Daf Hashavua Whole World
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
בס״ד צַ ו TZAV In loving memory of Avraham ben Yehoshua z"l Volume 34 | #23 Shabbat Shalom and 28 March 2021 14 Nisan 5781 Chag Sameach! Erev Pesach Shabbat HaGadol Latest time for eating chametz: 27 Mar, 10.00am GMT Shabbat ends and Pesach 1st day begins: 27 Mar, 7.13pm GMT Pesach 2nd day begins: 28 Mar, 8.14pm BST Yom Tov ends: 29 Mar, 8.16pm BST Please note: These times are for London only. INSIDE: What is the Happiest Month? by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Please look regularly at the social media and websites of the US, The Tale of Our Tribe and your community for Tzav Yesterdays ongoing updates relating to Artscroll p568 Coronavirus as well as educational by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l programming and community Hertz p429 support. Soncino p631 You do not need to sign Fish at the Seder into Facebook to access the Haftarah (HaGadol) by Rachel Fink US Facebook page. The US Artscroll p1220 Coronavirus Helpline is on Hertz p1005 020 8343 5696. The Living Mishkan May God bless us and the Soncino p1197 by Rabbi Jack Cohen Daf Hashavua whole world. Sidra breakdown What is the צַ ו Tzav 2nd Sidra in: Happiest ַו ִ ּי קְ רָ א Vayikra Month? by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis By Numbers: 97 verses Most people will tell month of Adar! 1,353 words you that the answer is It is clear that, for Rashi, we simple. It’s Adar. After should strive to perpetuate the 5,096 letters all, the Talmud (Ta’anit simcha which accompanies 29a) tells us, “Mi shenichnas Adar fulfilment and achievement. By marbim besimcha” – with the nurturing and building on the joy Headlines: commencement of the month of we have now, we can be inspired Adar, our joy increases. The reason to carry it through to the days Laws of is clear: our happiest festival, Purim, and months that follow. The offerings falls in this month. Talmud teaches that intense joy Rashi gives a fascinating is not reserved exclusively for commentary on this teaching. one month alone. Rather, with the He explains, “Our joy in Adar is commencement of Adar, a process increased because there were days begins. Our Purim joy gathers of great miracles for the Jewish momentum and paves the way for people, Purim and Pesach.” an even happier Pesach and that is Mentioning Purim makes a lot of why Rashi mentions both festivals. sense, but why does Rashi include The reason why we omit Pesach? It has no connection to the Tachanun throughout the month of United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning Sidra Summary together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Vayikra 6:1-11 Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis The Torah adds new details about the offerings that were discussed in last week’s Editorial and Production Team: sidrah. The olah (elevation) offering could be left burning on the mizbeach (altar) Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, throughout the night. In the morning, a Kohen would remove the ash. Wood Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, needed to be added on the mizbeach every day as fuel for the three fires that were Joanna Rose constantly burning (Rashi). The mincha (meal offering) was baked unleavened; www.theus.org.uk those parts eaten by the Kohanim had to be consumed in the courtyard of the ©United Synagogue 2020 Mishkan (Tabernacle). To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 6:12-7:10 or [email protected] A fine flour offering from a tenth of an ephah volume of flour was to be offered If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email by every Kohen on his first day of service, half in the morning and half in the [email protected] afternoon. The Kohen Gadol had to bring this offering every day. Like the olah, the Nissan is now clear. In this prayer two new festivals, Yom Ha’atzmaut unexpected adversity and of confession and supplication, we and Yom Yerushalayim, have been have nevertheless excelled in focus on our shortcomings and ask added to our calendar, both in Iyar. extraordinary, selfless acts of God to forgive us. Thanks to the Today it is therefore possible that chesed. Many people have told joyous nature of Nissan, which is the simcha of Adar can be built me that, despite the pain of being full of festive days, Tachanun is upon and intensified even further physically separated, they have omitted. The joy of the month of through the calendar. never felt so close to others, whose Nissan supersedes that of Adar! This teaches us the importance of altruism and compassion have Nissan, in turn, is