Parshat Tzav - The Bush That Burns Yet Is Not Consumed

 In Tzav’s six opening verses, the Torah sets down the laws about the elevation offering brought by the cohanim each morning on the Tabernacle and Temple altars. Over a span of only six verses, the

word fire occurs four times and the admonition not to let the fire on the altar be extinguished is repeated twice. Kabbalah and Chassidut teach that the Temple service is, among other things, a paradigm for each person’s quest to come nearer to God and find one’s purpose and the rectification one need’s to undergo in this world. Therefore it behooves us to look deeper into the symbol of the fire on the altar to glean constructive teachings for life.

In general the perpetual fire on the altar represents the obligation to continuously serve God and be constantly aware of His Presence and existence. Whether at work or at play, during the week or on Shabbat and holidays, whether feeling elevated or dejected, the service of God as defined by the Torah never ceases. Every situation in life affords the opportunity to experience God, perform mitzvot, and bring light, healing, and rectification to ourselves and the world.

 

On a deeper level fire represents the soul’s longing to flame upwards and express its passionate desire to be unified with God. Fire symbolizes an exuberant love of life and the yearning to serve God. When Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was in the midst of teaching a class, leading a prayer service, or performing at a concert and he felt that the congregation or audience lacked enthusiasm, he would stop and plead with everyone by yelling out: “More fire!! More fire!!”  This usually did the trick by “upping the voltage” and breaking the spell of complacency.

The idea of fire is also intimately connected to joy (simchah), which in Hebrew begins with the letter shin, the letter symbolizing fire. The Hebrew word for fire (aish) is comprised of the letters alef and shin. In the book of Deuteronomy (28:47), the Torah warns the Jewish people that future exiles would occur because “you did not serve Your God with joy.” The Arizal explained this verse quite literally, on both national and individual terms. This was precisely the point the Ba’al Shem Tov stressed repeatedly when he advocated the importance of inspiration in prayer, learning, the performance of mitzvot, and living one’s life in general.

A man once came to his rebbe and told him how sad and depressed he was because a whole series of things were wrong with his life. The rebbe, who knew him well, explained to him that the opposite was true: because he was always so sad and depressed, everything was going wrong!

Not only is joy necessary to channel the fire of the soul to “serve God with gladness” (Psalms 100:2), fire is also associated with holiness. The Hebrew word for holy (kadosh) is a combination of two words yikod aish, which means “ignited fire.”

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies with a pan of burning coals on which he would burn incense. The Holy of Holies represents the human soul’s innermost spark of holiness, where the soul is afire with love for God.

God first appeared to Moses in a burning bush that was not consumed by the flames. This powerful image embodies the secret of how to enthusiastically serve God and energetically pursue one’s purpose in life without “burning out,” as happens to so many people. Learning how to renew one’s zeal for life on a daily basis is one of Chassidut’s fundamental lessons. Without this renewal most people, at best, slide into a comfort zone of complacency and, at worst, stagnate.

When Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad movement, first came to his teacher, the Maggid of Mezrich, he was new to the Chassidic way of life and its teachings. The Maggid, who saw enormous potential in his young student, once called him into his private study and intently repeated the following verse from our portion ten times: “A perpetual fire shall remain aflame on the altar; it shall not be extinguished” (Leviticus 6:5). He explained that the words “lo yichbeh” (it shall not be extinguished) could also be read as “the no [symbol of all negativity] shall be extinguished.” He continued to explain that Chassidut and its deep teachings fan the soul’s natural tendency to ignite with a passionate love for God. As this fire burns, it “extinguishes” all the negative influences trying to derail the drive for holiness and the burning desire to be nearer to God.

As people attempt to build their inner altars where the fires of holiness and joy burn continually, they should remember the teachings of this portion and be inspired to fan the innermost sparks of their souls until they become flaming bushes that burn yet are not consumed.

Rabbi Trugman Parsha Shiur - Class 8 - Vayeishev

Rabbi Trugman Parsha Shiur - Class 7 - Vayishlach

Rabbi Trugman Parsha Shiur - Class 6 - Vayeitzei

W'ere back on track. Enjoy!

Rabbi Trugman Parsha Shiur - Class 4 - Chayei Sarah

Masei - The Dynamics of the Journey

Masei, the last portion in the book of Numbers, marks the end of Israel’s forty year sojourn in the desert. The entire book of Deuteronomy takes place during a brief thirty-seven day period. Therefore, in Masei, the Torah summarizes the forty-two journeys that occurred during Israel’s wanderings in the desert, from the time the nation left Egypt to the current encampment in the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

    These journeys are introduced by a verse that creates a mirror image: “And Moses wrote their going forth according to their journeys at the command of God, and these were their journeys according to their going forth” (Numbers 33:2). The words “going forth” and “journeys” found in the first half of the verse occur in the opposite order in the second half of the verse. The ArtScroll Chumash quotes Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch on the significance of this inversion. The first half of the verse – “Their going forth according to their journeys” – is written from God’s perspective, as each time they went forth their journey had a specific purpose, while the second half of the verse is written from the people’s perspective. Since the people were often restless or dissatisfied, the journey itself is emphasized and not its purpose. As the verse makes clear, the journeys were more about leaving than about going anywhere – “their journeys according to their going forth.” 

    This point although subtle is so true. Oftentimes we have the forethought to map out our next moves in life in keeping with our long-term plans, with regard to a broader vision of where we are going in life. Sometimes though we really do not know what should come next but our intuition, at best, or our fears, at worst, compel us to make a move without fully knowing what the ramifications of such a move might be. The Sages actually suggest that in certain circumstances a change of physical location actually provides us with such a new perspective on our lives that it can either motivate us to change our fate, or, alternatively, that it can cause our fate to be changed on a metaphysical level (Rosh Hashanah 16). Although following a well thought out plan should be the ideal way to pursue what we believe is the Divinely inspired purpose of our lives, in retrospect, even acting intuitively or out of fear can also turn out to be, as the verse states, “at the command of God.” 

   One senses a dynamic pulsating energy in the summary of the journeys which is dramatically captured by the unique way the words are chanted during the public Torah reading. The only other time this unique melody is used is when the Song of the Sea is read in public. There too the energy is palpable as the Jews have just escaped from Egypt and seen their pursuers drowned in the Reed Sea. According to Chassidut, which teaches that the Torah provides each and every person in every generation with practical instruction, these forty-two journeys are an archetypal paradigm for every individual’s life journey. Each person, though, experiences these journeys in a fashion uniquely adapted to his or her soul and his or her lifework and purpose.

Shabbat Shalom!