[Picture: A tale about King David informs us of his criteria for reliable and trustworthy battle horses... The original image is a free image for use at CC BY 2.0 level, uploaded by Melissa Ingram to flicker]

[For articles on the “Sabbath of  Tzav" in Hebrew, click here]

Updated on March 27, 2023

Rabbi Dr. Yossi Feintuch was born in Afula and holds a Ph.D. in American history from Emory University in Atlanta. He taught American history at Ben-Gurion University.

Author of the book US Policy on Jerusalem (JCCO).

He now serves as rabbi at the Jewish Center in central Oregon. (JCCO).

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A tale about King David informs us of his criteria for reliable and trustworthy battle horses. When various horse trainers offered his royal cavalry their own stallions that could perform impressive circus-ring-like stunts, David was not keenly interested in them. He was just looking for horses that conducted themselves steadily, rather than with mere spurts of ingenuity but were inconsistent otherwise.

[Picture: A tale about King David informs us of his criteria for reliable and trustworthy battle horses... Photo by Helena Lopes from Pexels]

This weekly Parashah, Tsav, likewise stresses the supreme value of steadiness and persistence. Indeed, God instructs Moses twice that the fire upon the altar of the Tabernacle shall be kept continually burning and never be allowed to burn out, namely: ‘’And the fire upon the altar be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; and the Kohen shall kindle wood upon it every morning … A permanent fire shall remain aflame on the altar; it shall not go out…’’ (Leviticus 6:5-6).  This despite the fact that communal offerings were to be brought to the altar only twice a day, in the morning and in the late afternoon. In other words, the fire on the altar continued to burn non-stop 24/7 thanks to being constantly fueled with desert hard-to-come-by firewood, and not only for the duration of the two daily sacrifices. It was seemingly a wasteful practice of a precious material.   What could be then the rationale behind it?

The constant burning and the smoke billowing out of the altar symbolized the Israelite’s continuous service of God day in and day out; Moses wanted to drive home the message that serving God cannot be based on mere sparks or dying out embers, in as much as observing Passover steadily is not only about eating with excitement matsa on the seder night, but it’s also about no lesser excitement in abstaining from eating leaven food throughout the week-long festival.

[Picture: The constant burning and the smoke billowing out of the altar symbolized the Israelite’s continuous service of God, day in and day out... Photo by Skully MBa from Pexels]

Still, why does the Torah repeat back-to-back this need for the flame to remain uninterrupted on the altar? Would not once be enough? Eli Wiesel spoke of a poet who was once asked: ‘’If you could save from your going-up-in-flames house only one thing, what would it be?’’ ‘’The fire’’ he answered. What could the poet have meant? In order to be able to guess rationally, we need to go back to the two verses quoted above and distinguish one altar from the other.  We have already discussed the altar of the Tabernacle. The other altar is the internal flame burning inside the Kohen assigned with a tedious daily task of feeding the firewood to the altar. Indeed, the Hebrew for ‘’burning on it’’ could just as well be rendered as ‘’burning in him’’ – the Kohen, he who helps in facilitating for others the service of God.

Namely, one’s job could be monotonous and boring. But the client that comes to you relies on your showing up to serve her needs with a burning flame of excitement as though s/he is your only customer that day.  One who serves others must be fired up without letting go. And this may very well be the reason for the repeated need for the altar’s flame to keep going constantly.

[For articles on the “Sabbath of  Tzav" in Hebrew, click here]