Parashas Tzav
Follow the Priest
Rabbi David Katz
A
strange occurrence takes place in our Parsha involving seemingly out of place
episodes based on the linear properties of time. Simply put, sometimes the
Torah does not obviously follow a steady flow of linear time, and has its own
agenda as to when, why, where, who, etc. Of course the Torah does have many
points of view, and the position that claims an out of order Torah is the view
of the Bible Commentator Rashi; while it should be known [that in this instance
at least] that the Ramban argues, and explains logically why a linear theme
makes sense even within the scope of time. An example of such behavior and a
topic that I nearly based the article on is Jethro; for the same
linear-time-issues belong to Jethro and his relationship to Sinai. Did he
become a Ger before or after Sinai? The difference being that if it was before
Sinai, then his Ger-ness is that of Toshav, and an amazing discovery commences
that a Noahide could bring the exceptional sacrifice known as a Shlamim! Of
course if he converted to Judaism/or became a Ger after Sinai, the Noahide
would be limited to bringing an Olah. However for the duration of the article,
we will investigate the same time warp issue concerning the anointing of the
Priests. Logic says they were anointed in the end of Pekudei, while it is only
in our Parsha where the actual ceremony takes place. Rashi says it belonged in
Pekudei yet is listed here, while the Ramban says it is in our Parsha, for the
Priests needed to learn about the offerings as a part of their inauguration.
The
Priests are thus anointed in the Parsha, picking up from where we left off with
the three elements of the Mishkan, which as was stated is very much [more than]
symbolic of the Four Craftsmen of Redemption, Ben David, Ben Yosef, Elijah, and
the Righteous Priest, for Targum Yonaton quotes that the three aspects of the
Mishkan represent a) the anointer b) King Messiah c) High Priest d) and the son
of Efraim – who comes with Sanhedrin; thus you have the promised return of a
full Torah government. And here we are with the Priests – Aaron and FOUR sons receiving
their oil and eternal covenant with God as Priests to work the Mishkan along
with the first and second Temples. This is to the obvious exclusion of the
Third Temple, which any student of Ezekiel's Prophecy will quickly realize that
the Third Temple is existentially different than anything that has ever existed
before. There has always been controversy serving Ezekiel's Book, and it was
even considered being removed from Tanach proper at one time…remember that
Ezekiel was killed over mysterious matters. Perhaps the underlying theme that
connects all dots in Torah, is the secrets of the End, the secrets of the
Priests, which Ezekiel is not only lacking in this department, he is its
author!
If
anyone has ever visited the Winchester Museum in California, you would be aware
of its odd eccentricities. For example, in the museum there is a cabinet, and
upon opening it, you will soon realize that you have just founded a completely
separate wing of the mansion, such that without finding the innocuous cabinet, this
wing would remain utterly dormant. Torah can become the same way, and it is for
this reason most that the Ger is so precious to Hashem. He holds the keys to
the doors hidden vaults. The Jew is trained to look for golden arches in Torah;
let's hear about Abraham the first Jew! And Moses' Torah revelations! And how
Elijah saved Israel! Etc. etc. What many don't realize is that these stories
are a minute part of the Torah, and it is the Ger that brings to life the
entire Torah. A Ger could ask what was
the peripheral of Abraham like [which by the way he was NOT the first Jew, he was
the first Ger Tzedek, and only Ger Torah would illuminate this fact], or was
there Torah before Moses went up to Sinai? The answers are always shocking, but
the good news is that these aren't new answers, God forbid; these are answers
that have sat collecting dust for centuries because there was nobody around to
ask the hard questions. As much as the Jews have sought their golden arches, it
is in our days now, that the keys have come back to the Torah.
One
of the biggest keys is the nature of the Priesthood. What is a Priest? Where
does it come from? Was Malki Tzedek a
real Priest [as every religion has taken from Malki Tzedek, his priesthood, and
the priesthood in general to make it into an idolatry and an enigma in the
Torah, to which the Jews simply keep it ignorantly basic as an inappropriate
response. We are to know the truth about such imperative topics in our Holy existence,
especially if we are to exist together in a Third Temple, of which there will
most obviously be Priests. We will be expected to know what a Priest is!]
