Parshat Tzav – Shabbat HaGadol
In all 12-month, one-Adar years (a.k.a. Shana P’shuta), the Shabbat before Pesach, a.k.a. Shabbat HaGadol, is Shabbat Parshat Tzav. In a Shana M’uberet (the 13-month, two-Adar years), the honors go to M’tzora or Acharei.
Tzav has an interesting connection to the upcoming holiday of Pesach, which it immediately precedes in 12-month years. “Matzah” and “matzot” occur five times in the sedra, and “chametz” twice. Unrelated to Pesach, the breads and crackers and wafers accompanying the described korbanot must all be matzot and may not be chametz.
Another connection – really more of a riddle – is based on “Chamisha Mi Yodei’a?” – Who Knows Five?, as in the penultimate song of the Haggadah. The Seder night answer is five are the Books of the Torah. For Parshat Tzav, the answer is five are the different types of korbanot that are presented. “Zot Torat (this is the teaching of) Ha-Olah” (the burnt offering); “V’zot Torat Ha-Mincha” (the flour, oil, water, and frankincense offering); “Zot Torat Ha-Chatat” (the sin offering); “V’zot Torat Ha-Asham” (the guilt offering); and “V’zot Torat Zevach Ha-Sh’lamim” (the peace – or complete – offering).
A further takeaway from Parshat Tzav is the requirement that the fire on the Mizbei’ach never be extinguished or allowed to go out. This mitzvah is one of the reasons for a ner tamid in shuls.
Interesting aside: In Summer 1969, I led a group of high-schoolers on a summer program in Israel. We stopped over in Milan, Italy for a day and a half on our way to Israel. We got to see the Italian shul there. One of the highlights was a collection of dozens of ner tamids hanging from the ceiling. The explanation was that many communities from different places in North Africa had fled to Italy, and they each brought with them the ner tamid from their shul.
Tzav, spelled Tzadi–Vav, has a gematria of 96. Many Chumashim indicate the number of p’sukim of each sedra at the end of the sedra. For Tzav, those Chumashim say, “Tzav (the sedra) has Tzav (96) p’sukim. Very nice. Except that if you count the p’sukim in Tzav, you will find that there are 97 p’sukim. Sometimes, a discrepancy of one is dismissed as being close enough. Or it could be saying that Tzav is 96 plus one for the word itself. There’s your 97. It is also possible that pasuk-breaks might have shifted over the centuries. (I don’t care for that explanation.)
Meanwhile, Parshat T’ruma actually has 96 p’sukim, making it more Tzav than Tzav.
Tzav is the 25th sedra of the Torah’s 54 sedras, the 2nd of 10 in Vayikra. It is ranked 38th in length based on number of lines it is written on in a Sefer Torah (169.8; average is about 190 lines per sedra). Counting words and letters, Tzav also sits in the 38th position, which puts it at the top of the bottom third of sedras, size-wise. Its 97 p’sukim (tied with Sho–f’tim) raise it to 36th, at the very bottom of the middle third.
Parshat Tzav has 18 mitzvot: 9 positive commands and 9 prohibitions. Only two other sedras with mitzvot have matching numbers of Asei and Lo Taaseh: Ki Tavo with 3 and 3 and Matot with 1 and 1. This does not include the 17 sedras with no mitzvot, matching zero and zero. Since prohibitions outnumber positive mitzvot by 365 to 248, a sedra having the same number of plus and minus would be expected to be a rare occurrence.
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Shabbat HaGadol, unlike the recent four parshiyot, has no special maftir – only a special haftara. The haftara for HaGadol is from the end of Mal–achi, which is the 12th of the twelve Booklets of Trei Asar, which is the last Book of Nevi’im.
Interestingly, there are three opinions concerning which haftara is read on the Shabbat before Pesach.
One opinion is that the haftara of HaGadol is read except when Erev Pesach is Shabbat. In that case, the regular haftara of the weekly sedra is read.
Another opinion is that the special haftara is read only when Erev Pesach is Shabbat.
A third opinion – the one we follow – is that the special haftara is always read on the Shabbat before Pesach.
Here’s a riddle for Shabbat HaGadol that you can pose to your family or Shabbat guests: It starts with what we finish with, every single day.
The bonus of reading these columns is that you don’t have to guess – I’m giving you the answer. It’s then up to you to use it at your Shabbat table or elsewhere.
The first pasuk of the haftara of Shabbat HaGadol is the pasuk at the very end of the Amidah – “V’a’r’va laShem…”
And here’s one of my favorite GMs (Gematria Matches). The pasuk just mentioned is Mal–achi 3:4. It has a gematria of 2,721. That matches T’hillim 51:17, a pasuk that is very familiar to anyone who davens – “Hashem, s’fatai tiftach…” Thus, we have a “bookend” GM, with the opening and closing p’sukim of every Amidah.
