A Nice Thought on the Parsha

In honor of '90s day during breakfast, there was no Mishmar AM today, so here is an idea about Parshat Tzav from my friend Rabbi Dan Lifschitz.

"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'this is the law of the olah-sacrifice...'"  (Lev 6:2)
The midrash on this verse comments:  "Command (tzav) is always a language of encouragement... the Torah had to give extra encouragement here because of the monetary loss involved."  Subsequent commentators have struggled to explain what the midrash had in mind.  Ostensibly, the mitzvah of the olah-sacrifice doesn't stand out as a particularly costly one; why does this mitzvah require more encouragement than everything else?
R' Yosef Shaul Natanson (cited by R' David Silverberg) explains that unlike other sacrifices, the olah had to be burned completely, requiring a large amount of firewood.  The Sages teach that the firewood on the Temple altar was actually unneeded, since G-d would always provide a miraculous flame.  Despite this, the kohanim were commanded to purchase and place it there.  Not only were the kohanim spending a lot of money for firewood to burn the olah-sacrifice, they were spending it on something seemingly superfluous.  That was the uniqueness of this "monetary loss;" unlike the mitzvah of matzah, where unless you buy or bake matzah you won't have it, the expenditures for burning the olah could feel like a waste of money, and that's why the extra encouragement was important here.
There is a general lesson for us to draw from this technical explanation.  In one sense, the firewood on the altar was not needed since G-d would keep the fires burning at any rate.  But in another sense, it was necessary for the kohanim to provide the wood in order to take an active role in sustaining their relationship with the Almighty.  G-d desires to be close to us, but for that to happen we need to put in effort too.  We have to make sacrifices (monetary or otherwise) and play our part.  These sacrifices need encouragement, but they are well worth it in the end.  Shabbat shalom.

This is a beautiful thought, that is particularly relevant to many of us.  People often wonder why Hashem needs our tefillot.  The answer is that He doesn't, but that they are essential anyway.
Have a great Shabbos.