Thanks – Tzav
In previous years I have discussed the Korban Toda mentioned in this, my favorite (barmitzvah) parsha, Tzav. This year I would like to examine the breads of the Toda more closely and introduce some amazing chiddushim from Sefer Meir Panim (2nd ed.) relating to the Korban Toda and also to Pesach.
אִם עַל תּוֹדָה יַקְרִיבֶנּוּ וְהִקְרִיב עַל זֶבַח הַתּוֹדָה חַלּוֹת מַצּוֹת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשֶּׁמֶן וּרְקִיקֵי מַצּוֹת מְשֻׁחִים בַּשָּׁמֶן וְסֹלֶת מֻרְבֶּכֶת חַלֹּת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשָּׁמֶן. עַל חַלֹּת לֶחֶם חָמֵץ יַקְרִיב קָרְבָּנוֹ עַל זֶבַח תּוֹדַת שְׁלָמָיו (ויקרא ז, יב-יג).
The 40 breads of the Toda are made from a total of 20 עשרונים of solet flour (about 40kg). These 20 עשרונים are split 50-50, half goes to baking chametz breads and half goes to baking matzot.
In the chametz department, there is only one type of chametz bread. These are 10 round loaves, each made with 1 עשרון of solet, (combined with water, salt and sourdough). The end result is ten enormous chametz breads, each weighing approximately 4kg.
The “flip-side” of the Toda breads is the matzot. There are three different types/categories, each consisting of 10 matzot, making a total of 30 matzot.
Since the 10 עשרונים of flour is divided between 30 matzot, it ends up that each matzo is made from 1/3 of an עשרון of solet (650g). When combined with water and salt and after baking, each matza weighs about 1kg. By comparison - one square, factory matza for Pesach weighs 62g approximately, so each Toda matza weighs the equivalent of 16 factory matzot - they are very large/heavy matzot. All three types of matzot are soft and flexible, like the modern Sefardi matzot, and not like the modern, hard, cracker-like Ashkenazi matzot.
The first type of matzot are called חַלּוֹת מַצּוֹת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשֶּׁמֶן, matzot with oil inside. Oil is added while mixing the dough of these matzot. The dough is then divided and shaped into ten round, large pita-like shapes, about one finger thick. These are then baked in the oven.
The second type of matzot are called רְקִיקֵי מַצּוֹת מְשֻׁחִים בַּשָּׁמֶן, thin, “wafer like” matzot (compared to the חַלּוֹת מַצּוֹת above, they are thin, but they are still twice as thick as factory Pesach matza). The dough is mixed without oil and is divided and shaped into ten thin, round matzot, very similar to an Israeli “lafa”. They are then baked in the oven. After they are baked, oil is spread over them, according to the Gemara (Menahot 75a) in the pattern of the Greek letter “chi”, which looks like a capital X (although there are some opinions that the pattern was like the Hebrew letter ט).
The third type of matzot are called סֹלֶת מֻרְבֶּכֶת חַלֹּת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשָּׁמֶן. Like the Rekikim above, the dough is mixed without oil. It is then divided into ten round, large pita-like shapes, about one finger thick. These are then dunked in a pot/pan of boiling water for a minute or two (according to the shita of the מעשה רוקח). They are then baked in the oven and finally, after baking, they are roasted in a pan over a thin layer of oil, so that they absorb the oil from the pan. Each of the boiling/baking/roasting stages is very short and the resulting matzo (called revucha or murbechet) is soft and almost undercooked.
As can be seen from the above, all the three types of the matzot of the Toda have oil incorporated into them, but in different ways (this will be discussed later).
These are the 40 breads of the Toda. As you can see, each of the four types of breads/matzot has a completely different preparation method and it takes a long time to make all 40 of them (from personal experience). Although I have not seen it written anywhere, it follows that a person who brings a Toda cannot just arrive at the Beit Hamikdash and expect to have a “ready-made” Toda waiting for him/her. It is necessary to schedule this in advance, probably with the Gizbar of the Beit Hamikdash, who allocates the בעל הקרבן a date and a time. The בעל הקרבן can either donate the solet and oil for the preparation of these breads, or alternatively pay money to the Beit Hamikdash who then provides the ingredients and also prepares the breads.
Who brings a Korban Toda? It is not anyone who just feels generous. There are specific criteria to define who brings this type of Korban.
