Tzav: following orders

The parsha is called  "command". It consists of orders concerning the initiation of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood.  The protocols for several offerings are reviewed as part of the initiation instructions.  The national  prohibitions on eating blood and mesenteric fat are introduced and then the Cohanic initiation ceremony is described, with a return to the mandatory voice.

When is it appropriate to command?  In the parsha, the word tzav ( command) is used to instruct Moshe in speaking to the Cohanim.  When speaking to the people, the consequences of violation are stated, no word of command.  Perhaps orders are appropriate when speaking to the committed, those who have already deeply  accepted the hierarchy and have a role within it.  Now, just following orders  has a slightly different meaning.  One in a position to receive certain orders is identified as a functionary in the system.  The orders are a way to efficiently accomplish an acknowledged goal.  Everybody has a job: some give orders to give orders, others give orders to people who carry them out.  The acceptance of the position makes for complicity.

When speaking to the populace, pronouncing laws that are not intuitive to most people, explaining the legal consequences is often the best one can do. The result is similar to the tzav, ordering, but the relationship to the system is different, it is acceptance, it is passive.  The law is a warning and the goal of the project is not clear.  The law is followed as a buy-in to the system as a whole,

The parsha is dealing with the initiation: the Cohanim to the Priesthood, the people to the dietary restrictions.  Bu how do we, born into the  large set of ancient rules, interpreted and evolved over millenia, relate to them?  We call them Mitzvoth, a word rooted in tzav.  Do we imagine ourselves volunteer soldiers? or are we following the membership bylaws?