The Parasha’s theme is transparent. Everything is about preparation for the entrance into Eretz Yisrael. There is a census to figure out how the land should be divided up among the tribes. Bnot Tzelafchad, the daughters in search of a place of inheritance, come forward apropos of that. Moshe Rabenu surveys the scene in Eretz Yisrael, and discusses the succession to Yehoshua. That alone is the length of a normal Parasha.
But after all of that, there are 40 more Posukim detailing the sacrifices, a section almost all of which is devoted to Musafim, the extra offerings for all of the Chagim. How is this part of the preparation for entering the land?
More than anything, the entrance into the land is the entrance into real life. The food becomes normal -- grown from the ground instead of falling from the sky. Clothes must be made or bought -- they will wear out. There will have to be shelter from the elements. All of this will require work.
As this transition takes place, the chance that one can become distracted from Hashem’s presence becomes real. The plan for preventing that will be a regular rhythm of consistent activity that connects one to Hashem. That is what the sacrifices will establish, will model, and will teach.
The second book of the Rambam’s Mishne Torah is called Sefer HaAhava, the book of love. The book of love includes the laws of Sh’ma, and Davening and blessings; of Tefillen and Tzitzit. These are all the ways we bind ourselves to Hashem on a regular basis. It also includes the laws of Mezuza, which is a fixed reminder whenever we change domains, and even Bris Mila, which is there, as the Midrash points out, even when there is no Tefillen or Tzitzit, and one cannot utter Hashem’s name or put a Mezuza on the wall. All constant reminders.
He calls this book “Ahava” because expressions of love are supposed to be constant. People whose spouses say “I love you sometimes” do not feel good about their futures.
This does not mean that only these activities are in play. This means, potentially, all activities. In a barber shop in Israel, there is a sign that says: “..look how many Mitzvot you can do when getting a haircut…” And then it has a list:
1. Have in mind "lichvod Shabbat kodesh" (for the honor of the holy Sabbath).
2. Have in mind you're not having the corners of one’s hair cut too short.
3. And have in mind that you are fulfilling the Mitzva from the Torah that you're paying a worker the same day.
This is a reminder of what used to be the central chapter of the Shulchan Aruch when I was in Yeshiva: Orach Chaim 231. That chapter announces that all of one’s activities are supposed to be for the sake of Heaven. Eating, drinking, sleeping, relations between spouses -- they can all be in service of something beyond oneself.
But the offerings at the end of the Parasha convey a lesson in their rhythm: the periodicity of all of this is supposed to be as constant as possible. We have Musafim on the Chagim, but what makes them “extra”? On Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh, and on all of the holidays, they are what one brings beyond the first offering we mention, the daily sacrifice. Everything on the Chagim is extra to what we do daily, constantly. All Jewish rhythm builds on a constant base.
On the list of the five disasters which took place on the 17th of Tamuz, we learn about the canceling of the daily offering, Bitul HaTamid. The offering not only was called “Tamid,” but it was Tamid. It was steady, from the time in the wilderness, first at Har Sinai and then with the Mishkan; as they entered the land, from Shilo to Nov to Givon, and then in the Beit HaMikdash. Every day, day after day, without cease, for centuries, until the 17th of Tamuz before the destruction. The loss of that constant was the beginning of further destruction.
Jewish life depends on the constants. The loss of a daily Minyan here or there is not just that. It bespeaks an inattention to the dailyness of Jewish life, the base on which all else depends. The first stop on the way to constancy is consistency, regularity. This is the goal of our lives, to be as constant as possible in connecting to that which is Constant. That should be among the foremost concerns of the Three Weeks.
