{"id":71234,"date":"2020-03-05T10:40:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T08:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71234"},"modified":"2022-05-23T16:15:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T13:15:03","slug":"tetzaveh-sacrificial-offerings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tetzaveh-sacrificial-offerings\/","title":{"rendered":"Tetzaveh – Sacrificial Offerings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Parashat Tetsaveh<\/em> Moses is told to \u201clead Aaron and his sons up to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting\u201d (Exod. 29:4) and to anoint the sons as priests. As part of the ceremony they were to bring sacrificial animals and lay their hands upon them before offering them up on the altar: a bull as a sin offering, a ram as a burnt offering, and a second ram as a special consecration offering.<\/p>\n

In visualizing this episode, Avner Moriah portrays Aaron and two of his sons standing together near the altar sacrificing a ram. Fire is engulfing both the ram and the young priests. Aaron is wearing his distinctive headdress and his sons are clothed in matching tunics. The scene seems to be in keeping with the verse: \u201cMake sacral vestments for your brother Aaron for dignity and adornment\u201d (Exod. 28:2).<\/p>\n

Why does the artist figure the altar and the priests in an exterior space when the text says explicitly that Aaron and his sons were led up to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting? Why are only two sons pictured when, according to the Bible, there were four: \u201cNadav and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron\u201d (Exod. 28:1)? Why is the fire engulfing not only the ram but the young priests as well?<\/p>\n

Portraying the scene against a background of hills depicting the ram with its horn curled (suggesting a shofar<\/em>) lying on top of the altar might be an allusion to the ram in the story of the Binding of Isaac (the Akedah<\/em>). In hinting at an association between the present episode and the Akedah<\/em>, the artist is suggesting a parallel between the Lord\u2019s testing of Abraham\u2019s faithfulness and the consecration of Aaron and his sons, binding them to serve God faithfully. In the story of the Akedah<\/em>, Abraham was commanded to prove his fidelity by sacrificing his son Isaac, but upon proving his total devotion he was given a ram to offer instead.<\/p>\n

Aaron\u2019s sons were also commanded to offer sacrifices, but here the flames of their burnt offering seem to surround them, perhaps a prevision of their misguided sense of devotion on the day that the Mishkan <\/em>was consecrated: \u201cAaron\u2019s sons Nadab and Abihu\u2026 offered before the Lord alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord\u201d (Lev. 10:1\u20132). In their eagerness to prove themselves faithful to God they misunderstood their priestly obligations and did not fulfill their sacred functions according to God\u2019s commands.<\/p>\n

By portraying the consecration episode showing only two of Aaron\u2019s sons, both engulfed in flames, the artist is suggesting that fidelity to God demands not only the kind of devotion that was so characteristic of Abraham, but also discipline and a sense of responsibility that obviates the kind of ecstasy that might lead to \u201cstrange fire.\u201d<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71238,"id":71238,"title":"20 Tetsaveh","filename":"20-Tetsaveh.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tetzaveh-sacrificial-offerings\/20-tetsaveh\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"20-tetsaveh","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71234,"date":"2020-03-05 08:40:23","modified":"2020-03-05 08:40:40","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1936,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-232x300.jpg","medium-width":232,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-768x992.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":992,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-793x1024.jpg","large-width":793,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh.jpg","1536x1536-width":1189,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh.jpg","2048x2048-width":1586,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-929x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":929,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20-Tetsaveh-325x420.jpg","home_baner-width":325,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Chapter Illustrated","main_caption":"Tetzaveh - 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