Parashat Tzav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36, Shabbat HaGadol

Holiness is maintained by a combination of attitude and action.

Some twenty-five years ago the city of New York was the testing ground for a social experiment called the "Broken Windows Theory." This experiment was developed by a movement that believes that environmental design can impact criminal behaviour. According to the Broken Windows Theory, if the community pays attention to small things such as fixing broken windows or removing graffiti, this will have a ripple effect and lead to a lessening of crime. Changing the environment sends a message that results in changed behaviour. New York started out by cleaning graffiti from all its subway cars, a project that took six years. It also arrested fare jumpers and others who committed misdemeanors. Fixing the small problems prevents the bigger ones. First proposed in the March, 1982 issue of The Atlantic, the Broken Windows Theory remains controversial today, even though it has been subject to testing.

The mindset of Leviticus may be viewed as an ancient precursor of the Broken Windows Theory with a slight twist. To understand it, we need to go back to the story of Creation When God began to create heaven and earth —the earth being unformed and void (Genesis 1:1-2). As God creates, structure is imposed on the world and chaos is brought under control. Yet, to the ancient mind the primordial chaos can reenter this world, as it threatened to do in the story of Noah when All the fountains of the great deep burst apart, /And the floodgates of the sky broke open (Genesis 7:11).

What do the events in Genesis have to do with Leviticus? Leviticus addresses concerns on a communal level. As with the Broken Windows Theory, the idea is to keeps society functioning properly by addressing problems in the environment as soon as they occur. The concern in Leviticus goes beyond graffiti or fare-jumping, it deals with kedusha, sacredness or holiness. If all functions as it should, chaos is kept at bay. The presence of sacredness in the here and now means that the world is functioning as it should, otherwise chaos could seep in and that would be dangerous.

As we see in this week's portion, Tzav, Leviticus sets boundaries separating the sacred from the profane and prescribes appropriate actions to correct situations when things go wrong. It comes down very hard on things that from our perspective appear to be trivial, such as a sacrifice that is eaten after its "use by" date: If any of the flesh of his sacrifice of well-being is eaten on the third day, it shall not be acceptable; it shall not count for him who offered it. It is an offensive thing (piggul), and the person who eats of it shall bear his guilt (Leviticus 7:18).

The Hebrew word piggul, "offensive thing" or "abomination," is a technical term referring specifically to the infraction of consuming this particular offering on the third day. This doesn't mean: "Oops, I forgot to burn the leftovers." Rather, as Rashi points out, the intention was to take home a doggy-bag with leftovers from the very beginning. It is the original mindset that invalidates the sacrifice. The wrong attitude is a threat to holiness.

Another threat to holiness is contact with impurities; such contact destroys protective boundaries and contaminates that which is sacred. Hence, there are grave consequences to these particular infractions:

Flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be consumed in fire. As for other flesh, only he who is clean may eat such flesh. But the person who, in a state of uncleanness, eats flesh from the Lord's sacrifices of well-being, that person shall be cut off from his kin. When a person touches anything unclean, be it human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean creature, and eats flesh from the Lord's sacrifices of well-being, that person shall be cut off from his kin.       

Leviticus 7:19-21

Holiness is maintained by a combination of attitude and action. It is so important that even the smallest infraction cannot be overlooked. Just as a minor cut can lead to a serious infection if not treated, or a broken window ignored can eventually lead to a crime-ridden neighborhood, the smallest transgression can erode sacredness.

While we no longer offer sacrifices, traces of the levitical worldview are reflected in our preparations for the upcoming holiday of Pesach. Hametz (leaven) was forbidden as part of the meal offerings in biblical times, and remains the central prohibition on Pesach. Hametz is a particularly virulent "contaminant," which the rabbinic sages symbolically associated with yetser ha-ra, the evil inclination.

The search for hametz must be extensive and intensive, for even the smallest particle of hametz in no matter how large a food mixture will corrupt. Similarly, no matter how small or deeply hidden the evil inclination is within us, it will fester and grow and eventually poison everything else. The process of removing hametz from the home is meant to arouse us to remove those negative inclinations within us as well.

The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary, Michael Strassfeld, pp. 40-1

Here too, sanctity is maintained by action and attitude. Talk about spring cleaning! The ritual of cleaning our home results in a cleansing of our souls. The end result of thinking and doing the right thing is described in the haftarah for this special Shabbat, Shabbat HaGadol: I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and pour down blessings on you (Malachi 3:10).

Shabbat shalom and chag kasher ve-sameach,
Rabbi Michal Shekel