Sunday 25 March 2012

Ethics from the Torah portion: TZAV


צו את אהרן

“Command Aharon” – Vayikra 6:2

Rashi explains that the use of the world “tzav – command” denotes the urgency of Aharon’s action.

The Gemara in Kiddushin explains that one who is obligated in a mitzvah and does the mitzvah received greater reward than one who isn’t obligated but does the mitzvah anyway of his own accord. Tosafos explains that this is because the one to which the mitzvah is compulsory for him is under constant pressure to perform that mitzvah, whilst an optional mitzvah doesn’t carry with it the same amount of effort and pressure.

Therefore, we can understand Rashi’s comment. Because the Yetzer Hara only attacks someone who is commanded to do something, Hashem gave the urgent command – “Tzav” – to Aharon, so he could overcome his Yetzer Hara, evil inclination, before his Yetzer Hara could overcome him.

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