Shabbos Parashas Tzav - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Tzav - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

He shall remove his garments and don other garments, and he shall remove

the ash to the outside of the camp, to a pure place. [Vayikra 6:4]

This seems like a rather minute and potentially unnecessary detail. Why does

the Torah tell us that the Kohen had to change clothes between clearing the

ash off the Altar and moving that ash outside the camp?

Our parsha also breaks a pattern. For a while now the Torah has been listing

commandments in a "you shall do" followed by a "and they did" sequence. The

commandments had been mostly in a 'present tense', things that Moshe and

Aharon, or others of the people, were to do 'now'. We now enter a phase of

'these are the things you will be doing from here on out'. The immediacy is

gone. Our pasuk commands the Kohanim to remove ash, change clothes, and take

it out of the camp, but there is no "and they did so".

Additionally, up until now we have been used to seeing "Speak to the Children

of Israel", followed by a commandment. Now we see "Command Aharon", thus the

title of our parsha, Tzav (command).

The Rashbam notes that the ash removal was "a procedure that could be

performed all day long. It was mandatory to do this before the offering of

the daily morning burnt offering. However the removal from the camp could be

taken care of any time during the day, and not necessarily daily." This

explains the lack of immediacy issue. But Rashi takes this even farther:

"He shall remove his garments. This is not an obligation but proper conduct."

This approach is difficult, though, since the verses are introduced by

'command'.

Rav Hirsch sees these verses as a lesson in renewal. Each day comes fresh,

each day brings new obligations, new opportunities. Each day begins by a

clearing out of the old, represented by the removal of the ash. The lesson,

in his words, is "Woe unto him who, with smug self complacency thinks he can

rest on his laurels, on what he has already achieved."

Ramban insists that our pasuk is in fact a mitzvah, disagreeing with Rashi.

He says, "it is a commandment from the proper conduct of a servant toward his

master." He separates the portions of the task regarding the ash into that

which is holy, performed on the Altar, and that which is not, the removal of

the ash outside the camp. Ramban's view is that the consecrated garments of

the Kohanim are only to be used for the holy portions of the services. From

this we can learn that we are not allowed to use any consecrated item for a

non-holy purpose.

Rabbeinu Bechaya ibn Pakuda finds a different lesson, humility. He explains

our verse that the removal of the priestly garments means "to remove the

haughtiness from his heart". He says that when the Kohen faces G-d, he

should wear his finest clothing, but when out in public performing menial

work, he should dress to "erase all pride from his heart."

So, is this a command or not? In fact, it is both. We learn respectful

behavior from a good example. We also learn the requirement that holy objects

are not to be used for personal benefit.