Parshas Tzav: Preventing the Generation Gap

"G-d spoke to Moses saying: “Command” Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the teaching of the elevating-offering: It is the elevating-offering that stays on the flame, on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept aflame on it. The Priest shall don his fitted linen tunic, and he shall don linen breeches on his flesh; he shall raise the ashes which hath consumed of the elevating-offering on the altar, and place it next to the altar” (Leviticus 6:2-3)

“Command” can only be meant to express urging on for the immediate moment, and for future generations. (Rashi ibid based on Talmud Kiddushin 29a)

What is the purpose of impressing upon all future generations to uphold not only the laws of the elevating-offering, but also the laws of the raising of the ashes? Indeed, the removal of the ashes was merely symbolic (considering that only a shovel full was removed), so what could possibly be the symbolism behind this command?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his signature style, lays it out as such, “It would give the idea, as the introduction to the service of the day, that: Today brings no new mission, rather the mission given is to carry out, ever afresh, the mission that yesterday too was to accomplish. The very last Jewish grandchild stands there, before G-d, with the same mission of life that his first ancestors bore, and every day adds to all its predecessors in the whole passing of the centuries, his contribution to the solution of the task given to all generations of the House of Israel. The Jewish Today has to take its mission from the hand of its yesterday.”

In other words, the daily Temple service commences with the removal of the ashes. That represents the ashes of the accomplishments of yesterday which we are building on today. The reason why this command merits such importance is because the very foundation of the Jewish people lies in the symbolism of the ashes of yesterday, which serves as our guide for today.

It is not without Divine serendipity that this opening message is read on the day after Purim (or on Purim day in Jerusalem). Purim, as we know, commemorates our past, but more importantly it is the link to the future. The children of Purim were the catalyst for the miracle back in Shushan of yesteryear, and it is no mere coincidence that Purim is the number one children’s holiday today.

The Midrash tells us, “Upon Mordechai’s hearing of the decree Haman wrought against the Jewish people, he gathered the children, clothed them in sackcloth, and sat them in the dust. And they cried and wept and studied Torah. When Haman completed the construction of the scaffold (with which to hang Mordechai) he went to Mordechai and found him in the study hall, with the children seated before him, all wearing sackcloth, studying Torah, and crying. Haman counted them and found that there were 22,000 children. He had them chained up and appointed guards over them, declaring: “Tomorrow, I will first slay these childen and afterwards I will hang Mordechai.”
Their mothers brought them bread and water and told them: “Children, eat and drink before you are killed so that you do not die first of hunger.” The children placed their hands on their holy books and swore: “By the life of our teacher, Mordechai, we shall neither eat nor drink, but shall die fasting!”
They burst out crying and wept until their tears of anguish ascended to the Heavens. G-d heard their cries and at that hour, His mercy was awakened, and He rose from His seat of judgment and sat on His seat of mercy.
G-d said: “What is this sound I hear, which is like the bleating of young lambs and goats.”
Moses stood before G-d and said: “Master of the Universe, these are not young lambs or goats, but rather the little ones of Your people who have been fasting for three days and three nights. Tomorrow the enemy wishes to slaughter them like young lambs and goats.”
At that moment G-d took the decrees which He had issued concerning them, which had been sealed with clay, and tore them up. That night he caused King Achashverosh to become confused, as the verse (Esther 6:1) states: ‘That night the sleep of the king was disturbed.’” (Esther Rabbah 8-9)

The Midrash is informing us that the children of the Purim generation learnt the lesson from the ashes on the altar. They lifted up those ashes of the past, and committed to upholding their obligation to G-d at all costs. With that backdrop behind us, we can now look back at those 22,000 children from the Purim generation as we prepare for the upcoming holiday of Pesach.

The Talmud commands us to prepare for Pesach thirty days beforehand. How does one go about these preparations? Aside from freshening up on the intricate laws of Pesach, we must prepare ourselves for the main component of the Seder: educating and engaging our children. The Torah instructs us, “When your child will ask you tomorrow saying, “What is this? You shall answer… Why does the Torah stress the fact that the child is asking this question tomorrow? The answer is that we are being tipped off to prepare for the upcoming questions beforehand. Just don’t say that you weren’t warned!

The Seder is entirely focused on transmitting the story to the next generation. Most of the customs practiced at the Seder are enacted to engage the children. In today’s day and age, we are competing with the latest electronic gadgets to capture our children’s hearts and minds. In order to successfully instill some sense of value and meaning into their lives, true ingenuity, creativity, and innovation must be employed to entertain and engage our children at the Seder. Preparation for this task begins TODAY! We must prepare the hagadah well in advance. We must prepare it as though our life depends on it. Be it with stuffed animals for the ten plagues, a puppet show, acting it out, sitting on the floor like the Egyptians, or using the beaten-horse frontal teaching method, we must prepare beforehand.

Three thousand three hundred twenty years ago in Egypt, all of the Jewish male babies were brutally drowned, and an additional five-hundred babies were murdered daily to serve as a blood-bath which provided relief for Pharoah’s skin ailment. No future was seen on the horizon. Yet, G-d didn’t forget about us. He enabled those very babies to thrive and to build the next generation. We were redeemed. Following that redemption, G-d commanded us to link our past to our future via the Temple offerings. We were commanded to take the ashes that represent our past and to pass on that message to the future generations. That message was transmitted successfully.

Two thousand three hundred sixty-three years ago a future generation of children prepared to offer themselves up as offerings to G-d. Their intended offering was accepted, and it helped thwart Haman’s decree against the Jews, hence the holiday of Purim.
Today, thousands of years later, how do we live up to that command of linking our past to our future, like the Jews of yesterday so courageously succeeded in doing?
The only proven method is by granting ourselves and our children a Jewish education. The ashes of thousands of years of Jewish heroism provide the foundation for our future.

May we all merit to provide the links in the long chain connecting us back to Sinai!

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:
1) What is your favorite part of the Seder? What part is the least enjoyable? How can the boring parts be made more exciting?