Tzav, Tsav, Zav, Sav, or Ṣaw (—Hebrew for "command," the sixth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 25th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah teaches how the priests performed the sacrifices and describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 6:1–8:36. The parashah is made up of 5,096 Hebrew letters, 1,353 Hebrew words, 97 verses, and 170 lines in a Torah scroll (, Sefer Torah). Jews read it the 24th or 25th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in the second half of March or the first half of April.
Readings In traditional Shabbat Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings called aliyot ().See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Vayikra/Leviticus (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008), pages 30–51.
First reading—Leviticus 6:1–11
In the first reading, God told Moses to command Aaron and the priests about the rituals of the sacrifices (, qārbānoṯ)..
The burnt offering (, ʿolā) was to burn on the altar until morning, when the priest was to clear the ashes to a place outside the camp.. The priests were to keep the fire burning, every morning feeding it wood..
The gift offering (, minḥā) was to be presented before the altar, a handful of it burned on the altar, and the balance eaten by the priests as unleavened cakes in the Tent of Meeting..
Second reading—Leviticus 6:12–7:10 In the second reading, on the occasion of the High Priest's anointment, the meal offering was to be prepared with oil on a griddle and then entirely burned on the altar..
The sin offering (, ḥaṭoṯ) was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, and the priest who offered it was to eat it in the Tent of Meeting.. If the sin offering was cooked in an earthen vessel, that vessel was to be broken afterward. A copper vessel could be rinsed with water and reused.. If blood of the sin offering was brought into the Tabernacle for expiation, the entire offering was to be burned on the altar..
The guilt offering (, āšām) was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, the priest was to dash its blood on the altar, burn its fat, broad tail, kidneys, and protuberance on the liver on the altar, and the priest who offered it was to eat the balance of its meat in the Tent of Meeting..
The priest who offered a burnt offering kept the skin.. The priest who offered it was to eat any baked or grilled meal offering, but every other meal offering was to be shared among all the priests..
Third reading—Leviticus 7:11–38 In the third reading, the peace offering (, šəlāmim), if offered for thanksgiving, was to be offered with unleavened cakes or wafers with oil, which would go to the priest, who would dash the blood of the peace offering upon the altar.. All the meat of the peace offering had to be eaten on the day it was offered.. If offered as a votive or a freewill offering, it could be eaten for two days, and what was then left on the third day was to be burned..
Meat that touched anything unclean could not be eaten; it had to be burned.. Only an unclean person could not eat meat from peace offerings, with punishment for transgression being banishment from the community.. One could eat no fat or blood, with transgression also leading to exile..
The person offering the peace offering had to present the offering and its fat himself; the priest would burn the fat on the altar, the breast would go to the priests, and the right thigh would go to the priest who offered the sacrifice..
Fourth reading—Leviticus 8:1–13 In the fourth reading, God instructed Moses to assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for the priests' ordination.. Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward, washed them, and dressed Aaron in his vestments.. Moses anointed and consecrated the Tabernacle and all that was in it, and then anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons..
Fifth reading—Leviticus 8:14–21 In the fifth reading, Moses led forward a bull for a sin offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull's head, and it was slaughtered.. Moses put the bull's blood on the horns and the base of the altar, burned the fat, the protuberance of the liver, and the kidneys on the altar, and burned the rest of the bull outside the camp.. Moses then brought forward a ram for a burnt offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, and it was slaughtered.. Moses dashed the blood against the altar and burned all of the rams on the altar..
Sixth reading—Leviticus 8:22–29 In the sixth reading, Moses then brought forward a second ram for ordination; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, and it was slaughtered.. Moses put some of its blood on Aaron and his sons, on the ridges of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet.. Moses then burned the animal's fat, broad tail, protuberance of the liver, kidneys, and right thigh on the altar with a cake of unleavened bread, a cake of oil bread, and a wafer as an ordination offering.. Moses raised the breast before God and then took it as his portion..
Seventh reading—Leviticus 8:30–36 In the seventh reading, Moses sprinkled oil and blood on Aaron and his sons and their vestments.. And Moses told Aaron and his sons to boil the meat at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there, and remain at the Tent of Meeting for seven days to complete their ordination, and they did all the things that God had commanded through Moses..
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 32023, 2026, 2029 . . . 2024, 2027, 2030 . . .2025, 2028, 2031 . . .Reading6:1–7:107:11–388:1–3616:1–37:11–158:1–526:4–67:16–188:6–936:7–117:19–218:10–1346:12–167:22–278:14–1756:17–237:28–318:18–2167:1–67:32–348:22–2977:7–107:35–388:30–36Maftir7:7–107:35–388:33–36
In inner-Biblical interpretation
This parashah and the preceding one (Vayikra) have parallels or are discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer, “Inner-biblical Interpretation,” in Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pages 1835–41.
