TorahMama: Tzav

Tzav is a list of sacrifices, an explanation of many of the tasks of the priests. Delineated in this portion are the various ways that offerings are made on the altar, the mixing of the meal offering, and all of the rules that Aaron and his sons must follow to shepherd the people through these rituals.

This Torah portion can feel very tedious. After all, it's a somewhat repetitive listing of tasks, punctuated by a recipe for a pancake. The priests' work is nothing but holiness. And yet, they are even instructed in the process of removing the ashes from the altar -- taking out the trash. 

Sometimes, that is what parenting is like: daily tasks, repeated over and over, punctuated by a meal that may or may not be eaten, and ending each day with taking out the trash. 

And yet...holiness.

Somehow, it's hard to find that holiness in the ashes. Somehow, it's hard to figure out what exactly might be holy about making yet another lunch or doing yet another load of laundry or changing yet another set of bedsheets. Somehow, though, it's there. Not every day, or every time. But every so often...I'm reminded through the haze of it all...even the pancakes, the daily tasks, the trash....it's all holy.

TorahMama is my attempt to look at the Torah portion through a parenting lens...