Parasha: Pinchas · Aliyah: Fifth (Hod)

צו את בני ישראל, "command the children of Israel, etc." Why did the Torah choose to record this paragraph of offerings in this of all places, i.e. after the appointment of Joshua instead of in Parshat Emor where all the other sacrifices offered on the festivals are recorded? After all, it is quite clear that the offerings listed here had been part of the regular schedule of sacrifices ever since the Tabernacle had been inaugurated over 38 years earlier whereas Joshua had been appointed only in the 40th year?

Perhaps the reason is that he Torah wanted to inform us that in the event that Joshua would want to offer daily burnt-offerings or the additional offerings on the festivals on his own, i.e. from his own funds, he would not be allowed to do so although he personally represented the community as the Talmud demonstrates in several instances. The Torah therefore recorded this legislation here to make certain that these offerings will be perceived as communal offerings paid for by the contributions of the whole community to the fund set up for this. This is the meaning of "command the children of Israel!" The Torah repeats this command by writing ואמרת אליהם, "and say to them," to point out that unless this detail is complied with the sacrifice is invalid. The Torah wrote אליהם instead of the customary להם in accordance with what I have explained on וירא אליו (Genesis 18,1) that when the word אליו or אלהם is used it suggests that the people so addressed should subordinate their own ego. [I suppose the exegetical aspect is that the letters אל also mean "don't." Ed.] I have seen a comment in the Yalkut Shimoni on our verse that the Israelites had assumed that the daily communal sacrifices were part of their wanderings in the desert and that as soon as they would be settled in the Holy Land this practice would be discontinued. G'd therefore recorded this legislation here to show that these sacrifices would be continued also after the conquest of the land of Canaan under Joshua.

את קרבני לחמי לאשי, "My food which is presented to Me as a burnt offering, etc." The convoluted language is due to the daily communal offerings consisting of three parts. 1) The offering of the sheep as the sacrifice. 2) The tenth of an epha of flour which accompanied it as a gift-offering. 3) The drink-offerings consisting of a quarter Hin of newly pressed wine. With respect to the animal, the Torah speaks of קרבני, "My sacrifice;" with respect to the meal-offering (gift) the Torah speaks of לחמי, "My bread." Finally, with respect to the drink-offerings, the Torah speaks of ריח ניחחי, "sweet savour unto Me." The reason is that the drink-offering is poured onto the foundation of the altar descending into the hole called שיתין, and only its smell is noticeable on the altar. In each of these instances G'd uses the suffix "MY" to indicate that all of them are His and remain within His domain as proclaimed by David in Psalms 24,1: "The earth and all that is thereon belongs to G'd." The reason that G'd appended this possessive suffix even to the word אשי, "My fire," is that even the fire belongs to G'd. Israel should remember that whatever they offer to G'd as a sacrifice is really G'd's in the first place.

This was the reason which made G'd write the word תשמרו, "observe, i.e. take care to perform this commandment;" failure to offer these sacrifices means that when we use any part of the universe for our own purposes we are actually stealing G'd's property; we are violating a negative commandment. G'd adds the words להקריב לי, "to present for Me as an offering." This means that even when doing this we are only offering to G'd's presence a small part of His possessions by presenting them to Him. The vast majority of His possessions remain His, however.

The Torah also alludes to a mystical dimension of sacrifice per se. Its purpose is to bring closer to G'd's Essence things which are "branches" of sanctity extant in the universe and as such are part of G'd Himself. This is the meaning of the word קרבני with the suffix י, i.e. "the sacrifice is something which brings sanctity close to Me." The means by which this occurs is that My bread is offered to Me as fire. When it rises in the form of smoke it turns into a sweet odour for Me.

-4. ואמרת להם זה האשה, "You shall say to them 'this is the fire-offering,' etc." G'd repeats once more: ואמרת. Why? The words זה האשה also do not seem called for. It appears the Torah wanted to make sure we would not think that the single sheep to be offered was a minimum only and that if the priests decided to, they could offer any number of sheep. The Torah therefore wrote "tell them only this is the fire-offering," i.e. only one sheep, neither more nor less. The same applied to the sheep to be offered in the evening. We must understand verse 3 as telling us that this sacrifice had to be offered on a daily basis. Verse 4 tells us that only the quantity specified by the Torah here and none other was acceptable for this type of sacrifice.

וביום השבת שני כבשים, "And on the Sabbath day, two sheep, etc." The reason that the additional communal offering on the Sabbath was smaller than any of the parallel offerings on the festivals and even the intermediate days of the festivals is the mystical dimension of לחם משנה, the two loaves we eat on the Sabbath at each meal. The two additional sheep offered on the Sabbath symbolise the idea which has been eternalised in the custom of the two loaves, themselves a reminder of how G'd provided a double portion of manna to the Israelites in the desert each Friday. The mystical element of the number seven is alluded to by the fact that only this day is also called "the seventh day." Even though some festivals have a seventh day, the significance of the seventh day of a festival does not have anything in common with the mystical dimension of the seventh day which occurs regularly every week.

ובראשי חדשיכם, and on your new moons, etc. The suffix "your" is used to remind us that it is up to a collegium of terrestrial judges to determine the date the new moon should be celebrated.