TZAV 5783

Take Out the Garbage

Today is the Shabbat before Passover—Shabbat Hagadol (the Great Sabbath). Traditionally, a rabbi would speak about the upcoming holiday. However, with the severe weather this morning, we had a late start. We began the service 20 minutes late with just 3 of us. After Pesuke deZimraection, were still only 3 and then slowly slowly people started gathering—mostly men.

I decided then and there that the message I had prepared would have to wait till the 1^st day of Pesach, and I quickly formulated a more appropriate message based on today’s Torah portion and Passover. It’s primarily a message for men, so the women here today don’t have to listen. But you can if you wish.

The 3^rd verse in our Torah portion (Lev. 6:3) tells us: “The Kohen shall don his fitted linen Tunic…he shall separate the ash of what the fire consumed of the elevation-offering on the Altar.” The Torah is telling us that the 1^st task of the Kohen (priest) every day was to remove the ashes from the offering sacrificed the previous day. In other words, the Kohen would begin his day by taking out the garbage. Couldn’t he get someone else to do it with a lower status? Is there any significance to this being the priest’s 1^st order of business with which to start the day?

Samson Raphael Hirsch—the leading German rabbi of the 19^th century—suggests that this mandate serves as a constant reminder that service of the new day is connected to the service of the previous day. After all, it was the ashes from the remains of yesterday’s sacrifice that had to be removed. In a word: Even as we move forward in time and deal with new situations and conditions it is crucial to remember that all that is being done is anchored in a past steeped with religious significance and commitment. 

A colleague and a friend Rabbi Avi Weiss offers another approach which I think is magnificent. You will remember Rabbi Weiss as an activist for Jewish causes—especially Soviet Jewry in the late 20^th century. Rabbi Weiss suggests: “The Kohen begins the day by removing the ashes to illustrate the importance of his remaining involved with the mundane. Too often, those who rise to important lofty positions, separate themselves from the people and withdraw from the everyday menial tasks. The Torah through the laws of terumat ha-deshen (removing the ashes) insists it shouldn’t be this way.” In other words, no one is too lofty to do mundane acts like taking out the garbage!

A story reflects this point. Rabbi Mordecai Gifter was the Rosh (the head of the) Yeshiva of Tels in Israel. One day a student in his Kollel for advanced studies approached him and asked if he could see him and his wife together to rule on a family dispute. He agreed and an hour later they both appeared in his office.

         The wife explained that her husband spends every available hour in the Yeshiva studying. He comes home at night. Eats dinner and goes back to the Yeshiva. He doesn’t help me do homework with the kids, wash them or put the kids to bed. All I asked of him was to take out the garbage.

         The husband, however, felt that as one who studied Torah it was beneath his dignity to take out the garbage. His wife felt otherwise. Rabbi Gifter concluded that while the husband should in fact help his wife, he had no Halachic (Jewish law) obligation to remove the refuse.

         The next morning at 6:30am, before the morning services, the Rosh Yeshiva knocked at the door of the young couple. Startled, the young man asked Rabbi Gifter to come in and have a cup of tea. “No,” responded Rabbi Gifter, “I’ve not come to socialize but to take out your garbage. You may believe it’s beneath your dignity, but it’s not beneath mine!”

         Why do I share this message with the men in shul today? It’s because today is Shabbat Hagadol and Passover is in 4 days, and, no doubt, the women in their lives are working very hard to make Passover as joyous as could be. So men, when you come home from shul today, hug you special women and thank them, and surprise them by asking: “Honey, is there anything I can do to help you?”

Chag Kasher v’Sameyach, have a happy and joyous Passover. Amen!