followed by ensuring that we maximise the long- given them enormous strength and Iyar. Due to the Omer, it has, for term impact of the most intense and encouragement. close to two milllenia, been one of impactful experiences of our lives. Now that we, Baruch Hashem, the saddest periods of the year. We For more than a year, individuals can look forward to an easing of are privileged that, in living memory, and communities have faced regulations and a gradual return to a regular rhythm of life, let us guarantee that we will build upon our community’s remarkable reaction to the challenges of the last year and enable the breadth of our chesed activities to reach even greater heights. May the exhilaration of finally being released from the vicissitudes of Covid-19 only lead us to yet more simcha together in the future. Many people have told me that, despite the pain of being physically separated, they have never felt so close to others, whose altruism and compassion have given them enormous strength and encouragement. In loving memory of Harav Binyamin ben Harav Shalom z"l chatat (sin) offering was slaughtered in a designated part offering were eaten by the Kohanim. of the Mishkan. The procedure for an asham (guilt) offering is detailed. 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 8:1-13 The Torah now details the seven-day inauguration process 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 7:11-38 of Aharon and his sons, starting on 23 Adar, a week One who survived a dangerous situation could bring before the setting up of the Mishkan (on 1 Nissan), which a todah (thanksgiving) offering, which was a category was detailed previously in parashat Pekudei (see Rashi’s of shelamim (peace) offering. It was accompanied by commentary). Moshe washed and dressed Aharon in baked loaves; those parts of its meat designated for the special garments of the Kohen Gadol and anointed consumption had to be eaten within a specific time. his head with oil. He then dressed Aharon’s sons in their One was forbidden to eat an offering in a state of ritual designated priestly garments. impurity. An offering which became impure was to be burned, not eaten. The blood of all animals and certain Point to Consider: Why did Moshe have to tell the fats (chelev) of specific animals was strictly forbidden to congregation that “this is the matter that God commanded eat. The right thigh and the chest of a shelamim (peace) me to do”? (see Rashi to 8:5). In memory of Rabbi Lord Sacks zt”l, this is the second of three Pesach messages from previous years we are reproducing, to recall his teachings about this festival. BBC 'Thought for the Day', 3 April 1996. Later published in 'From Optimism to Hope' (2004), p.25. The Tale of Our Yesterdays by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l This evening, my wife I suppose the question is why. Do I suppose the question and I will be sitting down we really need to recall a past so is why. Do we really with our children and ancient, and take so much trouble to telling each other one teach it to our children? need to recall a past of the oldest stories in the world: the Speaking personally, I owe my so ancient, and take so story of Passover, Pesach, the Jewish parents a huge debt of thanks for festival of freedom. It isn’t exactly teaching me the story, the songs, much trouble to teach Thought for the Day material. No the rituals and the questions: Mah it to our children? mad cows, no battling politicians. nishtanah halaylah hazeh, why is this Topical, it isn’t. night different from all other nights? the journey we and those who came It’s about how a group of slaves, It took me a long time to realise before us have taken, and what we the ancient Israelites, left Egypt to what was happening on those Passover learned on the way. begin the long march across the evenings. I was being helped to learn In fact, sometimes we have too desert towards the promised land. who I was and the history of the people little confidence as parents. We And to make it more than just a story of whom I was a part. I was discovering underestimate how much our children we add a touch of drama, a bit of the values of the people of whom I was want to hear from us the stories that virtual reality. We eat matzah, the a part. I was discovering the values give sense and purpose to our lives, unleavened bread, as if we were there that sustained my ancestors in tough and will one day give them strength. in the desert. We eat maror, bitter times: trust, a passion for freedom and Jews never lost the habit of telling the herbs, as if the taste of slavery were justice, a willingness to ask and learn.