The haftara of HaGadol ends with a repeat of the penultimate pasuk: “Hinei Anochi sholei’ach lachem…” (Mal–achi 3:23) – Lo, I will send you Eliya the prophet before the coming of Hashem, the great and awesome day. It’s the pasuk that gives this Shabbat its name – HaGadol. Repeating the next-to-the-last pasuk is done so that the reading ends on an upbeat note rather than a bit of a downer.
Besides Trei Asar, there are three other Books of Tanach that we reread the penultimate pasuk from for the same reason. Can you name them?
And, once again, you get the answer so you can challenge your Shabbat table guests with another riddle.
The other three books of Tanach are Yeshayahu (specifically, the haftara of Shabbat-Rosh Chodesh), Eicha (read on Leil Tish’a b’Av), and Kohelet (read on the Shabbat of Sukkot – either Shabbat Chol HaMoed, when there is one, or on Shabbat of Yom Tov (in Israel, the first day, and outside of Israel on Sh’mini Atzeret).
It is significant to note that on the Shabbat before we celebrate the very beginning of the Jewish Nation, we read of the Geulah Sh’leima, the Complete Redemption, Eliyahu HaNavi being the harbinger thereof.
A common custom of Shabbat HaGadol is the reading of the Haggadah, from right after the Ma Nishtana, beginning with “Avadim Hayinu,” until the end of Dayeinu, right before “Rabban Gamliel haya omeir…” This allows us to refresh ourselves for the recitations of the upcoming Seder (or S’darim, as the case may be). The Vilna Gaon frowned on this custom, citing the Haggadah’s discussion about when to tell the story of the Exodus. “From Rosh Chodesh?” it asks. “No, it says ‘On that day.’ If so, maybe from early on erev Pesach? No, it says ‘because of this’ – meaning only when you have (Pesach,) matzah, and maror before you.”
However, we can suggest that the GR”A would agree that reviewing the Haggadah on the Shabbat before Pesach – not as a recitation, but rather as a study – would be a good thing to do.
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So let me review a bit of the Haggadah in this Shabbat HaGadol column.
“Dayeinu.” First and foremost, do not translate and understand the word dayeinu as “enough!”
Don’t think of it like this: “Had G-d taken us out of Egypt and not executed judgments against the Egyptians – it would have been enough…”
Rather, “Had [this] and not [that] – there would be enough to thank G-d for.” The sequence of the 15 items and events in the Dayeinu poem/song are all things that Hashem did for us, and for which we are thankful. But each step can and should be seen as something with enough reason to be thankful for, even before the next step.
This is something relatively easy to understand, except, perhaps, for (at least) two of the steps in Dayeinu.
“Had He satisfied our needs in the desert for 40 years, and not fed us the manna – Dayeinu.” How do we understand this in light of the fact that it was the manna that sustained us during our sojourn through the Midbar? An answer we might suggest is that He could have provided for us in a natural way – with plants and fruits growing as they naturally do. And that would have been enough to thank Him. But feeding us with a daily miracle – how much more so.
“Had He brought us to Mount Sinai, and not given us the Torah – Dayeinu.” How does this one work? The purpose of going to Har Sinai was to receive the Torah. So, what would be dayeinu about being at Har Sinai and not receiving the Torah?
Again, it would not have been enough, but the experience at the Mount gives us enough reason to be thankful to G-d even without including Matan Torah. The people experienced an amazing level of unity at Har Sinai – “And he (Israel) camped there opposite the mountain” – like one person with one heart. That experience plus all the awesome miracles that preceded the receiving of the Torah and being told that we would be to G-d a kingdom of Kohanim and a Holy Nation gave us sufficient reason to thank G-d for it all.
A final insight on Dayeinu: Being taken out of Egypt, G-d’s punishing the Egyptians, putting their deities in their proper place, killing the Firstborns, and giving us their riches – all that is part of Sipur Y’tzi’at Mitzrayim, telling the story of the Exodus. And we can add to that list the Splitting of the Sea, providing dry land for our passage, and drowning our enemies as part of the Exodus experience.
But Dayeinu keeps going – taking care of us in the Wilderness, providing us the manna, giving us Shabbat, coming to Har Sinai, getting the Torah, going into Eretz Yisrael, building the Beit HaMikdash – all this seems beyond the scope of what Pesach is meant to celebrate.
The answer to this also answers the text of the Redemption b’racha at the end of the Maggid section of the Haggadah, and the hopeful pronouncement of “L’shana haba bIrushalayim hab’nuya” – Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem. The point of it all is that being taken out of Egypt is only the beginning. We cannot do justice to our story of Peoplehood with only “We were slaves to Par’o in Egypt and G-d took us out…” We are not only dealing with freedom from. Real freedom for us means freedom from and also freedom to. To become G-d’s nation. To accept Him as our G-d. To receive His Torah and to live by it. To enter Eretz Yisrael and to build a complete Torah life there (here). This is the package deal of cheiruteinu, our freedom.
Yes, Pesach focuses on the first part, but our celebration must include reference to the next steps, until the complete redemption, the coming of Mashiach and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash – may we be privileged to see it soon, in our time.
Shabbat Gadol and Shalom. Chag Samei’ach.