Our
Parsha possesses one of these keys, or hidden arenas of Torah, such that its
contents reveal quite possibly an entire perspective of the Final Redemption
and the nature of the Third Temple. As was mentioned above, Aaron and sons were
anointed along with the Mishkan, and included in their ceremony was the
outfitting them in their holy vestments. They were now fully clad as Priests,
anointed, and ready to serve in a formal setting of holiness.
The
Priests are appointed much grandeur in their vestments. Whether we marvel at
the High Priest's Breastplate, or the Golden Head band branded with a Name of
God, there is no shortage of interest in this department. The irony however, is
that the Priests are outfitted with what most would consider the least relevant
of all, that being the Sash. It is hard to imagine that such a benign element
of the Priestly costume could have any importance at all, let alone the fact
that it may hold the keys to Redemption?! Preposterous! Yet when Ezekiel speaks
in context to the Sash, amazing things begin to happen.
To
make things simple, the Sash of the High Priest is made of linen and wool, and
the lesser Priests it is a Talmudic question of the reality of the lesser Sash –
if it is like Aaron's or completely linen.
Ezekiel makes it clear in 44:17 that
no wool may be found on the Priest, and from there, World War Three in
Spirituality erupts. Are we talking about the High Priest [on Yom Kippur] or
lesser Priests and thus we now know the nature of their Sash? The commentators
offer their expertise, and what we walk away with is that the entire subject
matter is of the Priests, and seemingly a subject matter that relates to all of
the Priests! The famous Radak commentary enigmatically calls this a dispute of
Torat Moshe, which is strange since per force it is not written in the Torah.
Continue
down the street, we run into even more Priestly issues; one of which suggests
that a Priest may not marry a widow, but only a virgin. If this is a High
Priest, well, we know that…only it seems to suggest all Priests! Thus is
Ezekiel stating that Priests will be elevated like High Priests? The Prophet
also refers to the Priests-Levites, descendants of Zadok – to which the Arizal
says Priests will become Levites and Levites Priests?! Thus the Sash has
created much disarray to what we k now about many things from the Torah; so
where is Ezekiel going?
Think
back to Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aaron the Priest. Pinchas was not
considered one of the first five anointed Priests, and therefore his Priesthood
is something else, only we have never really had a time in history where we
could get full glimpse of Pinchas' promised seed. It is said that Pinchas is
not a traditional "High Priest" and for that reason the High
Priesthood was returned to a particular distant seed of Pinchas, for Pinchas is
Elijah, and he became an eternal Prophet, one who serves as the High Priest in
the Temple above, serving as our "Kruv" representative. Simply put,
Pinchas became a Kruv, an angelic man, he serves above, and his seed has
inherited this status, beginning with his son AvYeshua. From his son onwards,
the tradition went underground, and is only destined to reappear in the End of
Days with the emergence of the famed Four Craftsmen. Simply put, the anomalies of
the Priesthood in Ezekiel are directly attributed to Pinchas, his seed, and his
role to play in the Third Temple, which we now can understand is existentially
different than the Mishkan, and the first two temples.
There
are many versions of the Four Craftsmen in Chazal, all close in language, only
with subtle differences. Sometimes the Messiah is called ben David vs. the King
Messiah, etc. One example gives not a Righteous Priest, but a High Priest. The
Righteous Priest is acknowledged as Shem [yet in prayer Elijah is also referred
to as the Righteous Priest] while the High Priest is a direct association with
PInchas, and this being him taking his promised Messianic role that he earned
[as explained by the Arizal in Parashas Pinchas] through killing Zimri and
Cozbi. It would seem from the Torah surrounding these events in his Parsha,
that Pinchas saved not just souls in the desert, but the integrity of the Torah
itself, along with the Priesthood, Temple existence, etc. Pinchas truly
was/is/will be the Messianic here, to which the Briskers explain it is fitting
that Pinchas restores the Torah in the End of Days, as the Prophet Malachi
states, "you should seek Torah from him, for he is an angel of Hashem/ the
lips of the Priest shall safeguard Knowledge."
Pinchas'
job is to bring a light to the World that has never been seen before, the sacred
Hidden Light of Creation, and this is his job as the redeemer-Priest. [The
Arizal explains how Pinchas contains elements of Moses and ben Joseph and David
as hinted at in his name's mazal] Yet if we bring to light all that we know
about the Priesthood, and follow its progression, this is something that came
from a long time ago, and extends eternally into our future.
