spirit d
jews

in
the

section
name
torah
portion

Many Meaningful Mitzvot

A

n essential part of parshat
Tzav are the seven days that
initiated the sanctuary. For
seven days, Aaron the high priest
and his sons practiced the proce-
dures of the sanctuary.
The verse informs us that Aaron
and his sons did all they were com-
manded. Of course,, they did all they
were commanded; kohanim
that he has changed his
are meticulous to mitzvot.
mind and asked if he had
Why is this verse needed?
a recommendation on
The purpose of the seven
where to eat in Beijing over
days of initiation was to
Shabbat.
get Aaron and his sons
The travel agent recom-
accustomed to working in
mended a place to get a
the sanctuary. There are
nice kosher meal (probably
many procedures with many
Rabbi Hershel
Chabad) and booked him
details required. The verse
on the originally proposed
tells us that at the very onset, Finman
itinerary, flying from Kuala
Aaron and his sons per-
Lumpur to Beijing on Friday
formed the sanctuary servic-
early morning instead of
es perfectly. Every rehearsal
Saturday. After Shabbos,
was like a full performance.
when Malaysia Air Flight 370 took
They did not add or miss any detail.
off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:43 a.m.
The Jews at Sinai were declared
(and has yet to be located) the travel
to be a nation of kohanim. Every
person is responsible for the sanctu- agent received an email from Andy.
“This is a true miracle for the books,”
ary. It is only natural that each Jew
he wrote. “You are a true lifesaver.”
adheres to even the minutest detail
“Not I am the lifesaver,” responded
in our service to HaShem.
the travel agent. “God and Shabbos
Anecdotal example: Having
were your lifesavers. You owe them
Shabbos in mind while booking a
something.” •
flight saved a passenger’s life.
Andy was set to travel from
Rabbi Herschel Finman is co-director (with his
Sydney, Australia, on March 1,
wife Chana) of Jewish Ferndale and host of
to Hong Kong and then to Kuala
“The Jewish Hour” radio show on WLQV
Lumpur. From Kuala Lumpur, he
1500 AM on Sundays 11-noon;
was to fly to Beijing, and he request- www.rabbifinman.com.
ed to be on a flight on Saturday,
March 8.
CONVERSATIONS
The travel agent, an Orthodox Jew,
The Talmud relates that a truly “free”
proposed a slightly altered itinerary,
person is one who accepts the “yoke”
changing the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing
of mitzvot. How does adherence
flight from Saturday to Friday. When
to mitzvot release a person of the
the customer requested to change to
“yoke” of worldly affairs? How are
Saturday, the travel agent responded
miracles manifest today? Is it pos-
that he would not be able to book
sible to make those commandments
travel for him over the Sabbath, but
that appear to be irrelevant (such as
that he was free to book that flight
those commandments of performing
by himself, saying, “You know I don’t
in the sanctuary) relevant? (Maybe
like flying Jews on Shabbos.” After
ask a rabbi for help on this one).
deciding to book the flight himself,
Andy later emailed the travel agent

Parshat Tzav:
Leviticus 6:1-8:36.
(Shabbat HaGadol)
Malachi 3:4-24.

where there’s a will,

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April 6 • 2017

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