Leviticus 6:1-8:36 | Malachi 3:4-24 | Luke 9:18-36
This week's edition of The Set Table contains:
Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Tsav
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading Looking Ahead
Questions & Commentary on Parashat Tsav
1. What is the message of Shabbat Haggadol
for our day and age?
Seth
Haim Ben-Haim
Shabbat Haggadol is
the name given to the Shabbat before Pesach by the Tosafot a little
under 1000 years ago. The background for this name has various explanations.
In fact in many of the communities of European Jewry where it was first
practiced, they noted the fact, that while it was kept zealously, they
did not remember why it was called by this name. All the reasons given
are connected with the closeness of Pesach and the height of preparation
that we are in the midst of, as the days count down to this awesome
festival of redemption.
The Shulchan Aruch
speaks of the people of Israel leaving Egypt on a Thursday, much like
this year's calendar, Thursday is the 15th of Nissan, this would make
the Shabbat before to be the 10th of Nissan, like this year, the day
that we were commanded as a people to take and select a lamb, bring
him into our homes, and to tie him to the leg of the bed. This lamb
would become the Pesach Lamb on the 14th of Nissan. Before this though
the lamb would live in our homes, and be a part of the family. According
to the Midrash the people of Israel explained to the Egyptians that
the purpose of taking the Lamb was to sacrifice it. The Egyptians, who
worshiped this animal, were overwhelmed but did not destroy the people.
This is seen as a great miracle of protection and one that built the
faith of the people of Israel. One tradition holds that the Egyptians
received the plague of blindness during this time, and it prevented
them from attacking the people.
On a more
humorous level, in some traditions this was one of the two times a year
that the Rabbi would teach the whole community in the Synagogue (the
other time being Shabbat Shuva, the shabbat in between Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur). Because he spoke at length, this shabbat received the
designation of Haggadol . . . The Big One.
Rav Epshtein in
Sefrie Happardes says that this is one of the two shabbatot that
must be kept by all of Israel before we see the complete redemption
and the coming of the Mashiach. Interestingly the Exodus from Egypt
is a major theme in the command to keep Shabbat. While we remember the
creation and the completion of the work thinking of ultimate redemption
for the world, we are told in the repetition of the Torah in Deuteronomy
5:15 that we are to remember the release and redemption that the people
of Israel received in Egypt from slavery and oppression. The taking
of this lamb into their home was an act of obedience. They were rejecting
the gods of the Egyptians and serving the LORD. They were keeping Shabbat
in a unique way.
I am sure we all could
come up with a couple other funny reasons to look at the preparations
for Pesach as being truly gadol. There is so much to do in cleaning
our houses (though we won't do this on the shabbat). Then there is
the big list of guests and family that will come for the Seder. How
many Matza Balls do we need to make this year? How are we going to make
it through the Seder with those more difficult family members? On this
one we can be reminded of how Leviticus 8:33-36 Aaron and his 4 sons
are commanded to stay at the door of the Tabernacle for 7 days together,
day and night, lest they leave early and die. This makes for a quite
intense family gathering. The LORD showed them the importance of serving
together despite their differences.
The LORD desires to
turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the children to the
parents. This theme is found in the Haftara portion for this week, which
deals with the expectation of the return of Elijah along with the Mashiach!
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
Great and Awesome day of the Lord" (Malachi 3:23). This is surely
a reason to anticipate the return of Haggadol!
There is an ancient
expectation of the people that the return of Mashiach and the full redemption
will happen at Pesach, as this was the festival of redemption from slavery
in Egypt. We know that our Mashiach Yeshua has accomplished a work that
is gadol and we are experiencing elements of the tikkun olam
that he is bringing and that will be completed with his return. As we
think of these truly great elements of this Shabbat and Pesach, let
us not be daunted, but instead take the Tzav - orders to serve
the LORD and do our part towards bringing the Geula - redemption,
swiftly and in our days.
2. Today, because
there is no Temple, we don't make sacrifices. Is there anything
we can learn from the laws of offerings?
David
Nichol
The beginning of our
parasha describes different kinds of offerings that can be made
in the Mishkan ("the Tabernacle"): reparation offerings, grain offerings,
burnt offerings, and sacrifices of well-being. The sections that describe
these offerings begin with introductions in the text. For example,
zot torat ha'olah: "This is the torah (instruction/ritual) of
the burnt offering" (6:2). Then the specific details of the
sacrifice in question are outlined.
Jewish tradition tends
to find meaning in Torah even where it is not immediately obvious from
a single text, often by connecting two seemingly unrelated texts. So
the sages comment on one such introductory phrase from our parasha,
"And this is the law of the peace-offering (zevach hashelamim)"
(7:11), connecting it with Proverbs 3:17, "Its ways are ways of pleasantness
and all its paths are peace." They continue, "Whatever is written
in the Torah is written for the sake of promoting peace. Even
though there are incidents of war written in the Torah, those wars were
written in order to promote peace. You find that the Holy One annulled
his decree for the sake of peace" (Midrash TanchumaTzav
3).