Pinchas
is a reincarnation of Noah according to the Arizal's Shaar Gilgulim, and he is
intimate with the common soul of Joseph and David [among others; this is what
Pinchas' soul so unique, all souls are relative to his soul, the secret of the
Ish Yehudi]; this level of Noah is the element that baffled Moses the most,
often leading Moses to ask, "if I have found Grace in your eyes" –
grace being the same letters as Noah. Pinchas knows of this grace, i.e. level
of Noah, for Pinchas' name even spells "Noah –Joseph" in letters; and
Pinchas brings the light of the Priest to the World, such that it began with
Noah himself!
Pirkei
d' Rebbi Eliezer states that Noah entered his soul into that of Shem's soul
[the Arizal states often the relationship between Noah and |Shem being one
soul, and Moses receiving them into his own], and when this process completed,
Shem called this level of "ibur" [soul impregnation]
"priest", and we see he became afterwards Malki Tzedek a Priest to
God Above. This level of "ibur" spiritual in-dwelling continued from
Shem into the Avot, and in particular the tribe of Judah, until the Messiah was
produced and Shem met Solomon at Sinai. Simply put, the Jewish people began at
Sinai, were developed through the Avot, and have been governed internally by a
soul tandem of Noah and Shem, one that manifested a revelation of such at Sinai
in the soul of Moses who functioned as the second of three redeemers. [Noah –
Moses – Messiah; the perfection of Kruv, i.e. Pinchas/Elijah]
We
all know that Shem brought the Priesthood into Abraham, and that Shem received
from Noah, and therefore Shem and Noah entered a new time period called Torah
[the second 2000 years of Creation] only possible through Abraham, and his
Priesthood. [They were maximized in their era of "primordial (Torah)
chaos" – which now needed to enter a new era of Torah. Messiah is the one
that unites 6000 years of holy history.] This Priesthood developed into a
Firstborn status that was to be two heads: a king and a priest. Thus there
would ultimately become an Aaron and sons and a seed of David, and legacies
were born. Pinchas is the unifier of the firstborn [stated by the Arizal] and
is therefore called the one known as "High Priest."
We
can now appreciate a little bit better the Four Craftsmen of redemption once we
plug the awareness of Pinchas into our equation, for ben David and Joseph are
the messianic roles that he is to play out, he is Elijah quite literally, and
the Priesthood that exists in Israel from its primordial level, is expressed
through Pinchas, as it went through much processes from Abraham towards Aaron,
and ultimately to Pinchas. It is brought down that the Hidden Light is
synonymous with the Kingdom of David, and that this light entered Israel from
Shem as well, in particular with his association with the Tribe of Judah, and
his daughter Tamar especially.
In
conclusion, we have a strange blip on the radar of our Parsha involving
Priests, and when we investigate, we find a sash that opens a big can of worms.
The can of worms begins to make sense only when we explain the beginning and
end of the Priesthood – in Shem and Pinchas together, both Men who operate
under the title of Righteous Priest. Throw Jethro into the mix for he was the
Priest of the other side, and things get very interesting indeed! [Remember we
began this by commenting on Jethro] Pinchas is a reincarnation of Jethro [yes
at the same time like Noah and Shem were] and he is a descendent through his
seed as well.
The
Priest is truly an enigmatic figure, from Shem, to Jethro, to Aaron and
Pinchas. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Priest takes up the cause of
the illogical and supernatural Red Heifer, for the Priest seems to defy all
odds, just look to Ezekiel. Yet with the proper keys in place, a perspective of
the Ger [hello Shem!] and a willingness to analyze Torah that is vague and
apparently dormant, we just might make it through! The Torah certainly is a hard
Book to piece together, it seems like chaos really, but with the Ger and the
Jew working together in Torah, the revelation of Messiah just gets clearer and
clearer – as it should be, for we are nearly there, and now more than ever a
Kingdom of Priests is working with a nation of High Priests!
If
the Ger represents the Urim and Tumim, then who is represented by this Sash? If
a Jew can ask this question, than the Gerim have certainly brought the keys;
now, if we can just open the doors to the Kruvim who guard the way…
God Willing the In-Depth Class on BOTH PARSHIOT VAYIKRA & TZAV will take place tonight Thursday March 20 11 P.M. Tzfat time - we did not change our clocks yet; limited seating!
