Tzav Shabbath Hagadol

I read the parsha each week for perspective. I recognize that this moment comes in the context of the past. The parsha comes from a barely accessible, ancient point of view. The parsha has been preserved over millennia and continues to influence the world view of millions of people, myself included.  When the parsha deals with instructions to the priests on the details of the sacrificial rite  and the initiation ritual for the high priest, I wonder why this section is preserved . What does it mean for me, living in an era when there is no temple, when animal sacrifice is disdained, when the entire temple ritual is foreign. Am I wasting my time reading and thinking about these things?

The haftarah from Malachi deals with this issue. Malachi, the last of the prophets, offers a bridge between the people of the Exodus from Egypt and the remnant of Jews who emerged from Persia and built a replacement Temple in Jerusalem. The Haftarah starts (translation: Revised JPS, 2023 in Sefaria) :

Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to GD as in the days of yore and in the years of old.

This verse is quoted as the last line of the last meditation that follows the Amidah, the core prayer for all services. It links the prayer service to the temple service (which it replaces) 

 

The next verse in the haftarah is more modern: 

 

But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said GOD of Hosts.

 

This verse invokes a GD that is independent of the Temple service. It is the Gd that protects the laborer, the widow, the orphan, the stranger. It is the Gd that fits with ambient culture; the Gd that Gentiles can understand and (claim to) accept. 

 

The mission of reconciliation between the old ways and the successive generations is stated in the last verse of the haftarah ( the last verse in the books of the prophets). 

 

וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב בָּנִ֖ים עַל־אֲבוֹתָ֑ם פֶּן־אָב֕וֹא וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ חֵֽרֶם׃ 

He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.

 

I am moved by the mutuality of the verse. First, the parents will return their hearts to the children; after that the hearts of the children (will return) to their parents.  The prophet is demanding that parents understand the children's perception that the world has fundamentally changed.  Questioning the old ways and the old rules is a valid enterprise.  The claims of youth cannot be dismissed as purely immature prattle; they deserve consideration.  

 

Once the youthful claims are stated, the parents can see how they devolve from the past and, from the parent's perspective, may lead to destruction. By definition, revolution will tear down the old ways that some hold precious. The generation that sees its own passing must ask what is worth keeping, what can actually be preserved. 

 

Malachi, the prophet, is a defender of the old. Malachi has the humility to recognize the  danger of change. No one understands the world well enough to identify rituals that are superfluous. We do not know what supports the world. It is a game of Jenga. 

 

Tzav, the title word of this week's parsha means "command." It is an order and requires no reason or justification. The ritual must be performed. The nation and the world depend upon it. Its meaning may be revealed later, much later.  That revelation is implied in the penultimate verse of Malachi, which we repeat to end the haftarah. 

Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of GD.

 

This brings to mind the end of the Shabbath zemer (song) Mah Yediduth: 

 

מֵחֶבְלֵי מָשִֽׁיחַ. יֻצָּֽלוּ לִרְוָחָה.

 

They (the celebrants of Shabbath) will be rescued  from the pangs of the (coming of the) Messiah. 

 

In times like these, when missiles streak across the sky and bombs destroy homes and lives, I wonder if we are experiencing these pangs of the Messiah. The tradition tells me it will be worth it. The youth that is left in me, as a modern person, questions it. Time will unify my two hearts.