Indeed, these are
no small claims: that every word written in the Torah is "written
for the sake of promoting peace," and that God "annulled his decree
for the sake of peace." This is echoed elsewhere by Rabban Shim‘on
ben Gamli'el, who said, "The world endures on three things--justice,
truth, and peace" (Pirkei Avot 1:18). The midrash demonstrates
this point by asserting (through what is perhaps a creative reading
of the narrative) that Moses offered peace to the Canaanites, only destroying
cities when the peace was rejected. It further notes the commandment
to offer terms of peace to any city the Israelites were besieging (Deuteronomy
20:10). Thus we see in our tradition much ambivalence about the use
of violence, even when supported by divine decree. This is familiar
to us today; there is much debate in Israel and in America about the
use of military force, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinian
territories or elsewhere. In fact, rarely do people claim to hate peace,
or think it's a bad idea. Why, then, does it seem to be such a rare
commodity?
Much has been written
on the cycle of violence--how one violent action begets another, without
end. One country sends its army to protect its citizens, using
force that begets a vengeful reaction. Fathers, sons, and brothers
are imprisoned or killed for the sake of peace, perpetuating the cycle
endlessly. Conventional wisdom states that a people has a right to defend
itself. Many wise Torah scholars defend Israel's right and need
to build up an army proportional to the threats against it. Even the
midrash above seems to validate wars in order to "promote peace."
Yet, while a strong army may keep enemies at bay for a time, the evidence
does not show that it creates a lasting peace. Another Jewish "sage"
(Stan Lee) writes about a hero who learns the hard way that "with
great power comes great responsibility." Similarly, one people having
power over another, even with good intentions, is a scary and dangerous
thing. Rarely throughout history has such a situation ended well.
This conundrum has
no easy answer, and I do not pretend to have one. But one can
hear the words of Yeshua saying, "You have heard that it was said,
‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you
. . ." (Matthew 5:38). What is he telling us? One could argue
that he says little about the ethics of war, or communal self-defense.
But we should remember that his most decisive action was one of self-sacrifice,
even to death. How far we will (or should) follow him in his radical
peace-making remains for us to figure out. Perhaps this is the
teaching of the peace-offerings?
Luke 9:18-36 - Rejection and Revelation
Sean Emsleie
In this week's
besora reading we see references and glimpses of the two roles of
Messiah as described in the writings of the rabbis and sages, the Messiah
who will suffer, Mashiach ben Yosef, and the Messiah who will rule and
reign on the throne of his father David, Mashiach ben David. Many people
have either separated these two roles into two messianic figures, picturing
the suffering one to be the People of Israel as a whole and Mashiach
ben David to be the coming messianic king, or have left this to past
myth. As followers of Yeshua can see these two messianic roles as unified,
the one to suffer and the one to reign embodied in Him who is our one
righteous Messiah.
This passage begins
with Yeshua questioning his talmidim about who people were saying he
is. The big question for them to answer is now before them and it will
show if they have been true disciples or just those who were just tagging
along.
They
answered, "Yochanan the Immerser; but others say Eliyahu, and others
that some prophet of long ago has risen." "But you," he said to
them, "who do you say I am?" Kefa answered, "The Mashiach of God!"
Luke
9:19-20
Kefa answered correctly
and showed that he knew that Yeshua was the Redeemer that was longed
for. Yet Yeshua reminds them that before his revelation as the Messianic
king, there will be rejection and death. So we quickly get in
this week's reading, a joining of the two Messiahs of Jewish thought,
the Messiah who not only will rule and reign but also will face rejection
and death before the ultimate revealing of his glory.
This rejection was
foreseen by the prophetic words of Isaiah in his most famous "Servant
passages". "People despised and avoided him, a man of pains, well
acquainted with illness. Like someone from whom people turn their faces,
he was despised; we did not value him" (Isaiah 53:3). The Messiah
had to fulfill the role of Messiah ben Yosef as much as the role of
Messiah ben David and in Yeshua we see this completed.
As this reading concludes
we get a brief glimpse of the revelation of King Messiah as Yeshua takes
his inner circle of disciples up a mountain where like Moses before
them on Mount Sinai, get a brief glimpse of the glory of God as it is
revealed in Yeshua. For these brief moments the One who will be despised
and rejected by men, shows what awaits after his suffering and atonement
for sins, the full radiance of the one who is the true servant of God
and the one who will rule all creation as King Messiah.
May we as we come
to this Pesach season, a time for reflecting on the dual redemptions
from Egypt and also redemption from sin by Yeshua through his suffering
and death, may we also in this time of remembrance also look forward
to that glorious day when the sacrificed lamb will be revealed as the
One who is worthy to take up David's throne and may we join the chorus
of those from Yochanan's revelation of King Messiah:
And
I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and on the
sea - yes, everything in them - saying, "To the One sitting on the
throne and to the Lamb belong praise, honor, glory and power forever
and ever!"
Learning 
