This Shabbat we study the Parshah Tzav, meaning “command” (Leviticus 6:2). G-d instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties and rights as kohanim (“priests”) who offer the korbanot (animal and meal offerings) in the Sanctuary. The fire on the altar must be kept burning at all times. In it are burned the wholly consumed ascending offering; veins of fat from the peace, sin and guilt offerings; and the “handful” separated from the meal offering. The kohanim eat the meat of the sin and guilt offerings, and the remainder of the meal offering. The peace offering is eaten by the one who brought it, except for specified portions given to the kohen. The holy meat of the offerings must be eaten by ritually pure persons, in their designated holy place and within their specified time. Aaron and his sons remain within the Sanctuary compound for seven days, during which Moses initiates them into the priesthood.

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Chabad.org

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The various types of offerings brought on the altar in the Sanctuary and in Jerusalem were classified as Major Sanctity and Lesser Sanctity. The Mincha (meal) offering of the poor is called Kodesh Kodoshim (Major Sanctity) "like the sin-offering" of the repentant.

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Abarbanel, the great Spanish commentator, observes that while other offerings may be of relatively minor sacredness, those of the poor, who give with sacrifice and self-denial, are of major holiness. Similarly, the expression of contrition by the erstwhile sinner, his remorse for evildoing, is cherished by his merciful Creator.

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The significance of the offering lies less in its quantitative measure than in the degree that the donor is involved, how much of himself he offers. The wealthy with their more lavish philanthropies need not patronize their less grandly endowed brothers. At the same time, the measure for G-d being the heart, it ill becomes the modest contributor to charity to deprecate the wealthy or to boast of his own relative generosity ("if I can give five dollars he can give ten thousand..."). While the negotiable value of the large gifts of the wealthy is not diminished by pride, small charities given arrogantly have little material or spiritual significance.

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Rabbi Zalman Posner

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Even before I am aware of my thoughts, He has it all worked out. (Psalms 139:4 according to the Targum).

Trusting in the One Above doesn’t mean waiting for miracles. It means having confidence in what you are doing right now. Because you know He has set you on a good path and given you the right ideas. He invests in you and He trusts in you. And you should, too.

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Every individual’s effort and contribution in Torah and prayer has an inestimable positive effect for the whole world. Thus it hastens the time when we shall again be able to offer sacrifices “in accordance with Your (G-d’s) Will”-in the third Beit Hamikdash which will descend from Heaven and become revealed to us with the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our own days, very soon indeed.

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From an article by Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet

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once brought a girl to Rabbi Chaim Gutnick. "Please, help this girl convert," he asked. Rabbi Gutnick listened to the girl's story. She lived in Balaclava, and from her youth had felt a strong attraction to Judaism. Whenever she heard stories of the Holocaust, she was deeply touched. She had been reading and studying about Judaism for a long time, and now wanted to convert.

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Rabbi Gutnick was moved by her sincerity. Nevertheless, he did not want to perform the conversion. The girl was still living at home with her non-Jewish parents. Would she be able to practice Judaism in her parents' home? Would her interest continue as she matured into adulthood? Since he could not answer these questions, he decided to let time take its course. If the girl was still interested when she was older, she could convert then.

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Rabbi Gutnick's refusal plunged the girl into deep depression, to the extent that she had to be confined to a hospital. The elder Reb Zalman, stirred by the depth of her feelings, continued to visit her from time to time. After several weeks, he called Rabbi Gutnick, telling him of the girl's condition and asking him whether perhaps he would change his mind because of the strength of her feelings.

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Rabbi Gutnick answered that the reasons which had dissuaded him from performing the conversion were still valid. Nevertheless, he promised to write to the Lubavitcher Rebbe describing the situation. If the Rebbe advised him to facilitate her conversion, he would happily comply. Reb Zalman told the girl that the Rebbe was being consulted, and her condition improved immediately.

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Rabbi Gutnick did not receive an immediate reply to his letter. But at a later date, at the end of a reply to another issue, the Rebbe added: "What's happening with the Jewish girl from Balaclava?" Rabbi Gutnick was surprised. The girl and Reb Zalman had both made it clear that her family was Anglican! He and Reb Zalman went to confront the girl's mother. At first, she continued to insist that she was Anglican, but as the sincerity of the two rabbis impressed her, she broke down and told her story. She had been raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in England. As a young girl, she had rebelled against her parents and abandoned Jewish life entirely, marrying a gentile and moving to Australia. She had not given Judaism a thought since. She loved her daughter, however, and would not oppose her if she wished to live a Jewish life.

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Once the girl's Jewishness was established, Rabbis Serebryanski and Gutnick helped her feel at home in Melbourne's Lubavitch community. She continued to make progress in her Jewish commitment, and today is a teacher in a Lubavitch school.

But Rabbi Gutnick still had a question: How did the Rebbe know she was Jewish? At his next yechidut (audience with the Rebbe) he mustered the chutzpah to ask. The Rebbe replied that, at Reb Zalman's urging, the girl had also written him a letter. "Such a letter," the Rebbe declared, "could only have been written by a Jewish girl."

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Rabbi Eli & Malka Touger

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