Parshas Tzav
1. On the verse "זאת תורת העולה גו' כל הלילה" ("This is the law of the burnt-offering… all night"), Rashi says: "בא ללמד על הקטר חלבים ואברים שיהא כשר כל הלילה" ("It comes to teach regarding the burning of the fats and limbs, that it is valid all night"). That is, the entire night is valid for burning (consuming in fire) the fats and limbs of the sacrifices on the Altar. One must make an effort to burn everything during the day; that is the "proper time" for it.1 One may, however, also burn the fats and limbs at night, provided that the earlier services which make the sacrifice permitted were done during the day. This is the law by Torah law. There are a number of mitzvos which by Torah law may be performed the whole night, "עד שיעלה עמוד השחר" ("until the break of dawn"). However, in order "להרחיק את האדם מן העבירה" ("to keep a person far from transgression"), the Sages decreed that they should be done only until midnight.2 Regarding the burning of the fats and limbs there is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam whether this decree of the Sages applied to it as well. The Rambam3 holds that here too a decree was made, as with the other mitzvos which by Torah law may be done until the break of dawn. Rashi2 holds that regarding the burning of the fats and limbs, the Sages did not decree that it be done only until midnight.
One of the reasons that can be given for why, according to Rashi's view, there is a difference between the burning of the fats and limbs and other mitzvos: There is a rule (according to several halachic authorities) that something which the Torah explicitly states is permitted, the Sages cannot decree a prohibition upon it.4 And since the fact that the burning of the fats and limbs is valid all night is stated explicitly in the Torah — "כל הלילה עד הבוקר" ("all night until the morning"), and "ולא ילין חלב חגי עד בוקר" ("And the fat of My festival offering shall not remain overnight until morning")5 — therefore the Sages did not make a decree here.
The Rambam's view, however, that a decree was in fact made, is not at all understood. For — according to several later authorities6 — there are proofs that the Rambam too holds of this rule, that where the Torah states explicitly that something is permitted the Sages cannot make a decree. So why does the Rambam hold here that by Rabbinic law the burning must be done by midnight, since the Torah states explicitly that it may be done all night?
2. On the verse "ואם האכל יאכל" ("And if it shall surely be eaten"), the Gemara7 says: "בשתי אכילות הכתוב מדבר, אחת אכילת אדם ואחת אכילת מזבח" ("The verse speaks of two 'eatings': one, eating by man [the Kohanim eating their portion of the sacrifice], and one, 'eating' by the Altar [the burning on the Altar]"), and the Gemara learns from this and compares one "eating" to the other.
With the eating by the Kohanim, too, there is the mitzvah that they eat their portion "ביום קרבנו" ("on the day of his offering"),8 on the same day, and not leave it over until the next day. There are thus two matters in this: a) the positive mitzvah of the eating of the sacrifice — and as with every mitzvah, a blessing was instituted for this eating as well;9 b) their eating on the same day guards that one not transgress the prohibition of nosar (leftover sacrificial meat).
The difference between the two matters is: the mitzvah of eating the sacrifice requires several conditions ("למשחה" — "as a mark of greatness,"10 not eaten raw11), and if one of the conditions is missing, one does not fulfill the mitzvah. With guarding against nosar, however, it makes no difference in what manner one eats, as long as through the eating no nosar remains of the sacrifice.11
Just as these two matters exist in the eating by the Kohanim, so, it can be said, they also exist in the "eating" by the Altar. By burning the fats and limbs on the Altar on the same day as the offering, two things are accomplished: a) the service of burning the fats and limbs on the Altar — the positive aspect of the Altar's "eating"; b) through this one is guarded that there be no nosar, so that one not transgress the prohibition "ולא ילין חלב חגי עד בוקר" ("And the fat of My festival offering shall not remain overnight until morning").
It can be said that this is also the reason why, lechatchilah (ideally, from the outset), the fats and limbs must be burned specifically by day and not at night (although, as a rule, we do not find a distinction in Torah law between lechatchilah and bedi'eved [after the fact]):12 The service of burning the fats and limbs, like all the services of the Beis HaMikdash, must be done specifically by day. And what the Torah says, that one may burn them also "all night until the morning," relates only to the second point — guarding against the prohibition of nosar. Therefore, lechatchilah one must perform the service of burning by day; only if one did not do so by day, and the time for the service of burning — its positive aspect — has already passed, must one burn them during the night, so as not to transgress the prohibition of nosar.
With this one can answer the above-mentioned view of the Rambam: According to the Rambam (unlike the Taz, etc.), the rule that "אין כח ביד חכמים לאסור דבר שפירשה התורה בפירוש להיתר" ("The Sages do not have the power to forbid something that the Torah explicitly permitted") applies only where it concerns a mitzvah — where the Torah explicitly said that the mitzvah should be done, the Sages cannot uproot it so that it not be done. Where, however, the Torah only permitted that one may do it throughout the whole night, but there is no positive mitzvah involved, here a decree of the Sages is applicable, that it be done only until midnight.
