Tzav

There are legends that abound in our faith.  One of them is that whatever has been brought into existence can never be wiped away.  That which was, is, and will be.  It is interesting that the laws of physics state the same principle of “conservation of mass,” matter cannot be destroyed.

In the parasha this week, Tzav, the Torah speaks of the fire in the altar that shall continually burn.  In the desert’s Mishkan and later in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem that same fire burned.  So what happened to that flame when the Temple was destroyed?

Rabbi Morris Silverman noted that the word in the Torah used to describe the placement of the fire is bo.  Boindicates that the fire would burn in it (or him).  Just as matter does not disappear so our sages taught us that the fire was transferred into every Jew’s soul.  There the fire burns continually. 

Each time we do a mitzvah the flames grow stronger; they become enlarged.  We are feeding the fire of our soul!  It is as if the altar of God was transferred from a physical form to a metaphysical state. 

We have an opportunity every day aid that fire’s growth. We also have the ability to starve it and watch the flames diminish.  But they are never fully extinguished.  That is why we call repentance, teshuvah, as it indicates a return to our soulful self as the fire consumes us and we become radiant from the inner light.

Our inner fire is drawn to the light of Torah.  We and it are one. We see that light expand as we draw closer to Torah and mitzvot.