Parsha for Kids: Tzav 2023
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Tzav 2023.
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Season 3 Episode 2:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Tzav. Tzav means “Command.”
But who was commanding? And what were they commanding?
It was God speaking to Moshe. God told Moshe to command Aharon regarding the laws of offering up the Korban Olah, or whole burnt offering. The parsha this week will continue explaining the laws of korbanot.
Once again, many of the ideas brought to you in this episode come from The Little Midrash Says.
TRANSITION
There is a risk inherent when someone is appointed to any high position. High rank and status may cause a person to think so well of themselves that they become a bigshot and look down on others. A Kohen, who was a servant of God in the Mishkan, stood out because of his beautiful ceremonial white clothes. God wanted to make sure that the Kohanim would not get a swelled head and think that they were so impressive.
Therefore, God taught Moshe about a mitzvah for the Kohanim. It is a mitzva every morning for a kohen to go up on the Mizbeach, altar, and lift some ashes from the burned korbanot with a shovel. He must put the ashes on the floor next to the mizbeach’s ramp, always in the same spot. This mitzvah is called Terumat HaDeshen. This is the first thing a Kohen does.
What was the purpose of this command? It wasn’t to clean the mizbeach because lifting up one shovelful of ashes wouldn’t be enough. In fact, the mizbeach was cleaned from time to time, and the whole pile was removed to a special place outside Jerusalem.
So, why have the kohanim do this?
The answer is to keep the kohanim humble. The very first thing a kohen had to do each morning was take dirty ashes and put them on the floor. A Kohen might have felt this kind of work was beneath him and that a servant ought to do it instead. But God was making clear to him that this was not the case. A kohen is also God’s servant and it is His job to serve God, including when it comes to the removal of the ashes.
TRANSITION
Before a kohen or kohen gadol could perform the avodah, work in the Mishkan, for the very first time, he needed to bring a mincha offering. (Remember that the Korban Mincha was the flour offering mixed with oil that could either be baked or fried depending on the type). The kohen’s offering was made of flour and oil, sprinkled with incense which is a good smelling spice, and then completely burned on the mizbeach. This Mincha is called the Minchas Chinuch which means the mincha that prepares the kohen for his avoda.
Similarly to the kohen, those of us who attend Jewish schools may have special celebrations, ceremonies or occasions to celebrate the beginning of new work that we will perform. For example, many schools make a ceremony when they give children their first Siddur, which is a prayer book, or Chumash, which is the Torah. After the children receive their Siddur or Chumash, they will then begin to use the special book to learn or pray. The same occurred by the kohen, where only after he offered his Minchas Chinuch was he permitted to begin working in the Mishkan.
TRANSITION
A kohen gadol needed to offer a special mincha offering on his own behalf every day that he serves in the Mishkan or Beit Hamikdash. He would divide the dough of this mincha offering in half, burning half on the mizbeach in the morning and half in the afternoon. This daily mincha offering helped the kohen gadol direct his thoughts to God and focus on his work.
TRANSITION
Last week, we learned about the korban shelamim, or peace offering. A person would bring this when they wanted to celebrate something special, like a good crop or harvest. Nowadays we might want to bring one to celebrate a birthday or anniversary.
In this week’s parsha, we learn about a specific kind of korban shelamim called a korban todah. This was offered if someone wanted to thank God for rescuing him or her from a dangerous situation.
There were four main dangers where a person would bring a korban todah:
If the person was seriously ill and recovered
If the person crossed a desert safely
If the person returned safely from an ocean voyage
If the person was freed from prison
If the person was in any other dangerous situation and God saved him, he must also offer a korban todah.
The way to offer this special thanksgiving offering was to bring an ox, lamb or goat to the courtyard where it would be slaughtered. The kohen burns part of it on the Mizbeach, gives the kohanim their share and gives the rest of the meat to the owner. The owner also needed to bring 40 loaves to the Beit Hamikdash together with his animal. Ten of the loaves would be chametz while the other thirty would be matzot, unleavened bread.
The owner needs to eat all the meat and the forty loaves on the day the korban is offered or during that night. Of course, that’s far too much for one person or one family to consume. So what the owner would do is invite his family and friends to share in his Seudat Hodaah, meal of thanks, to help him eat all the food.
Even nowadays people make a Seudat Hodaah to thank God when they have been saved from a dangerous situation or illness. Of course, we cannot do it exactly as it was done when we had a Beit Hamikdash or Mishkan, and we cannot offer korbanot in the same way, but we can still publicize the miracle and praise God.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks mentions that the Korban Todah, or thanksgiving offering, is memorialized by the prayer that we say when we wake up in the morning. Each morning, when we arise, we say Modeh Ani, where we give thanks that God has restored our soul to us after a good night’s sleep. This reminds us not to take the fact that we woke up for granted, and instead to realize that we have been given another day that we can use in order to connect to God and help other people.