The Gemara (ברכות נד, ע"ב), based on mizmor Tehilim (קז), details four categories of people who are required to bring a Toda. The circumstances surrounding all four of these categories have a common denominator – these people were all in some kind of danger, from which they emerged safely.
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, ארבעה צריכין להודות - יורדי הים, הולכי מדברות, ומי שהיה חולה ונתרפא, ומי שהיה חבוש בבית האסורים ויצא.
Four types of bread in the Toda, four categories of people who have to bring a Toda ….. The similarity is not incidental. In fact each circumstance mentioned in the Gemara in Brachot above corresponds to a specific type of bread in the Toda.
The first category is יורדי הים. What does that mean? It does not mean sunbathers who go to get a tan and swim on Netanya beach. The Gemara above continues to explain דכתיב יורדי הים באניות, in other words, someone who goes to sea in a ship. Back then, (and even in modern times - think of the Titanic), going on a sea voyage can be perilous. In calm waters the sun beats down on your head. During a storm, the sea becomes a tumultuous, seething cauldron tossing the ship around like a cork, threatening to flip it over. The bread of the Toda that corresponds to this category is the matza called Murbechet. It is first plunged into a seething cauldron of boiling water. It is then placed in an oven that blasts it with heat and finally it is singed in bubbling oil.
The second category is הולכי מדברות. The Gemara elaborates- דכתיב תעו במדבר בישימון דרך עיר מושב לא מצאו. This is not a vacationer who goes for a weekend to a hotel in Taba in the Sinai desert. It is referring to someone who goes on a journey through a desolate area, a desert, far away from civilization. In such desolation, danger lurks from every corner. The sun beats down incessantly on your head, there are wild animals, snakes and scorpions and also wild “human” animals - bandits and robbers. The bread of the Toda that corresponds to this category is the matza called Rekikim. It is a large, flat, thin matza that is struck by unbearable heat in the oven, which causes the dough to bubble up, causing undulations that resemble sand dunes in the desert. Being the thinnest, it is also the most “dehydrated” of all the four types of bread.
The third category is מי שהיה חולה ונתרפא. The Gemara elaborates- דכתיב אוילים מדרך פשעם ומעונותיהם יתענו, כל אוכל תתעב נפשם ויגיעו עד שערי מות. This is someone who, due to their sins, is punished with severe illness that brings them to the brink of death. An illness is something that propagates internally and manifests externally by high fever. The bread of the Toda that corresponds to this category is the matza called Challot Matzot. This bread has oil mixed in with the dough – internally. Externally it is categorized by high temperature from baking in the oven. Incidentally, Challot Matzot are also a required component of a קרבן חטאת, when someone confesses their sin.
The fourth and final category is מי שהיה חבוש בבית האסורים ויצא. The Gemara elaborates- דכתיב ישבי חשך וצלמות אסירי עני וברזל. Someone who is imprisoned (or kidnapped/captured) and is then set free. The bread of the Toda that corresponds to this category is the Chametz loaf. A chametz bread, unlike matza, is not contained. It expands freely and “breaks any shackles” that bind it.
From this we can see that the four types of bread in the Toda also bear physical characteristics that echo the circumstances for which they are brought.
Another interesting point to note is that the four circumstances surrounding the bringing of a Toda reflect some kind of נסיון and are the result of some kind of behavior that HKB”H did not approve of. If someone has to go to sea, or travel through the desert to make a parnasa, find a shidduch, etc. it means that there is a lack of שפע וברכה where they live, that they have to journey out. This lack of abundance and ברכה reflects a punishment for some wrongdoing. Similarly if someone becomes ill or is imprisoned, it is due to some sin they have committed, which they have to atone for by undergoing this נסיון. Since this common thread exists between all the categories and breads of the Toda, a person is required to bring all four and not only the one type of bread that corresponds to their specific circumstance. In addition, while each circumstance (sea, desert, illness etc.) has a primary focus, there are secondary “fragments” of all the other types that, together, exacerbate and culminate in the primary circumstance.
The Sfat Emet (פרשת צו, תר"נ) says that the reason the Toda combines an equal proportion of chametz and matza, is because there are two types of miracles. There are miracles which are visible and apparent, like being saved from a sinking ship, or recovering from a terminal illness, which is contrary to nature. These are represented by the matza component which is entirely visible – it has no hidden components – it comprises only flour, water and salt. In addition, there are miracles which are hidden, that take place behind the scenes, reflected by the chametz component, which works invisibly inside the dough, hidden from the naked eye. In order to give thanks for both types of miracles we include equal components of both types.
