzav' is used, and the verses referring to Aharon's daily mincha offering. Rabbi Eliezer Azkiri, author of the Sefer Charedim, writes, in his Torah commentary, that the command concerning the olah mentioned at the beginning of the parsha related both to the kohanim and to the rest of the nation.  That is why the verse, as quoted above, says that Moshe should command Aharon, 'saying '(leimor).  Why was it necessary to add the word leimor?  Rabbi Azkiri explains that it means, to say to others, namely, to Yisroel.  Moshe commanded Yisroel to provide the daily olah offering in the Temple, and he commanded the kohanim in regard to carrying out the actual service. "It is in regard to the command to Yisroel in general that urging is required because loss of money is involved.  The loss of money involved is the expense of providing the funds for the olas tamid, which must be brought twice a day.  We have brought this view, in the past, from Rav Shlomo Goren, who said it on his own, before the discovery and publishing of Rav Azkiri's commentary and explained that it was the need for a commitment to provide the funds for the olah throughout the generations that generated the need for urging.  The interested reader can find this discussion in Netvort to parshas Tzav, 5765 "Hidden Expenses," (available currently at YUTorah.org), and in the Netvort archives.  I would like to focus, however, in this week's message, on the intriguing explanation of Rav Shlomo Ephraim of Klunshitz in his Keli Yakar to the comments of Rashi.

The Keli Yakar cites a Yerushalmi in Terumos, at the end of chapter eight, which says that Rav Yochanan once lost his wallet (kis) and, when he was asked to clarify a certain point in Torah, was not able to.  He explained that it was because he had lost his wallet, and one's thoughts depend on the heart, and the heart depends on the 'kis' in which it is encased.  The Keli Yakar says that since the olah is brought for 'hirhurei haleiv' - improper thoughts of the heart - and one's heart can be distracted by a monetary loss, however we explain that loss in our case - there was a need for urging when giving the command for the olah so that the concern for the loss of 'kis' should not distract one from correcting the bad thoughts for which the olah is brought.  Rabbi Avraham Korman, in his HaParsha Ledoroseiha, brings this explanation, and explains that according to the Keli Yakar, Rav Yochanann was, by mentioning the 'kis' of the heart, referring to a membrane which encases that organ, so that we have here an ingenious play on words, connecting the kis, or membrane of the heart, to the kis containing one's money.  Just as Rav Yochanan's loss of his wallet – kis - caused his heart membrane – kis - to malfunction, Rav Shimon was saying that loss of money can, in this way, disturb the rectification of thinking that the olah is brought to attain.  Rabbi Korman says that it is hard to believe that this is, in fact, what Rabbi  Shimon had in mind when he explained the term 'Tzav.''  I believe, however, that there is a very important idea embedded in the Keli Yakar's explanation, even though it is couched in what Rabbi Korman calls a pilpulistic tour de force.

I remember watching a segment of the old television program "I've Got a Secret,' in which a number of panelists tried to guess what occupation the guest worked at.  Often, before the guest was brought out for questioning, the panelists would talk about what they were doing currently, or whatever else happened to be on their mind at that particular time.  On that segment, one panelist, Henry Morgan, read a litany of tragedies and instances of human suffering that were taking place at that time, some before his very eyes.  After mentioning each one, he said,' but I didn't care.' At the end, he said that the reason he didn't care is that he had stubbed his toe that day, and his mind was focused on his own pain.  His point was that we are often so wrapped up in ourselves that the slightest discomfort can distract our attention from whatever else is happening around us.  Perhaps this was, on a wider scale, what the Keli Yakar meant in his analogy of the korban olah to Rav Yochanan's loss of his wallet. What Rav Yochanan was saying is that the minor nuisance of losing his wallet affected the seat of his thoughts, his heart, to the extent that he could not concentrate properly on this Torah teaching. The Keli Yakar then extrapolated and said that since the olah comes to atone for thoughts of sin, one must make sure that he does not allow himself to be distracted by other concerns when he brings that sacrifice.

On a wider scale, Rav Shimon's teaching, as explained by the Keli Yakar, has relevance for us today, as well.  We do not currently have a Temple to which we can bring korbanos, but our prayers are in place of them.  The korban olah, which atones for thoughts of sin, is a paradigm for all korbanos, which symbolize our readiness to offer ourselves to God.  According to the Rambam in his Moreh Nevuchim (3:32) the ideal way to serve God would actually be to meditate about Him, but, as a concession to human limitations, we pray using the vehicle of spoken language, just a as karbanos were a concession to man's limitations.  Ideally, then, our service of God is rooted in our thoughts, and the korban olah thus stands as a paradigm for all of the other korbanos.  The korban olah, in turn, serves as a paradigm for prayer, and, indeed, the Talmud says that the morning and afternoon prayers were established in correspondence with the twice- daily olas tamid.  When we serve God, in our prayers, we must concentrate our thoughts on Him and not be distracted by our own personal concerns.  According to Rav Chaim Brisker, prayer is really a conversation with God, and if we are not aware of God's presence before us when we recite the Shemoneh Esreh, we are just saying words, and not praying.  In the words of a famous Dane, "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to Heaven go." 

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