Opening our Tender Hearts
Dear Friends,
I was very moved by a teaching I found on this week’s Parsha, Tzav, and want to share it with you. It comes from Rabbi Naomi Kalish and her comments on a teaching from Rav Simcha Bunim. (1765-1827)
The teaching focuses on the first few verses of the Parsha that describe the pre-dawn ritual of removing the ashes from the altar that are left over from the sacrifices of the previous day.
The kohain (priest) enters the ohel moed (tent of meeting), dressed in linens, removes the ashes from the altar, changes his clothes and then brings the ashes outside the camp to a makom tahor, to “clean” place -- a place that is regarded with reverence.
The teaching states that removing the ashes to ready the altar for the new day’s offering could be viewed as drudgery, as an act lacking in honor. However it also could be viewed as avodat kodesh, holy service, essential for the well being of all.
This is because removing the ashes gave the kohain an opportunity to face what had been sacrificed, what had been lost and to grieve. By lifting up the ashes, walking through the camp and bringing the ashes to a place of reverence the kohain modeled a daily practice of acknowledging and grieving loss.
I was touched by this teaching because I find myself waking up each morning bathed in grief; sometimes the grief is so overwhelming I feel I can barely move. After reading this teaching I felt encouraged to allow grief, to declare it holy and treat it with patient reverence.
This morning I woke up, opened the bedroom window and lifted my hands imagining I was carrying the ashes and laying them in a sacred place. I then recited modah ani and ritually washed my hands. With these rituals I prayed to begin the new day, honoring the grief and making room for a new offerings to emerge.
I am a long way from making peace with the sorrows I am carrying and I am heartened by this ancient ritual that honors what has been sacrificed and all that has been lost.
May we hold the grief we feel with reverence and care and may this help our tender hearts remain open to sadness and joys.
With love,
Rabbi Yael