As a baker, this perush of the Sfat Emet always bothered me. If the chametz bread is meant to reflect hidden miracles, then why is it davka the chametz bread that fulfills this task? Yes, chametz works inside the dough, but it is not invisible at all – it is highly visible! We see the bread rising and expanding and we taste the sourness in the bread – there is nothing invisible/covert about it at all!
To me it seems that there is another reason why it is davka the chametz bread that reflects the “invisible” miracles. In fact there are not two types of miracles there is only one type – visible miracles! If a miracle “appears” to be hidden, it is because the chametz (which is likened to the yetzer harah, Brachot 17a) tricks us into believing so. In fact the visible miracles, like the Ten Plagues in Egypt and also what we might consider hidden miracles, like waking up in the morning, our heart beating, a seed growing into a wheat plant, etc. – are all equivalent, they are all miracles of the same magnitude. It is just our yetzer harah that dulls our consciousness and causes us to relegate these incredible miracles to our subconscious, labeling them with concepts like “normal”, “nature”, “the laws of statistics”. Everything in this world, every millisecond in this world is a miracle. Every millisecond HKB”H is מחדש בטובו מעשה בראשית. Every millisecond that we live is a re-enactment of the six days of Creation, over and over again, a constant re-injection of Divine energy, that if it stopped for a fraction of a second, would cause the universe to implode and cease to exist.
The chametz component of the Toda comes to teach us to transcend the chametz, the yetzer harah and see the truth for what it really is and to give thanks, constantly. If we would have done that in the first place, we probably would not have arrived at the circumstances that caused us to bring a Toda. Every time we wake up and say מודה אני, every time we daven (three times a day) מודים אנחנו לך in the amidah, we have to “shake off” the chametz in ourselves, the hold the yetzer harah has over us and marvel at what an enormous miracle the world and we are. We have to truly give thanks, every living, breathing moment. In fact, by all rights, every waking hour we should be saying “Thank you Hashem”, “Thank you Hashem” ….. but if we did, we could not live. We could not work to make a parnasa, we could not communicate with other people, etc. and the world would stop functioning. So instead the Torah gave us fixed times in the day that we need to give thanks. In these times, we truly need to focus and concentrate on what we are saying and put the rest of the world and our worries aside for a moment and mean what we say. It is not as easy as it sounds - it takes a lot of work.
When does the Toda appear for the first time in the Torah? (hint, it is not in this week’s parsha).
The first time is when Avraham Avinu was visited by the three angels. Avraham had just undergone and was recovering from brit milah. The Midrash (Breishit Rabba 48, 9) says that the three angels (Michael, Rafael and Gavriel) appeared in three different “disguises”, one was dressed as a ship’s captain, the other as a Bedouin nomad and the third as a baker.
Together with Avraham שהיה חולה ונתרפא, the three angels - the ship’s captain יורדי הים, the Bedouin nomad הולכי מדברות, and the baker who bakes chametz bread מי שהיה חבוש בבית האסורים ויצא - represent all four categories of the Toda.
According to sefer זרע ברך (פרשת וירא), the world is divided into three (not equal) parts – sea, desolation, civilization, and the three angels represent these parts of the world. According to Chazal it was these angels, who when HKB”H wanted to create man, said מָה אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ וּבֶן אָדָם כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ, that it was not a good idea to create man. HKB”H said to them וְעַד זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא וְעַד שֵׂיבָה אֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל, “Wait until זִקְנָה”, wait until the old man (Avraham) arrives וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים. HKB”H sent these angels to show them for what purpose He created man.
Avraham went into the tent and said to Sarah מַהֲרִי שְׁלֹשׁ סְאִים קֶמַח סֹלֶת לוּשִׁי וַעֲשִׂי עֻגוֹת, to prepare the three types of matza of the Toda. וְאֶל הַבָּקָר רָץ אַבְרָהָם meanwhile Avraham prepared the זבח שלמים that was part of the Toda, eaten with the breads. וְהוּא עֹמֵד עֲלֵיהֶם תַּחַת הָעֵץ וַיֹּאכֵלוּ and they sat under the tree, the אשל, the holy tree from Gan Eden, representing the holy city of Yerushalayim and shared the food of the Toda.
Why did Avraham have to bring a Toda? From the pshat it would appear that he was חולה שנתרפא, but it goes beyond that – it was in fact because he fit all four categories of the Toda, like his descendants hundreds of years later.
