A thought on Parshas Tzav

"...es chazeh ha'tenufa v'es shok ha'teruma...""...the breast portion and the thigh for the waving service..." (7:34)

The Torah instructs us in an aspect of the sacrificial service. Those who brought forth peace offerings (shelamim) would have the thigh and breast portions of the animal brought to the Kohen who would in turn raise up those limbs and wave them in every direction. This was similar to the waving of the lulav which we do on Sukkos. This ritual was known as tenufa.

Rabbeinu Bachya notes the significance of these two limbs. Remember that bringing a sacrifice in the Bais HaMikdash was a way of signifying how each of us is ready to "make personal sacrifices" by devoting our selves to doing HaShem's will. In that sense, offering a costly animal (compare last week's Parsha e-mail) demonstrated the lengths to which we would go in order to display our symbolic self-sacrifice. Now, as to the breast and thigh portions: these two parts contain the moving forces within the human (and animal) body. The breast conceals the heart, which pulsates and moves constantly within us. The thighs connect the two halves of the body and direct the flow of energy as we propel ourselves ahead when we walk, run, turn or stand firm.

By waving these parts, the Kohen asserts the Jewish people's readiness to move, to be on the go, to channel our energy in any direction in which HaShem might guide us, and to signal that we seek Him to the North, to the South, the East, West, Above and Below. Our heart beats within and our body is poised to act. By offering an animal in our stead, we gesture that while our possessions may come and may go, we seek the opportunity to live on with continuity of devotion. Despite the human proclivity to insist that "it's my life and I'll do what I want", the tenufa ritual, through lifting and waving these parts of the animals, was our way of saying "it's my life and I'll do what He wants."

As we move closer now to Pesach may we too assert our clarity about being ready to move on, converging soon on Jerusalem where we will once again take part in the Avoda. Good Shabbos. D Fox