Parshat Tzav

(Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22-3)

15 Adar II, 5768
March 22, 2008

Leave it to the Rabbis to attach a haftarah which strongly condemns sacrificial

rites to a Torah parashah dedicated to the details of the same. In this week's
haftarah, Jeremiah resoundingly critiques the practice of sacrifices in unusually
hyperbolic terms: "Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your
burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat! For when I freed your
fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them
concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice. But this is what I commanded them: Do
my bidding that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the
way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you." (7:21-3) This prophecy
joins similar messages delivered by other prophets. (See Amos 5:25; Hosea
6:6)

How is one to understand Jeremiah's message? Did he mean to repudiate the

sacrificial order? How is it possible for him to say that his ancestors had not
been commanded concerning the sacrificial order?

Modern scholars have examined the possibility that Jeremiah may have meant
literally that he somehow thought that the people of Israel had not been
commanded concerning sacrifices after leaving Egypt and have speculated on
all sorts of explanations. (Y. Hoffman, Jeremiah, Mikra L'Yisrael, pp. 262-4)
Rabbi David Kimche (12th century Provence) anticipated this approach and
already attempted to work out a logical explanation of what this literally might
mean. However, the general consensus even among modern scholars today is
that Jeremiah was speaking in exaggerated terms in order to express God's
dissatisfaction with people's use of the sacrificial order as a mask for their
otherwise ungodly behavior. (See Rashi who spells out this position.)

This does not mean that Jeremiah's message was not used, even by traditional
authorities, as part of a debate over the relative merit of the sacrificial order in
religious life. Maimonides (Rambam) was perhaps the most prominent voice in
this debate. He was of the mind that the purpose of the sacrificial order was to
wean the people away from idolatry, so that they would identify with God. Since
the mode of worship in those days was through animal sacrifice, God adopted
this manner of worship as a means to bring the people to the true worship of
God. Rambam alludes to the idea that the sacrificial order did not represent the
ideal condition but was merely a means to advance Israel's religious
development. He bases his opinion, in part, on Jeremiah's prophecy. (See
Guide to the Perplexed 3:32)

While those with modern rationalist sensibilities found in Rambam an important

ally, his point of view was generally rejected by most traditional commentators.
Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag - 14th century France), a rationalist who often
sided with Rambam, adamantly disagreed with him on this count. While he
accepted Rambam's assertion, that one of the reasons for the sacrificial order
was to change the religious orientation of the people, still, he was unwilling not
to see in them transcendent value. He sees a link between sacrifices and
prophecy. He asserts that the act of preparing and offering sacrifices elevates a
person's religious spirit and enables the process of prophecy.

Another philosopher, Rabbi Joseph Albo, in his work "Sefer HaIkarim" (3:25),
takes Ralbag's views one step further. He makes note of the lessons that a
person internalizes in the process of sacrificing an animal. Animals, like human
beings, are living creatures. When an animal is sacrificed there is nothing left of
the animal. It is consumed. This same fate potentially awaits every human being,
if that person does not use his/her life propitiously in the service of God. This is
an enabling message learned from the sacrificial order. It is one that shapes
both a person's body and soul, creating a channel between humans and God.