Our Sages say in general, “u’neshalma parim sefateinu,” our lips will be like bulls. By this they mean that in a time like today when we no longer have korbanot, our prayers will take the place of the korbanot. Just like korbanot once connected us to God, the words of our prayers connect us to God. If you look carefully at the siddur, you will see that some of the prayers are even about specific korbanot that were offered at that time of day. If you have a good imagination, maybe you can close your eyes after reading the prayer and picture the korban in your mind and what it must have felt like to bring it to God as a way to connect to Him.
What are some ways that you thank God in your life?
What are some ways that your prayers can resemble korbanot, and connect you to God?
TRANSITION
God gave us an important law in this parsha that applies even nowadays. God taught us that we are forbidden to eat blood.
A Jewish person who eats meat or chicken must make sure it comes from a kosher animal or bird. But that animal or bird also has to be killed in a special way, called shechitah. Then, it may not be eaten until its blood is removed.
The typical way that blood is removed is like so: the meat or chicken is soaked in cold water for half an hour. Then it is carefully salted on all sides. The salt draws out the blood. The meat is left salted for about an hour in a position that lets the blood flow off, like on a slant. The meat is rinsed off and then it can be cooked and eaten. By the time you purchase kosher meat in your local store or supermarket, it has already undergone this process.
God says that the soul and life force is in the blood. By not eating the blood, we differentiate ourselves from animals, who kill their prey and eat it, blood and all.
There are some additional approaches as to why we as Jews are forbidden to eat or drink the blood. One of them is that idol worshippers and people who believed in dark magic used to fill bowls with blood, then eat the bloody meat. They believed that spirits would come to drink the blood and in thanks for having been provided with this sustenance, would come to these idol worshippers in their dreams and tell them the future. God forbids both idol worship and practicing dark magic, and since eating or drinking the blood was one of the customs involved in this kind of worship, it makes sense to forbid it, too.
TRANSITION
The parsha concludes with a special dedication ceremony. God explained that before the Mishkan could be used, it needed to be dedicated for eight days. These were called the yemei hamiluim. Moshe offered special korbanot to dedicate the Mishkan and on each day he prepared the kohanim and taught them how to perform the avodah.
The Jewish nation watched as Moshe prepared the kohanim for their holy work. There were many steps in the process including the kohanim dipping in water, washing their hands and feet, and being dressed in their beautiful ceremonial garments, the bigdei kehunah. Moshe brought the shemen hamishcha, or anointing oil, and smeared some of it on the Mishkan and all its vessels to make them holy. He sprinkled some on the Mizbeach HaNechoshet, the copper altar, seven times. He poured some of the oil on Aharon’s forehead because Aharon was being appointed as the Kohen Gadol.
On seven of the dedication days, Moshe set up the Mishkan and took it apart again, and offered specific korbanot. Each day for seven days Moshe dressed the kohanim, offered korbanot and anointed the kohanim. The kohanim watched Moshe carefully so they would learn exactly how to perform the avodah themselves.
On the eighth day Moshe would continue to offer the daily korbanot but the special korbanot would be offered by Aharon and his sons, the new kohanim, for the first time. On that day God would send down a fire from heaven to burn the korbanot and to show the nation that God’s presence had come to rest in the Mishkan.
Have you ever worked very hard to prepare for something? Maybe you have been a member of Erev Shira, Production or a school play, and so you had many rehearsals, then dress rehearsal and finally the night of the show. Or maybe you practiced a speech that you were going to present in front of the class at home, and then finally the time comes to give the speech in front of your audience. You can imagine the excitement, anticipation and nervousness that Aharon, his sons and the nation as a whole might have been feeling as they waited for the eighth day- which would equate to the real deal, the day of the true performance- to arrive.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
God wanted to make sure that the Kohanim remained humble, which is why they started their day with a task to remove a shovelful of ashes from the Mizbeach while wearing their special clothes.
There are special ways to prepare yourself for achieving a new milestone. This could be anything from the Kohen bringing his Minchas Chinuch to the seven days of preparation before the eighth day when we would begin using the Mishkan for real. Even nowadays we have special ceremonies in the form of Siddur plays or receiving Chumashim.
There was a special shelamim that was a korban todah a person would bring when they were rescued from a dangerous situation. Even nowadays, many continue to have a Seudat Hodaah, meal of thanks, when we’ve been saved from something dangerous.
It is forbidden for Jews to eat the blood of birds and animals, which is why we must use a special washing and salting process to get it all out.
We end this parsha with a feeling of excitement! After seven days of preparation, we wait for the eighth day, which will be the first time bnei yisrael will see the kohanim performing the avodah for real.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!