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Parashah Tzav

by with No Comment Leviticus

This week’s parashah is called “Tzav” which means “ordinance” and contains teachings that can have various practical applications in our daily life that we will see later.

Although rituals and sacrifices are no longer carried out due to the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the inactivity of the priestly service in Israel, this portion of Scripture can inspire us to seek meaningful disciplines in our own lives, such as daily prayer, observance of the Sabbath and participation in the Feasts of the Almighty, among other commandments.

The principle of generosity and charity is also important to highlight. The concept of sacrifice and service to others can inspire us to extend a helping hand to those who are most in need. This reflects the value of our faith in helping those less fortunate and in building a more caring and compassionate community.

A call to devotion!

Tzav highlights the importance of devotion and service to Yehovah. This can be a motivation for us to look for ways to improve our personal relationship with our Father through the study of Scripture, personal reflection and service to others.

Spiritual cleanliness is an important aspect to be rescued in this weekly reading, since the laws of ritual purity remind us of the importance of maintaining spiritual and moral purity in our lives. This can involve important actions such as introspection, repenting of our faults and seeking forgiveness in order to maintain a healthy relationship, first and foremost with our Creator and with others.

Reflection

While it is true that this portion highlights the importance of observing certain commandments and precepts of Yehovah regarding sacrifices and ritual purity, it must be remembered that obedience is paramount for Yehovah, as the prophet Samuel told King Saul when he disobeyed Yehovah’s direct order to kill Agag king of Amalek and all the Amalekites, “obedience is better than sacrifice”. 1 Samuel 15:22

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Parashah Vayikra

by with No Comment Leviticus

Vayikra, means: And He called. The book begins with the letter vav, a conjunction that gives us the idea of continuity with the story of the Exodus. To comprehend this book it is important to understand the problem that it is trying to resolve. The Hebrew word for offering is korbán, whose root is the Hebrew word karav, which means to approach. That is to say that a person brings a korbán with the purpose of approaching Yehováh.

Just imagining the scene where all the sacrifices we are about to study were carried out, produces an unconscious rejection in us; thinking about the priests cutting the animal’s jugular vein to collect its blood and then opening it up to remove its organs, and carrying out all the other procedures, makes us want to go to the New Testament where we see that Yeshua has put an end to the system of sacrifices.

However, it is very important to discover that the purpose of Yehováh was not simply to order sacrifices in order to perceive the smell of burnt flesh, but that by such means He was showing the people of Israel the need for a Messiah who would make atonement for all of us. Then we begin to understand that the “fragrant aroma” was in a sense a shadow of the significance that the work of Yeshua would have for the Father, because in him he was reconciling his people and redeeming what had been lost.

As we begin our journey through this book, let us not lose sight of the fact that, regardless of our personal preferences, what we are going to find are the procedures ordained by Yehovah for relating to Him. As we can verify from the dawn of humanity, Yehovah instructed human beings to present offerings to Him, as we see recorded in the story of Cain and Abel. Later we see that this practice spread as humanity dispersed and generated civilizations and cultures that practiced the offering of sacrifices to their deities. Today it is not possible to present sacrifices of any kind because the House of Yehovah does not exist, and neither Jews nor Christians can perform them because such a practice results in a violation of the Torah.