Torah
צילום: מיכה דומאן. באדיבות מרכז חב"ד ת"א
Parshat Hashavua: Parshat Pinchas
At first glance, the continual offer seems a strange choice for the Torah's defining message. But it represents Jewish sovereignty, and the dangers of internecine warfare
Try to pick one verse from the Torah that encapsulates your personal, family or national world view. Some of us would pick, "And God made man in His image," as an expression of man's superiority and ability for self-realization.
Others would choose "Love your fellow as yourself." Rabbi Akiva himself pointed to this phrase as the Torah's greatest principle. For others, "This is the history of man" is the key, for that verse symbolizes the overall humanity bound up in being created in the image of God. Some would pick the Shema, which speaks more to a national ethos.
Second opinion
All these choices seem reasonable enough. But there is another opinion, expressed by one sage named Shimon ben Pazi, that a different verse encapsulates the Torah's greatest message: "Sacrifice one sheep in the morning; sacrifice the second sheep in the afternoon" (Numbers 28).
How strange! This verse from our reading describes the continual offering (known in Hebrew as the "tamid").
Of all the sacrifices listed in the Torah, the continual offering is the most standard, not to mention the most boring: Every day the priests are commanded to sacrifice one sheep in the morning, one in the afternoon. Absolutely routine. Forget about modern-day arguments about the practice of animal sacrifice and ask yourself: What is Shimon ben Pazi talking about?
Unique offering
The continual offering is unique in several ways, most notably the way it was obtained. The animals sacrificed in the Temple cost a lot of money. The easiest way to finance the sacrifices (and the upkeep of the Temple) was to collect donations from wealthy people.
This happened often. People of wealth were happy to contribute to the upkeep of the temple. Donations were used to finance almost all temple activities.
But the continual offering was funded publicly, from tax monies collected equally from everyone. No discounts were offered, all were required to come up with the requisite money. The twice-daily sacrifice could be claimed by no rich man as his own. It was the sages' way of opposing the privatization of the holy temple.
Thus, the continual offering became a symbol of something everybody was party to. No one "owned" a larger share of the daily sacrifice than anyone else. This is apparently the reason Shimon ben Pazi felt the verse outlining this sacrifice is the Torah's greatest lesson.
Internecine fighting
This week the Jewish calendar marked the 17th day of the month Tammuz and the start of the three-week semi-mourning period that lasts until Tisha B'av. Although the fast is usually associated with the Roman breach of Jerusalem's walls that eventually led to the destruction of the temple, the mishna (Taanit chapter 4) says the fast day commemorates five tragedies, one of which was the discontinuation of the continual offering. The Talmud gives the background:
When the Hasmonean kings fought one another, Horcanus was outside the city and Aristoblus inside. Each day, those that were inside the city used to lower down money in a basket, and the ones outside would place the animals for the daily offerings in the basket.
An old man who understood Greek wisdom told them in Greek: "As long as they carry on the Temple service they will never be delivered into your hands." The next day they let down the money in the basket and hauled up a pig. When it reached halfway up the wall it stuck its claws into the wall and the land of Israel was shaken over a distance of 400 parsangs by 400 parsangs.
We can't get into the historical details here, but the important details are that two Hasmonean brothers fought with each other and destroyed what little hope was left for Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.
The symbol for that loss is the loss of the continual offering, the daily sacrifice shared by all Jews equally. In its place – a pig, claws stuck in the walls of Jerusalem.
When enemies sense this combative spirit amongst brothers, they dig in their heels and attack. The 17th of Tammuz became a memorial to the potential contained in our independence, and over the individuals who destroyed this chance.