Leviticus chapters 1–7 In Psalm 50, God clarifies the purpose of sacrifices. God states that correct sacrifice was not the taking of a bull out of the sacrificer's house, nor the taking of a goat out of the sacrificer's fold, to convey to God, for every animal was already God's possession.. The sacrificer was not to think of the sacrifice as food for God, for God neither feels hunger nor eats.. Rather, the worshiper was to offer God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon God in times of trouble, and thus God would deliver the worshiper, and the worshiper would honor God..
And Psalm 107 enumerates four occasions on which a thank-offering (, zivchei todah),. as described in Leviticus 7:12–15 (referring to a , zevach todah) would be appropriate: (1) passage through the desert,. (2) release from prison,. (3) recovery from serious disease,. and (4) surviving a storm at sea..
The Hebrew Bible reports several instances of sacrifices before God explicitly called for them in Leviticus 1–7. While Leviticus 1:3–17 and Leviticus 6:1–6 set out the procedure for the burnt offering (, olah), before then, Genesis 8:20 reports that Noah offered burnt-offerings (, olot) of every clean beast and bird on an altar after the waters of the Flood subsided. The story of the Binding of Isaac includes three references to the burnt offering (, olah). In Genesis 22:2, God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a burnt-offering (, olah). Genesis 22:3 then reports that Abraham rose early in the morning and split the wood for the burnt offering (, olah). And after the angel of the Lord averted Isaac's sacrifice, Genesis 22:13 reports that Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and Abraham then offered the ram as a burnt offering (, olah) instead of his son. Exodus 10:25 reports that Moses pressed Pharaoh for Pharaoh to give the Israelites "sacrifices and burnt offerings" (, zevachim v'olot) to offer to God. And Exodus 18:12 reports that after Jethro heard all that God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Jethro offered a burnt offering and sacrifices (, olah uzevachim) to God.
While Leviticus 2 and Leviticus 6:7–16 set out the procedure for the meal offering (, minchah), before then, in Genesis 4:3, Cain brought an offering (, minchah) of the fruit of the ground. And then Genesis 4:4–5 reports that God had respect for Abel and his offering (, minchato), but for Cain and his offering (, minchato), God had no respect.
And while Numbers 15:4–9 indicates that one bringing an animal sacrifice needed also to bring a drink offering (, nesech), before then, in Genesis 35:14, Jacob poured out a drink offering (, nesech) at Bethel.
More generally, the Hebrew Bible addressed "sacrifices" (, zevachim) generically in connection with Jacob and Moses. After Jacob and Laban reconciled, Genesis 31:54 reports that Jacob offered a sacrifice (, zevach) on the mountain and shared a meal with his relatives. And after Jacob learned that Joseph was still alive in Egypt, Genesis 46:1 reports that Jacob journeyed to Beersheba and offered sacrifices (, zevachim) to the God of his father, Isaac. And Moses and Aaron argued repeatedly with Pharaoh over their request to go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice (, venizbechah) to God.See (, venizbechah); (, nizbechah); (, nizbechah); (, veyizbechu); (, nizbach (twice)); (, vezavachnu); (, uzvachtem); (, lizboach); (, zevachim); (, zevach); (, zoveiach).
The Hebrew Bible also includes several ambiguous reports in which Abraham or Isaac built or returned to an altar and "called upon the name of the Lord."See ; ; ; see also , in which Moses built an altar in thanksgiving. In these cases, the text implies but does not explicitly state that the Patriarch offered a sacrifice.See Anson Rainey, "Sacrifice,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972), volume 14, pages 599, 606. And at God's request, Abraham conducted an unusual sacrifice at the Covenant between the Pieces () in Genesis 15:9–21.
Leviticus chapter 8 This is the pattern of instruction and construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings:
ItemInstructionConstructionOrderVersesOrderVersesThe Sabbath16Exodus 31:12–171Exodus 35:1–3Contributions1Exodus 25:1–92Exodus 35:4–29Craftspeople15Exodus 31:1–113Exodus 35:30–36:7Tabernacle5Exodus 26:1–374Exodus 36:8–38Ark2Exodus 25:10–225Exodus 37:1–9Table3Exodus 25:23–306Exodus 37:10–16Menorah4Exodus 25:31–407Exodus 37:17–24Altar of Incense11Exodus 30:1–108Exodus 37:25–28Anointing Oil13Exodus 30:22–339Exodus 37:29Incense14Exodus 30:34–3810Exodus 37:29Altar of Sacrifice6Exodus 27:1–811Exodus 38:1–7Laver12Exodus 30:17–2112Exodus 38:8Tabernacle Court7Exodus 27:9–1913Exodus 38:9–20Priestly Garments9Exodus 28:1–4314Exodus 39:1–31Ordination Ritual10Exodus 29:1–4615Leviticus 8:1–9:24Lamp8Exodus 27:20–2116Numbers 8:1–4
Gordon Wenham noted that the phrase "as the Lord commanded Moses" or a similar phrase "recurs with remarkable frequency" in Leviticus 8–10, appearing in Leviticus 8:4, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 29, 34, 36; 9:6, 7, 10, 21; 10:7, 13, and 15.Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), page 130.