Parshat Tzav: Here’s a riddle for you.
Transcript:
Here is a riddle for you: Where do we find a Gematria in which the numerical equivalent of the title of a Parsha, equals the number of verses within that portion?
The answer is that this week’s portion of Tzav. Tzav, ‘tzade’ is 90, ‘vav’ is six, that adds up to 96 and that’s the number of verses in the Parsha.
With Tzav, what it says on the tin is what you find within it.
I find it very interesting that if you were to ask the average person, what is the one food which is more treif than any other?
Everybody would say, it is ‘chazir’, it is pig.
But what is really interesting is that actually the Torah tells us that the pig scores one out of two, when it comes to the two requirements for animals to be kosher, because a pig does have cloven hooves.
However, it does not chew the cud. Actually, the fact that the pig scores 50%, is what makes it seem more treif than any other food.
It’s the fact that outwardly it presents itself as being kosher, but internally it is treif and you can’t have anything more treif than that.
In the book of Shemot we read, how the ‘Aron’, the Ark of the Covenant was layered with pure gold, both on the outside and on the inside, in order to teach us ‘Tocho kebaro’, what you see on the outside is also what it contained, in the inside.
Both outwardly in terms of our persona and when it comes to our true inward characters, we too need to be as good as gold.
So, let’s never forget the message, the lesson of the title Tzav and that is in life, what you see on the tin should match what is inside it.
Shabbat Shalom.
