Parashat: Tzav
Leviticus 6:1–8:36
“The priest shall dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. He shall then take off his vestments and put on other vestments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a pure place.”
— Leviticus 6:3–4
While the texts of these chapters of Leviticus (most of which center on the ancient sacrificial service of our Israelite ancestors) can seem very foreign and inaccessible, occasionally they are more direct and relevant than we imagine. The priests in the Tabernacle/Temple would perform the sacrifices in one set of clothes and then change into a different set of clothing to take care of the “cleanup” of the ashes. That said, the tasks they did while cleaning up were every bit as holy as the ones they performed in the sacrifice itself. In part, we see this because the ashes of the sacrifice are taken to a “pure place.” How many of us return home and immediately change out of our work clothes into other dress? Does this change of clothes lower or elevate the impact of our actions? Are the tasks we take care of at home (cooking, cleaning, exercise, love, leisure) somehow less important than what we might do at the office? And how do we make these distinctions in a world where through technology and new structures of work, every place we inhabit is somehow potentially an office? The mundane can become holy, and the holy can become ordinary — it just depends on our outlook and intentions.
— Rabbi Craig Axler