3. It is well known what the Ramban13 says: the reason an animal sacrifice atones for the sin of a person is that the person bringing the offering was required to think — to feel deeply — that everything done with the animal really should have been done to him, only that in G‑d's kindness, the Al-mighty exchanged it for the animal. From this it is understood that all the details of a sacrifice — including the service of burning the fats and limbs — exist in man's service of G‑d.
Fat (chelev) signifies pleasure.14 The instruction from this is — "כל חלב להוי'" ("All the fat is to G‑d"):15 a Jew must give his pleasure and delight to the Al-mighty.
One might think that the demand that a Jew give over all his pleasure to the Al-mighty applies only to permissible, mundane matters — that his own personal activities should be done in the manner of "כאילו כפאו כו'" ("as if he were compelled, etc."),16 that he should have no delight in them; but in matters of holiness, in fulfilling the mitzvos — what does it matter if he has delight in holiness? On the contrary!
The instruction regarding this comes from the burning of the fats of the sacrifices. The law is that although eating the sacrifices is a mitzvah, as mentioned above, nevertheless one may not eat until one has first (guarded and) burned the fat on the Altar. And in man's service: When can one be sure that he fulfills the mitzvah as it should be? When he first gives over his delight (even the delight of the mitzvah) to the Al-mighty. If, however, he has not yet "burned the fat" in the mitzvah — the delight — it may be that he does the mitzvah not because the Shulchan Aruch commands it, but because of the delight he has in it.
It is indeed true that one must do a mitzvah with vitality and fervor; he must do the mitzvah not out of compulsion but out of love of G‑d, and therefore it must be done with the greatest pleasure — from the fact that he has merited to fulfill the will of his Creator. But he must take care that the delight come from his feeling the will of the Creator, and not because of side interests.
4. Based on this, one will also understand why the main burning of the fats is specifically by day, as explained above. The fact that one may also burn the fats at night is only to complete it if one did not do so by day.
Day signifies the revelation of light; in man's service it is the time when he is occupied with Torah and mitzvos — "נר מצוה ותורה אור" ("A mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light"). Night is darkness — the time when he is not occupied with Torah and mitzvos but is engaged in permissible, mundane matters. This teaches us that the safeguard of burning the fats must be, primarily, specifically "by day." In mundane matters it is obvious that one should not have delight in them and should do them only for the sake of Heaven. But in matters of Torah and mitzvos, a person can persuade himself that since he is acting in the realm of holiness, however it may be, it is good, as long as he learns Torah and fulfills mitzvos — "לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות וכו' שלא לשמה כו'" ("A person should always occupy himself with Torah and mitzvos, etc., even not for their own sake, etc.").17 Therefore one must take care to "burn the fats" here too: when he produces a novel insight in Torah and has great pleasure in it, he must bring himself to give it over to the Al-mighty. Certainly, if he sees that his novel insight does not accord with the words of the Rishonim and Acharonim that are accepted throughout the Jewish dispersions,18 he should give it up and "burn his fat"; he should aim to arrive at the true halachah, and not want merely to innovate in order to display the greatness of his intellectual power.
Similar to what Rabbeinu Yonah19 says as the reason why an asham talui (a suspensive guilt-offering) had to cost more than a chatas (sin-offering): where one is more liable to err, one needs a stronger safeguard.
5. The difference between day and night can also be explained in another, deeper way, according to which we will also understand why the burning by day is an obligatory mitzvah, while the burning at night serves to guard against the prohibition of nosar:
Day and night signify (not only the things in which a person is occupied — matters of Torah and mitzvos, or mundane matters — but also) differences in the state of the person himself. "Day" signifies the state of a person in whom a revelation of light shines in his soul. Not only does he sense that Torah and its mitzvos are the wisdom and will of the Holy One, blessed be He, but even in mundane matters he senses the G‑dliness within physical things, to the point that with the mundane matters themselves he serves the Al-mighty — "בכל דרכיך דעהו" ("In all your ways know Him")20 (up to the level of the eating of tzaddikim, which is not a service of refinement but rather "צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו" ["The righteous one eats to satisfy his soul"]21). "Night" signifies that no revelation of light shines in the person; he does not feel G‑dliness in his soul. Consequently, not only must he constantly wage battle when occupied with mundane matters, so that they be for the sake of Heaven22 and not to satisfy the desire of his soul, but even when he is occupied with Torah and mitzvos — since Torah is clothed in human intellect, and mitzvos in physical things and in the powers of his animal soul — he must toil so that his Torah study be for its own sake and not because of the intellect in it; and similarly with the fulfillment of the mitzvos.
Thus in both levels — both "day" and "night" — there is the matter of burning the fats, giving over one's pleasure to the Al-mighty. There is, however, a difference: For those who are at the level of "day," all their delight — not only in Torah and mitzvos but even in mundane matters — becomes mitzvah and holiness; "In all your ways know Him." Those, however, who are at the level of "night," because of the concealment of the animal soul, cannot truly bring about in themselves that all their pleasure be a G‑dly pleasure. Rather, their service is to break themselves, so that they not let themselves be drawn into desires and superfluous indulgences, and that in every matter their intention be not the thing itself but only for the sake of Heaven. Thus the content of their burning of the fats is a matter of negation — holding oneself back from pleasure in permitted things, for "מן ההיתר יסיתנו לאיסור" ("from the permitted it will entice him to the forbidden"), G‑d forbid. Likewise regarding Torah study: since they are not at the level of truly studying Torah for its own sake, they must guard themselves not to bring their human intellect into the Torah (but rather seek the true intent), because human intellect can mislead even to "מגלה פנים בתורה שלא כהלכה" ("interpreting the Torah not in accordance with halachah") — so this too is primarily a matter of negation. And similarly in the fulfillment of the mitzvos.
