page_title: Tzav
section_title: Leviticus chapter 6
hierarchical_section_title: Tzav / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Leviticus chapter 6
caption_attribution_description: العربية: 8 change me! الكتاب المقدس التوضيح من الكتاب من الفصل Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Біблійная ілюстрацыя да Кнігі Роду, разьдзел 8 Deutsch: Biblische Darstellung Buch change me! Kapitel 8 Ελληνικά: Βιβλική εικονογράφηση του βιβλίου της change me! Κεφάλαιο 8 English: Biblical illustration of Book of Genesis Chapter 8 Español: Ilustración bíblica de libro del change me!, capítulo 8 Français&#160;: Illustration biblique du livre de la Genèse chapitre 8 עברית: 8 האיור המקראי של change me! פרק हिन्दी: {{{hi}}} अध्याय change me! की पुस्तक की बाइबिल चित्रण Bahasa Indonesia: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Kejadian pasal 8 Italiano: Illustrazione biblica del libro della change me! Capitolo 8 日本語: change me!8章の本の聖書の実例 Jawa: Ilustrasi Alkitab saking Kitab Purwaning Dumadi pasal 8 한국어: change me! 8 장 장부의 성경 그림 Bahasa Melayu: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Kejadian pasal 8 Nederlands: Bijbelse illustratie van change me! hoofdstuk 8 Português: Ilustração bíblica do Livro de change me!, capítulo 8 Русский: Библейские иллюстрации Книга Бытие Глава 8 中文: 圣经change me!第8章的书籍插图
context_page_description: Tzav, Tsav, Zav, Sav, or Ṣaw is the 25th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah teaches how the priests performed the sacrifices and describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 6:1–8:36. The parashah is made up of 5,096 Hebrew letters, 1,353 Hebrew words, 97 verses, and 170 lines in a Torah scroll. Jews read it the 24th or 25th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in the second half of March or the first half of April.
context_section_description: Tractate Zevachim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the law of animal sacrifices in Leviticus 1–5. The Mishnah taught that a sacrifice was slaughtered for the sake of six things: (1) for the sake of the sacrifice for which it was consecrated, (2) for the sake of the offerer, (3) for the sake of the Divine Name, (4) for the sake of the altar fires, (5) for the sake of an aroma, and (6) for the sake of pleasing God, and a sin-offering and a guilt-offering for the sake of sin. Rabbi Jose taught that even if the offerer did not have any of these purposes at heart, the offering was valid, because it was a regulation of the court, since the intention was determined only by the priest who performed the service. The Mishnah taught that the intention of the priest conducting the sacrifice determined whether the offering would prove valid.
  Rabbi Simeon taught that, generally speaking, the Torah required a burnt offering only as expiation for sinful meditation of the heart.
  A Midrash taught that if people repent, it is accounted as if they had gone up to Jerusalem, built the Temple and the altars, and offered all the sacrifices ordained in the Torah. Rabbi Aha said in the name of Rabbi Hanina ben Pappa that God accounts studying the sacrifices as equivalent to offering them. Rav Huna taught that God said that engaging in the study of Mishnah is as if one were offering up sacrifices. Samuel taught that God said that engaging in the study of the law is as if one were building the Temple. And the Avot of Rabbi Natan taught that God loves Torah study more than sacrifice.
  Rabbi Ammi taught that Abraham asked God if Israel would come to sin, would God punish them as God punished the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Tower of Babel. God answered that God would not. Abraham then asked God in Genesis 15:8: “How shall I know?” God replied in Genesis 15:9: “Take Me a heifer of three years old . . .” (indicating that Israel would obtain forgiveness through sacrifices). Abraham then asked God what Israel would do when the Temple would no longer exist. God replied that whenever Jews read the Biblical text dealing with sacrifices, God would reckon it as if they were bringing an offering, and forgive all their iniquities.
  The Gemara taught that when Rav Sheshet fasted, on concluding his prayer, he added a prayer that God knew that when the Temple still stood, if people sinned, they used to bring sacrifices (pursuant to Leviticus 4:27–35 and 7:2–5), and though they offered only the animal's fat and blood, atonement was granted. Rav Sheshet continued that he had fasted and his fat and blood had diminished, so he asked that it be God's will to account Rav Sheshet fat and blood that had been diminished as if he had offered them on the Altar.
  Rabbi Isaac declared that prayer is greater than sacrifice.
  The Avot of Rabbi Natan taught that as Rabban Johanan ben Zakai and Rabbi Joshua were leaving Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua expressed sorrow that the place where the Israelites had atoned for their iniquities had been destroyed. But Rabban Johanan ben Zakai told him not to grieve, for we have in acts of loving-kindness another atonement as effective as sacrifice at the Temple, as Hosea 6:6 says, “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
  Rabbi Mani of Sheab and Rabbi Joshua of Siknin in the name of Rabbi Levi explained the origin of Leviticus 6:1. Moses prayed on Aaron's behalf, noting that the beginning of Leviticus repeatedly referred to Aaron's sons, barely mentioning Aaron himself. Moses asked whether God could love well water but hate the well. Moses noted that God honored the olive tree and the vine for the sake of their offspring, teaching that the priests could use all trees' wood for the altar fire except that of the olive and vine. Moses thus asked God whether God might honor Aaron for the sake of his sons, and God replied that God would reinstate Aaron and honor him above his sons. And thus God said to Moses the words of Leviticus 6:1, "Command Aaron and his sons."
  Rabbi Abin deduced from Leviticus 6:1 that burn
caption: Noah's Sacrifice (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing)
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