d’var torah
Humility a Component in
Serving God
Rabbi Claire Green
T Parshat Tzav
orah text is inscribed upon the
skin of a once-living creature.

Such a creature was once
asked to speak to God for us. Now it
carries God’s message to us.

Tzav is the second portion of the
Book of Leviticus, the book of the laws
of the priests, the kohanim. The tone is
that of a policy and procedure manual.

Not every Israelite had to understand
the minutiae. They just had to present
their appropriate beast since all catego-
ries of meaning — life and death, good
and evil, sacred and profane — were
mediated by this system of sacrifi ce
40 MARCH 30, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
managed by the sons of Aaron. The
priests were specialists in this techni-
cal language of ritual, and this distinc-
tion from the other tribes of Israel was
an aspect of their holiness.

Oddly, the fi rst regulation of Tzav
concerns the end of the process. Each
morning the priest performs what the
Talmud calls the mitzvah of terumat
hadeshen, “lifting [and removing] the
ashes [of the daily whole burnt sacrifi -
cial off erings]” that burned on the altar
for the night.

What is more surprising is that
the priest has to clear away the
ashes himself. This nasty chore is not
relegated to the Tabernacle’s servant
class, the priests’ cousins, the Levites.

The priest must change out of the
splendid vestments, put on work
clothes and dispose of the ashes
personally. Lest the exalted priest get too big
for his linen britches, he must do dirty
labor. He should walk among the
people he serves and know something
of the life of those for whom he minis-
ters as he carries the ashes. He should
be reminded that his function, even
when robed in precious fabrics, is a
dual: serving God, serving Israel. And
the people, who see him at his task,
realize that the priest is like them, a
laborer on God’s earth, a person.

This reminds me of a scene from
the 1968 fi lm, “The Shoes of The
Fisherman.” Anthony Quinn’s charac-
ter, the newly elected pope, fi nds
himself overwhelmed by the trappings
of the papacy. He takes off his regal
papal vestments, sneaks out into
the night dressed as a simple priest
and, incognito, comes into touch with
suff ering souls. He meets them where
they are; he ministers to them.

The Torah lesson for priest and
people: Humility is a component of the
service of God. The priest is humble.

He does not think less of himself;
he thinks of himself less when he is
present to his people.

“The fi re on the altar shall be kept
burning, not to go out” (Lev. 6:5). The
priest’s job is not just to take away
what has been used up, but to improve
what has been left [by adding more
wood]. Humbling himself, he causes a
brighter fl ame upon the altar, refl ect-
ing the fervor of the people. Humility
extinguishes the negative in ourselves.

And what of us without the sacri-
fi cial cult? We have been awarded
by the ancient rabbis with that most
daunting gift: We are both priest and
people, responsible for our own spiri-
tual welfare. How empowering, and
how humbling!
How do we adorn ourselves and
our projects? How do we navigate
between humility and haughtiness,
elegance and extremism, commitment
and tired repetition, commandment
and contrivance? How do we keep in
touch with that spark of inspiration that
keeps us true and focused?
Whose responsibility is it to
maintain devotion and kindle sparks of
understanding? Today we rely on ourselves and each
other. What messages and images
keep the fi re going after the destruc-
tion of the Temple’s sacrifi cial cult? We
can be inspired by an image of ancient
devotion even if the people in the
image do not look like us. The creative
genius of rabbinic Judaism replaced
the message and messenger of the
sacrifi cial cult with the formula of study,
prayer and loving acts.

For us, the drudgery of the priest-
hood has some ironic resonance; the
glorious aspects are more remote. We
prize those moments in life when the
occasion, the place, the company, the
ritual evoke the sublime, the heightened
moment. But we had better not count
on these fl eeting moments for our spiri-
tual sustenance. Not every day is Yom
Kippur; not every occasion is b.mitzvah
or confi rmation, wedding or ordination.

We must see the potential for
holiness in the most mundane activi-
ties. Mostly, we fi nd ourselves taking
out the trash. Well, that too is holy. ■
Rabbi Claire Magidovitch Green,
who is the daughter and sister of
rabbis, never wanted UAHC Torah
Corps summer camp to end, study-
ing Torah and living with HUC-JIR
professors. The Board of Rabbis
of Greater Philadelphia is proud to
provide diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish Exponent.

The opinions expressed in this column
are the author’s own and do not
necessarily refl ect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.