Shabbat Parashat Tzav - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Tzav - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

Command Aharon and his sons, saying, This is the law of the olah offering. It

is the olah offering [that stays] on the flame on the Altar all night until the

morning and in the fire of the Altar shall be kept aflame on it. [Vayikra 6:2]

Many questions come to mind when reading this verse. Why does the word

'saying' appear after the word 'command'? Why is 'olah offering' repeated? If

it is on the Altar all night, why do we need "until the morning"? But we will look

today at two other questions, both having to do with the word 'mokdah', which

is "sort of" translated above as "that stays on the flame". What does it really

mean, and why is the mem written very small?

This is not the only instance of a font change in the Torah. Ba'al HaTurim and

others list many. Rambam finds that each of the 22 letters appears at least once

in Tanach as a large letter and at least once as a small letter. Each change is

given a separate meaning by some commentators, although Sifra and others treat

them as if they did not exist. Our particular change does not seem to get much

press, but Rav Hirsch does mention an idea. "Mokdah is written with a small

mem expressing the smallness of the place to indicate this dependent state of

the night on the preceding day. What takes place on the top is only

complementary to what took place at its base or on its sides. Everything which has

once been placed on the Altar has to remain there." Thus the small mem tells us

that burning is secondary to the earlier parts of the sacrificial service.

What does mokdah mean? Literally that portion of the verse reads, "the law

of the olah which is offered on the mokdah on the Altar". Apparently it is the

place on the Altar where this particular offering will be burned. Rav Hirsch

calls it the "hearth" and Kol Dodi agrees. But others have different opinions.

Torah Temimah says, 'firewood'. Malbim expands on that, saying, "upon the

pyre", which connotes more than the wood itself, rather adds the structure plus

whatever other sacrificial parts are burning. Ramban says it refers to "on the

flame", from which Rav Soloveitchik derives that the word refers to the miracle

of the rain never putting out the fire on the two Altars.

Onkelos changes the word from a noun meaning firewood, to a verb, to burn,

used here reflexively as "that is burned". Reish Lakish says "cause to burn".

Vayikra Rabbah points to R'Pinchas who notes that mokdah means the fire

never, in over 100 years of constant use pre-Temple, did any damage at all to

the Altar structure, which was thin metal covering wood, which brings to mind the

episode of the "burning bush" that Moshe saw. This kind of fire did not destroy

the bush, nor did it destroy the Altar, indicating that mokdah has a Divine

element.