Shabbat Tsav
The Book of Leviticus, steeped in rules and regulations, not only makes for some very difficult reading but also poses challenges for writing a Dvar Torah. None more so, than this week’s parashah: Tsav.
From Tsav we learn about the rituals of burnt offerings, meal offerings, guilt offerings, sacrifice of well-being and votive or free-will offerings. They are not presented in simple terms but are an exceptionally detailed, rigorous, set of instructions. The parashah culminates in the offerings for the ordination and the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.
Contained within it (albeit subtle) is an emphasis on participation of the many in the ritual of sacrifice and how it changes to something deeply personal when the act of worship reaches its peak on the altar:
המקריב את זבח שלמיו ליהוה יביא את קרבנו ליהיה מזבח שלמיו.
The offering to the Lord of a sacrifice of well-being must be presented by him who offers his own sacrifice of well-being to the Lord (Lev. 7:29).
Perhaps this is a shift from the ‘collective’ experience to the personal? I would suggest an outward display of collective preparation and engagement in activity yet turning inward to a personal connection between God and man at the moment of sacrifice.
Philosophically, it is somewhat reminiscent of the historical collective experience at Sinai: the collective encounter with God made even more poignant because it became an individualised experience as well.
Midrash Pesikta de Rav Kahana goes into much detail about the experience at Sinai showing how it is possible for an entire people to experience God individually. Rav Hanina bar Papa’s question in this case centred around the use of אנכי יהוה אלהיך, I am the Lord your God (Exod. 20:2). If God is talking to a large multitude gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, why use the singular rather than the plural? It should read םאלהיכ. In this case R. Hanina says that God speaks to each person individually, so that they all hear something different. The multitude of voices is still One God, but God is speaking to each person separately. Why does God address each person individually? R. Hanina believes it is so that each person can hear Gods message on his own level. If God had spoken in one voice, then some standing at the foot of Sinai may not have understood the message. Hence each person apprehended God (presence or otherwise) according to his/her ability. Thus we can see that both collective experiences and individual experiences are achievable but the experiences are inter-dependent requiring active participation by all.
Whilst we gather together in our synagogues to pray, as a collective people and individuals, all too often our sanctuaries have become distant from the people, both physically and psychologically. We stand further and further away on the bimah and to some extent the collective people then become merely witnesses to an event and not participants. How do we rekindle this fire within our Jewish soul, become part of a vibrant community not just a person within a physically beautiful sanctuary with no heart or essence? How do we foster a sense of God’s presence?
Arnold Eisen Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York writes, ‘we find ourselves together in worship week after week, often sitting and standing in beautiful spaces that we have come to love, wrapped up in words and music that have lifted Jews up for centuries. The experience can lift us too, if we make the most of the chance to be ‘alone-together’, with one another and with God. It is amazing what a real community can accomplish when it sets its mind to it – especially when that mind is shaped by worship that focuses on the work that really matters.’
Like the regular sacrificial offerings, routine worship, prayer with its prescribed liturgy, can become more than just routine and move from the collective to the intensely personal experience with God.
