Tzav (צו)
Leviticus 6.1–8:36
The Torah reading (Parsha) in synagogues on Shabbat, Saturday, 12 Nisan, 5767; March 31, 2007
"Such are the rituals of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of well-being." (Leviticus 7:37.)
God told
Moses to command
Aaron and the
priests about the rituals of the
sacrifices (
korbanot in
Hebrew). The burnt offering (
’olah) was to burn on the
altar until morning, when the priest was to clear the ashes to a place outside the camp. The priests were to keep the
fire burning, every morning feeding it
wood. The meal offering (
mincha) was to be presented before the altar, a handful of it burned on the altar, and the balance eaten by the priests as
unleavened cakes in the Tent of Meeting. On the occasion of the High Priest’s anointment, the meal offering was to be prepared with oil on a griddle and then entirely burned on the altar. The
sin offering (
chattat) was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, and the priest who offered it was to eat it in the Tent of Meeting. If
blood of the sin offering was brought into the Tent of Meeting for expiation, the entire offering was to be burned on the altar. The guilt offering (
asham) was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, the priest was to dash its blood on the altar, burn its
fat, broad tail,
kidneys, and protuberance on the
liver on the altar, and the priest who offered it was to eat the balance of its meat in the Tent of Meeting. The priest who offered a burnt offering kept the skin. The priest who offered it was to eat any baked or grilled meal offering, but every other meal offering was to be shared among all the priests. The peace offering (
shelamim), if offered for thanksgiving, was to be offered with unleavened cakes or wafers with oil, which would go to the priest who dashed the blood of the peace offering. All the meat of the peace offering had to be eaten on the day that it was offered. If offered as a votive or a freewill offering, it could be eaten for two days, and what was then left on the third day was to be burned. Meat that touched anything unclean could not be eaten; it had to be burned. And only a person who was clean could eat meat from peace offering, at pain of exile. One could eat no fat or blood, at pain of exile. The person offering the peace offering had to present the offering and its fat himself, the priest would burn the fat on the altar, the breast would go to the priests, and the right thigh would go to the priest who offered the sacrifice. God instructed Moses to assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for the priests’ ordination. Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward, washed them, and dressed Aaron in his vestments. Moses anointed and consecrated the
Tabernacle and all that was in it, and then anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons. Moses led forward a
bull for a sin offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull’s head, and it was slaughtered. Moses put the bull’s blood on the horns and the base of the altar, burned the fat, the protuberance of the liver, and the kidneys on the altar, and burned the rest of the bull outside the camp. Moses then brought forward a
ram for a burnt offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head, and it was slaughtered. Moses dashed the blood against the altar and burned all of the ram on the altar. Moses then brought forward a second ram for ordination, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head, and it was slaughtered. Moses put some of its blood on Aaron and his sons, on the ridges of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Moses then burned the animal's fat, broad tail, protuberance of the liver, kidneys, and right thigh on the altar with a cake of unleavened bread, a cake of oil bread, and a wafer as an ordination offering. Moses raised the breast before God and then took it as his portion. Moses sprinkled oil and blood on Aaron and his sons and their vestments. And Moses told Aaron and his sons to boil the meat at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there, and remain at the Tent of Meeting for seven days to complete their ordination, and they did all the things that God had commanded through Moses.
Hebrew and English Text
Hear the parshah chanted
Commentary from Conservative Judaism by the Jewish Theological Seminary
Commentary from Conservative Judaism by the University of Judaism
Commentary from Reform Judaism
Commentaries from Orthodox Judaism by Project Genesis
Commentaries from Orthodox Judaism by Chabad Lubavitch
Commentaries from Aish.com
Commentaries from Reconstructionist Judaism
