Tzav: regulations 

It is not surprising that a parsha named tzav, "command". should be about regulations Most of the parsha deals with rules regarding various offerings  on the alter.  The rules restrict the nature of the service, the place of the service and the provider of the service.  It also includes rules about  the compensation (payment) for the provider.  This payment  includes the hides, pieces of meat,and baked goods. 

The Cohen is set up as Gd's representative.  Such a representative is needed because economic interactions with Gd are hard to understand.  The Provider of Everything does not need our gift, but the surrogate can use it, eat it, wear it.  The loss implicit in sacrifice needs to happen for the expiation to take hold (Mishna Babba Kamma 9:12). 

This is an example of the economic consequences of licensure.  There is profit to those who are permitted to perform a service to the exclusion of the unlicensed  The economic consequence of regulation often dominates over the quality control that is invoked to justify the regulation. 

May we all be spared the heartbreak of Pigul. 

Vayikra: expiation

I do not understand the sacrificial rite.  I am usually drawn to the approach that it has something to do with expiation.  Certainly some of the sacrifices: Chatath, Asham are directly involved in the process of emergence  from the tainted state;  and the phrase וְנִסְלַח לוֹ , translated by JPS as "and he shall be forgiven," is often repeated in relation to many of the rituals.  But where does the expiation come form? 

Does it come form the drama of the act, witnessing death?   This does not seem likely.  In the days of the temple, I think that people were very familiar with the slaughter of animals for food.  They were not removed, as we are, form the killing process, by an industrial curtain. For them, the slaughter probably had little in the way of drama. 

But this slaughter often  did not provide food for the owner of the animal.  There was a component  of  another purpose in the killing of this animal.  Part of it went up in smoke, part was given to the Cohen.  This touches on the idea that sin has an element of misappropriation.  The sin may have been an ordinary act, but the intended benefit was misdirected ( often selfish). 

The monetary loss is very likely a part of the expiation.  Some rituals ( Asham)  require a minimum expenditure.  This is a cancellation of the dream of ill gotten gains. 

There is also an appeal to the national stories.  The Chatath of the High priest and that of the nation as a whole is a bull, a grown ( golden) calf. The carcass does not ascend the altar, it is burned outside the camp, like the dust of the golden calf -  the great sin  of conspiracy between the high priest and the people as a whole. 

The Chatath of the prince is a goat, like the goat whose blood was substituted for Joseph when his brothers turned against him, when democracy showed its ugliest side. This ritual reminds the leader to respect the minority. 

But the sacrificial rite remains a mystery ( as it should) and thus preserving it is part of my expiation

Vayakhel -Pikudei:Fidelity

Most of this week's double parsha repeats the list of holy objects involved in the Mishkan: The ark and its cover (of expiation) and its staves, the table with the show-matzoh,  the candelabra, the spice alter...., the curtains, partitions..., the priestly clothing, stc.  Repeatedly, the parsha says that these things were made as instructed, the objects were made in the proper dimensions.  The precious metals, gems, woods, hides were all accounted for. 

The mishkan was THE community PROJECT.  So many people worked on it.  The  chance for error was so great, yet the products were level, plumb and true. It all fit together. The product reflected the care and the talent of the workers.  They all had a share in the outcome.

Then there is the accounting. No fraud detected, every shekel accounted for.  The  accounting implies  the possibility of fraud.  Note that in the temple, funds for the maintenance were not always appropriated in a way that all agreed upon ( So King Jehoash summoned the priest Jehoiada and the other priests and said to them, "Why have you not kept the House in repair? Now do not accept money from your benefactors any more, but have it donated for the repair of the House.)[II Kings 12:8]

Fire brackets the parsha.  The prohibition of igniting a fire on Shabbath is announced immediately after the people are assembled to construct the mishkan.  The pillar of fire hovered over the mishkan after it was assembled, reassuring the people of Gd's presence.

Fire, in the pre-match era, was a hard thing to come by.  Starting a fire took time, effort and luck. A person could appreciate that there was a magical, hidden power in the flammable .  It was much easier for the community to maintain a source of fire and the shared source of fire helped build the community. Fire was needed to melt and form the metal that went into the mishkan. Strange fire was toxic.

Fire is a source of change, needed for the final product.  May the product serve the community and help the community serve.