The Midrash does not say which of the angels Michael, Rafael and Gavriel were dressed as the captain, the nomad and the baker, but from the principles above it is not hard to figure out. The Gemara (Bava Metzia 86b) says that Michael’s task was to tell Sarah she would give birth to Yitzchak, Rafael’s task was to cure Avraham and Gavriel’s task was to destroy Sdom.
In fact Michael had two tasks – one to tell Sarah about Yitzchak and the second to save Lot. Normally an angel is only given one specific task, not more than one? According to sefer ברוך יאמרו (פרשת בלק) telling Sarah and saving Lot were the same task, they were dependent on each other. By Michael asking Avraham “Where is Sarah?” and Avraham replying “She is in the tent”, Michael was in fact getting a psak halacha from Avraham that it was permissible to save Lot in the first place. If the wife is “in the tent” (כבוד בת המלך פנימה), then when Am Yisrael left Egypt and Amon and Moav did not go out to greet them with food and water, it was only the males who did not come out to greet them, because the women were in the tent, it was not their job to go out and greet. Therefore the issur to marry an Amoni and Moavi only applies only to the males, not to the females. Therefore it was permissible for Boaz to marry Rut (a descendant of Lot) and therefore it was required to save Lot from Sdom. Incidentally this is why Gavriel also visited Avrham. If his purpose was to destroy Sdom, then why did he go to Avraham at all? It was to hear this same psak halacha, that he must wait until Lot was clear of Sdom before raining down fire and brimstone.
So how was Gavriel dressed? His task was to eradicate Sdom, a city of avodah zarah, yetzer harah/chametz. Therefore he was the baker and corresponds to the chametz bread of the Toda.
Rafael was dressed as the Bedouin nomad, the Rekik matza of the Toda. Why is Rafael, who came to cure Avraham - the הולכי מדברות, the Rekik? We said above that all the matzot of the Toda have oil added in different ways. The Rekikim have oil spread on top of them. The Maharal (דרוש נאה, ריז) says that the quantity and location of the oil in the Menachot represents the level of spirituality. Sefer בלבבי משכן אבנה (עמ' 206) quoting R’ Chaim of Volozhin (נפש החיים, שער א', פרק טו) says the matza representing the highest spiritual level is the matza with the oil spread on top – the Rekik. Rafael’s task was to cure Avraham after the brit milah. Avraham שהיה חולה ונתרפא was the Challat Matza, with the oil inside him – he was born into a family of idolators and had the genetics of עבודה זרה inside him from birth, but this was expelled/cured when he performed brit milah. Rafael’s task was to cure him of this illness and elevate him to the highest level of spirituality, the Rekik, to the level of מדבר, which is הפקר, which is why the Torah was given in the מדבר (במדבר רבה א, ז).
Michael’s task was to tell Sarah she would give birth to Yitzchak and to rescue the forbearer of the Mashiach ben David. Michael was therefore dressed as the ship’s captain יורדי הים corresponding to the Murbechet matza of the Toda. Yitzchak would give birth to Yaakov who would give birth to Am Yisrael who crossed over the Red Sea. Part of the progeny of Yitzchak would be the tribes of Yosef and Yehudah, from who the two Mashiachs are descended משיח בן יוסף ומשיח בן דוד and also the tribe of Zevulun, who were seafaring merchants.
Here is an amazing chiddush from Meir Panim regarding the connection between the Lechem Hapanim and the Toda. The Lechem Hapanim is closely connected to the tribe of Zevulun. As we know, a central purpose of the Lechem Hapanim is parnasa. Zevulun were the “tribe of the parnasa”, they were seafaring merchants, כִּי שֶׁפַע יַמִּים יִינָקוּ וּשְׂפוּנֵי טְמוּנֵי חוֹל (דברים לג, יט), who funded the tribe of Yissachar’s Torah study. For this reason the Lechem Hapanim is shaped like a ship, ספינה רוקדת. The passuk above וּשְׂפוּנֵי טְמוּנֵי חוֹל is interpreted by most of the Mefarshim as referring to the חילזון (from which techelet is made), that was indigenous to Zevulun’s territory. Meir Panim says this passuk is referring to the Lechem Hapanim. וּשְׂפוּנֵי refers to the Lechem Hapanim shaped like a ship טְמוּנֵי חוֹל means that they are “buried” in the חוֹל meaning “during the week”, בימי חול. On Erev Shabbat the Kohanim remove the pipes קנים (מנקיות) that separate the 12 loaves of Lechem Hapanim, so that the Lechem Hapanim is sitting on the Shulchan the entire Shabbat, not buried under pipes. The pipes are reinserted on Motzei Shabbat and the Lechem Hapanim, shaped like a ship, remains the entire week "buried" under the pipes.
