Parsha Tzav: In-Depth Summary

The Parshah of Tzav (“command”) continues G‑d’s instructions to Moses regarding the laws of the korbanot, the animal and meal offerings that were the central feature of the service in the Sanctuary. “Command Aaron and his sons,” says G‑d to Moses:

This is the law of the ascending offering: It is an offering that ascends upon the pyre of the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning in it.

The priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put on his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire has consumed with the ascending offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. He shall take off his garments and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.

The fire upon the altar shall be kept burning in it; it shall not be put out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the ascending offering in order upon it, and burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.

A constant fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall never go out.

As in the previous Parshah of Vayikra, here too are recounted the laws of the “ascending offering” (olah), meal offering (minchah), sin offering (chatat), guilt offering (asham) and peace offering (shelamim). In the repetition, many new details are added. A general difference is that Vayikra addresses itself to the one bringing the korban, while the laws of Tzav are addressed to the kohen (priest) who offers it up upon the altar, outlining his duties and specifying the portions of the korban that are given to him.

Thus we read of the kohen’s duty to keep the fires of the altar constantly burning, and to remove the accumulated ashes each morning (an action called terumat hadeshen, which was the first activity of the daily service in the Sanctuary). We also learn that each kohen was obligated to bring a meal offering on the day that he was initiated into the service of the Sanctuary; the kohen gadol (high priest) brought a meal offering each day, half of which was offered in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. These offerings, as well as any other type of meal offering brought by a kohen, are burned entirely on the altar. Meal offerings brought by everyone else are eaten by the kohanim, after a “handful” has been removed for burning on the altar.

The sin offering and the guilt offering are both eaten by the kohanim, after the prescribed chalavim (veins of fat) are removed and burned on the altar. It is strictly forbidden to leave over any part of the korban past the prescribed time (one day and one night for the chatat and asham, two days and the intervening night for the shelamim). Even the residue absorbed by the pot in which the meat was cooked becomes forbidden for consumption; thus:

An earthen vessel in which it is cooked shall be broken; and if it is cooked in a copper pot, it shall be scoured and rinsed in water.

The Torah also sets down the rules as to which kohen should receive these portions of the offerings:

The priest that offers any man’s ascending offering, the priest shall have for himself the hide of the ascending offering which be has offered.

Meal offerings that are baked in the oven, and those that are prepared in the pot and in the pan, shall be for the priest that offers them.

Every meal offering mingled with oil, or dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as the other.

Meat and Bread

As for the shelamim (peace offering), after the prescribed chalavim are burned on the altar, the kohen who performed the offering receives two portions of the animal: the chazeh (chest) and the shok (right hind leg). The rest of the meat is eaten by the owner (the one who brought the offering).

One type of shelamim—the todah or “thanksgiving offering,” brought by a person who has survived a life-endangering occurrence—is also accompanied by a meal offering consisting of four types of cakes, all prepared with olive oil: unleavened loaves, flat matzot, and loaves made of boiled flour (also unleavened); and leavened loaves. (Leaven was permitted in this case, since no part of these loaves were offered on the altar itself.) The kohen received one of each type of cake, while the remainder were eaten by the owner.

The portions of the korbanot that were eaten, whether by the kohen or by the owner, had to be eaten “in holiness”—i.e., within the parameters of their prescribed time and their prescribed place (depending on the type of korban, either within the Sanctuary courtyard or within the city walls of Jerusalem), and the person eating them had to be in a state of ritual purity (taharah).

Again the Torah repeats its warning that those portions of the korban offered on the altar—the specified veins of fat, and the blood—must not be eaten in any animal eligible for sacrifice (i.e., cattle, sheep or goats; in birds, whose fat was not specifically offered, only blood is forbidden).

Our Parshah concludes its section on the korbanot:

This is the law for the ascending offering, for the meal offering, for the sin offering, for the guilt offering, for the inauguration offering and for the sacrifice of the peace offering; which G‑d commanded Moses in Mount Sinai, on the day that He commanded the children of Israel to present their offerings to G‑d, in the wilderness of Sinai.

Inauguration

The Torah now relates how Moses initiated Aaron and his sons into priesthood during the “Seven days of Inauguration” (Adar 23–29), as Moses had been instructed in the Parshah of Tetzaveh.

On each of these seven days Moses erected the Sanctuary, anointed it with the anointing oil, dressed Aaron and his sons in the priestly garments and anointed them. On each of these days Aaron and his sons brought a series of offerings, while Moses officiated as the priest and offered them on the altar. These were: a bullock brought as a chatat, and two rams—one as an olah and the second as a specially ordained “ram of inauguration” (the procedure followed was similar to that of the shelamim).

Moses said to Aaron and to his sons:

“Cook the meat at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket [brought with] the consecration. . . . Whatever remains of the meat and of the bread, you shall burn in fire.

You shall not go out of the doorway of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are ended; for seven days shall he consecrate you . . .

Aaron and his sons did all the things which G‑d had commanded by the hand of Moses.