6. Nevertheless, there is an advantage in the service of iskafya (subduing), breaking the evil, over the service of tzaddikim. Similar to how the service of the soul below, refining the body and the animal soul, is higher than the soul's service as it was above before its descent, although there it had loftier comprehension, etc.; so too among souls below themselves, there is an advantage in the service of rectifying the body and the animal soul — iskafya, the service of the beinonim (intermediate ones) — over the service of tzaddikim.23
And this is alluded to in the verse "And the fat of My festival offering shall not remain overnight until morning": the service of "shall not remain" — negation, negating the forbidden through the service of refinement and iskafya — will bring about "until morning," the "בוקר אור" ("morning light"), the time of "לא יהי' לך עוד השמש לאור יומם גו' והי' לך הוי' לאור עולם" ("The sun shall no longer be your light by day… but G‑d shall be for you an everlasting light").24 As is known, the refinement of the body, of the animal soul and of this world25 — specifically this will bring the "morning," the revelation of the future Redemption through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days, Amen.
(From the sicha of 19 Kislev 5701)
Notes
1) Menachos 72a. Rambam, Laws of the Procedure of the Sacrificial Service, ch. 4, halachah 3.
2) Beginning of the first chapter of Berachos.
3) Ibid., ch. 4, halachah 2. Laws of the Daily and Additional Offerings, ch. 1, halachah 6.
4) Taz, Orach Chaim, end of siman 588 (regarding matzah); Yoreh De'ah, beginning of siman 117 (regarding a permissible matter). See Sdei Chemed, Kelalim, Ma'areches Yud, Kelal Yarden; Darchei Teshuvah, Yoreh De'ah, siman 117, se'if katan 4, and the sources cited there. Seemingly, the Alter Rebbe (in his Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 588, se'if 4) does not hold of this rule (even regarding matzah). This requires further study.
5) Shemos 23:18. The same applies to the other sacrificial parts and to other sacrifices (Chinuch, mitzvah 90).
6) See Sdei Chemed, ibid., kelal 17.
7) Zevachim 13b, and the sources cited there.
8) Vayikra 7:15. Rambam, Laws of the Procedure of the Sacrificial Service, ch. 10, halachah 7.
9) Mishnah and Tosefta, end of Pesachim.
10) Bamidbar 18:8. Zevachim 91a. See Responsa Chacham Tzvi, siman 62, that it is an absolute obligation.
11) With this we will understand the words of Tosafos (s.v. "Chata BeShabbos," Menachos 48a), that eating raw is not a merit and one should not sin for its sake, even though it is also possible to eat it raw (as Tosafos there proves from the chapter Shtei HaLechem [99b]) — because one who eats it raw only prevents the prohibition of nosar but does not fulfill the mitzvah; therefore it is not a merit.
12) See on this: Lekach Tov by R. Y. Engel, kelal 5; Asvan DeOraysa, kelal 12; Darchei Shalom, os 2, 1a (printed in the Sdei Chemed, Kehot edition, p. 4258).
13) Vayikra 1:9. Bachaye, ibid. Shelah, Chumash section, Parshas Vayikra (337b).
14) See Gittin 56b. And above, Parshas Vayikra.
15) Vayikra 3:16. And see above, Parshas Mishpatim.
16) See Torah Or, Megillas Esther (93c); [OCR unclear].
17) Pesachim 50b, and the sources cited there. Compare the Alter Rebbe's Laws of Torah Study, ch. 4, se'if 3, and Kuntres Acharon there.
18) See the Alter Rebbe's Laws of Torah Study, beginning of ch. 2: "they are included in Mishnah."
19) Berachos 1b, s.v. "VeHa DeAmrinan." And see above, Parshas Vayikra.
20) Mishlei 3:6. And see above, p. 908.
21) Mishlei 13:25. And see above, Parshas Vayishlach.
22) For the service of "for the sake of Heaven" — in which the physical thing itself is not holy, only that it is done for the sake of Heaven — is possible even when one is in a state of "night"; whereas the service of "In all your ways know Him" is specifically "by day."
23) See Tanya, ch. 27.
24) Yeshayahu 60:19.
25) [OCR unclear — the text of this note is missing in the source.]
Key Lesson
Just as the fats of every offering had to be burned on the Altar before the meat could be eaten, a Jew must give over his own pleasure to G‑d — not only in mundane matters but even in Torah and mitzvos, so that he serves for the sake of the Creator's will and not for personal satisfaction. Whether one is at the level of "day" or "night," this effort of refinement and self-mastery is what brings the "morning" — the revelation of the Redemption through Moshiach.