Why a “Burnt Offering”

Parasha: Tzav – Command
Torah: VaYikra 6:8 – 8:36

8 And Avinu spoke to Moshe, saying, 9 Command Aharon and his sons, saying, This is the law (these are instructions – v’zot torat) of the Olah offering: It is the Olah offering, because of the burning on the altar all night to the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put on his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire has consumed with the Olah offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp to a clean place. 12 And the fire on the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the Olah offering in order on it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13 The fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out. (VaYikra 6:8-13)

One could say, “All offerings are “burnt” (Olah) offerings. Some part of every offering is consumed by fire on the altar.

Here is something I heard last week:

Gravity prevents everything from “returning” to it’s Source. The “Olah” defies gravity as it frees the “earthy” to return to it’s Source. The “spiritual” is unlocked in the Scripture:

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. (Re 5:8)

Our prayers defy the ultimate gravity, the grave. They have “crossed over” and are “elevated in the spiritual realm, being used in the celebration of the worship of Avinu. This is also the path of humanity. The “way” of our prayers is showing the path that we are going to follow. Prayers aren’t “physical” like we are physical. Our path of “drawing near” is different than theirs. Here is a “hint” of what we are supposed to be doing:

Every Believer is involved in this time of “preparation. In our striving to achieve “closeness” we face many obstacles. He is coming in front of Avinu in an act of sacrifice, of “drawing near” with all his being, to be drawn into the Divine fire which is to carry him upwards to the essence of Avinu.

11 And he may say: What am I to be worthy of the act? I am imperfect. I am full of faults. The thing is beyond me! 12 the sacrifice is not only of “you”; it depends on “you.” It is within the scope of every Believer, whatever his present and whatever his past. So that every Believer has the right to ask himself, 13 “When will my acts be like the acts of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?”

5. The Fire

Once the animal has been examined, and found to be without blemish, it must be killed. That is, one does not destroy its body, merely takes away its life. Then it is offered on the altar, where it is consumed (in some cases, only the fat, in others the whole animal) by fire sent from above by Avinu.

This is the procedure for physical sacrifices in the Sanctuary, and it applies also to the inward sacrifice within the Believer.

After one has set right (repented) the faults or blemishes in one’s way of life, the “animal” must be killed. The life must be taken from one’s instinctual, physical drives. Their energy must be redirected. The “body,” that is, the physical acts, remain. But their motive is now wholly spiritual, to give strength to the life of Divine Service..” To do this is to arrive at the stage of “In all your ways, know Him,”

15 where every act is for the sake of holiness, until every act becomes itself holy. This is the case, for example, on Shabbat when eating and drinking are not simply a means to the sanctification of the day, but are themselves commanded as part of that sanctity; physical wool in Tzitzit; etc, and so can every act be sanctified to this degree.

Then comes the moment of “drawing near.” The body, the “animal soul” are drawn into the fire of the soul, the fire that is the love of Avinu: “Its flames are flames of fire, the flame of Avinu.” 16 The love that the Rabbis say 17 is like “the fire of heaven” turns the animal force into molten energy that is reshaped as love of Avinu.

“And you shall love Avinu your Avinu with all your heart.” The Rabbis asked, 18 what is “with all your heart?” And they answered, “with your two inclinations.” When the power and passion of natural man is harnessed to the love of Avinu of spiritual man, the fire within the Believer merges with the answering fire of heaven, and man and Avinu “draw near.”