Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Parashat Tzav 2018 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Vessel and the Flame Last week , I talked about the single word of the opening of the Torah portion and the book of Leviticus: ‘Vayikra’. Vayikra literally translates as ‘and He called’. I used ‘Vayikra’ to talk about heeding our calling in Judaism, inviting us to uncover our sense of purpose, meaning and mission in the contemporary Jewish experience, especially in the light of demographic challenges. I have the presumption (perhaps of folly and youth) to believe that many Jewish institutions are for the most part engaging in a topsy-turvy approach. They are focusing on funding and programming, obsessing over intermarriage and assimilation. None of these make for inspired Jewish living – as we say in Dutch ‘fear is a poor counsellor. Instead, they signal a spirituality of scarcity where we should be modeling a spirituality of abundance. Judaism, dear friends, is not a zero-sum game. Knowing our ‘calli...

Parashat Tzav Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Priest, Prophet, Rabbi Parashat Tzav welcome us deeper into Vayikra. The Book of Leviticus, is also known under its rabbinic name ‘Torat Kohanim’, the Priestly Law (Mishnah Megillah 1:5). We tend to associate Leviticus with all the stuff that makes us feel icky and that is difficult to talk about, like purity laws and the sacrificial cult. Added onto that is the institution of the Priesthood itself as well as the notion of commandedness, with which our portion opens: ‘ tzav et Aharon v’et banav ’ – ‘command Aaron and his sons’. The first chapters of Leviticus outline the sacrifices as well as the consecration of the Mishkan, Tabernacle. The central question for us over the coming weeks is how can we re-read Leviticus in a way that is authentic to the intention of the text as well as compelling to the contemporary, progressive Jew? The fact that the book of Leviticus is called ‘Torat Kohanim’ by the Mishnah is significant: the Rabbis ...