The purpose of the pipes (מנקיות) is to “clean”, to provide airflow between the breads so that they do not go moldy while they rest the entire week on the Shulchan. On a philosophical level, the purpose of the מנקיות is to teach us that during the week, when we are involved in our business dealings, that we need to remain נקי - be honest and clean in everything regarding our parnasa (for example the gematriya of the word וּמְנַקִּיֹּתָיו is - ריבית, to warn us against the issur of ריבית).
Therefore the Lechem Hapanim are like the יורדי הים of the Toda. On Shabbat the Lechem Hapanim rest on the Shulchan without the מנקיות, they do not need them on Shabbat, because on Shabbat the Lechem Hapanim soak up קדושה that keeps them going the rest of the week כל ברכאן דלעילא ותתא ביומא שביעאה תליין (זהר, ח"ב פ"ח ע"א). Just like undertaking a sea voyage, יורדי הים, is a perilous undertaking, so is venturing into the tumultuous world of business and parnasa during the week. Emerging unscathed from such an encounter is nothing short of a miracle and warrants bringing a Toda. The Lechem Hapanim is the equivalent of the Toda - for parnasa.
In previous shiurim on Tzav I discussed the connection between the Toda and Pesach, that the only time in history that someone was liable to bring a Toda for all four categories (and not just one of the four), were Am Yisrael when they left Egypt and came to Eretz Yisrael. They were יורדי ים, crossing over the Red Sea, they were הולכי מדברות, spending 40 years in the desert, they were מי שהיה חולה ונתרפא, all their afflictions and ailments acquired during slavery in Egypt were cured by the Mann and the water from the Well of Miriam before Matan Torah and they were מי שהיה חבוש בבית האסורים ויצא, freed from slavery in Egypt.
The entire festival of Pesach revolves around the number four –
Four special Shabbatot before Pesach (שקלים, זכור, פרה, החודש), four names of the chag (פסח, חג המצות, חג האביב, זמן חרותנו), four לשונות הגאולה (והוצאתי והצלתי וגאלתי ולקחתי), four questions, four cups of wine, four sons, four separate pieces of matza (after we break the middle of the three matzot in two), four times we are commanded to tell our children about יציאת מצרים in the Torah (שמות יב, כו; שמות יג, ח; שמות יג, יד; דברים ו, כ), four כזיתים we are required to eat (מצה, מרור, כורך, אפיקומן), sixteen (four X four) drops of wine we remove from the cup (דָם, וָאֵשׁ, ותימרות עשן, עֶשֶׂר הַמַכּוֹת, דְצַ"ךְ, עַדַ"שׁ, בְּאַחַ"ב), 16th (four X four) of Nisan we bring the Omer, 16 (four X four) times in שמות, פרק טו, the chapter of Shirat Hayam, the name of Hashem appears, etc.
The reason is because Pesach in its entirety is - a Korban Toda and the magic number of the Toda is four. Pesach begins on 15th of Nisan and ends on Shavuot. The word עצרת means culmination, the last day of the chag. Just as שמיני עצרת concludes the chag of Sukkot, so too does Shavuot conclude the chag of Pesach. On Pesach itself we eat the three matzot of the Toda and on Shavuot we eat the chametz bread (קרבן שתי הלחם). In the Beit Mikdash, only two Korbanot have chametz in them - the chametz bread of the Toda and the Shtei Halechem on Shavuot, because essentially they are not two separate korbanot but really the same korban. The quantity of solet and the recipes for both are identical.
As Pesach approaches next week, let us start making a list of all the things that have happened to us since last Pesach that we need to be thankful for and let us celebrate Pesach this year thanking HKB”H with all our hearts and souls, continuing after Pesach every day, giving thanks for the miracle – it is ALL one big miracle! Then we will b”H be zocheh to the Geulah and the coming of Mashiach when all the other קרבנות יחיד will be cancelled except for the Korban Toda (ויקרא רבה, פרשה ט, ז), which will endure for eternity, בבי"א.
