We are approaching the festival of Passover, the time of our freedom. As we have mentioned many times, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), taught that one should live by the Torah, that is, by the weekly Torah portion. The Torah is divided into 54 portions, which are read in synagogues throughout the world each Shabbat. It follows, then, that there should be practical teachings related to Passover in this week's portion.
The name of this week's parashah is Tzav, which means "command." At the beginning, God commands Moses to tell Aaron and his sons, the Kohanim, a series of details about how the Olah sacrifice—the burnt offering—should be presented. However, prior to the offering itself, God stipulates that specific garments must be worn to properly prepare the altar, removing the ashes from the previous night and preparing the fire upon it for the day.
Apparently, beyond the issues related to the Temple and its work, there is no practical lesson for us today. However, when we look at Rashi's (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 1040-1105) first commentary on this section, we see something remarkable: Rashi comments on the expression that gives this parashah its name, the word tzav, which is not the usual way of addressing a person. In most places, God speaks to Moses so that he tells a third party (the Jewish people, or an individual) something specific, but it is uncommon to see in the Torah God telling Moses to command someone else to do this or that. Regarding this novelty, Rashi comments: "The word tzav means nothing other than to encourage now and forever." That is, Moses was not only to transmit a Divine command to Aaron and his sons in the form of a command, but he was also to encourage him, to urge him to be diligent in carrying it out.
The Torah teaches us that one must not only be diligent, prompt, and efficient in observing the commandments themselves, but that the same quality of diligence must also be present in the preparation for them. And it is this proper preparation that ultimately ensures the observance itself is appropriate in every respect.
Passover is one of the Jewish holidays that requires the most preparation: a thorough cleaning of the house, buying all the necessary materials (food in general, matzah, wine, etc.), finding and selling the chametz, and other (seemingly endless!) preparations. And after so much work and time invested, the holiday itself hasn't even begun! For everyone to have a kosher and joyful Passover, we must prepare properly and joyfully, diligently and efficiently.
In fact, talking to a man from La Plata, he told me how his mother would whitewash the kitchen walls for Passover and that they also had a cupboard where they kept the specific Passover utensils, so that when the holiday arrived, the house looked different. You could feel the Passover atmosphere, while after the holiday ended, the house returned to its previous state. Why did the house feel different? Because there had been preparations in accordance with Passover.
May we all have the merit to live a Chag HaPesach Kosher veSameach, a proper and joyful festival, and may we be able to eat at this Passover Seder of the true Passover offering, in the Third Temple, with our Righteous Messiah.