Thanks but No Thanks!

 

R. Yaakov Bieler

Parashat Tzav, 5766

Shabbat HaGadol

 

Regarding Tehillim 100, known by its opening words: “Mizmor LeToda” (a song of thanksgiving), and a component of the weekday “Pesukei D’Zimra” (verses of song, an early section of the weekday “Shacharit” [morning] service), Halachic codifiers discuss the days on which it is omitted from the prayer service. One of the periods of the year when Tehillim 100 is skipped is during the upcoming Pesach Festival.

 

RaMA on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 51:9

And “Mizmor LeToda” is not recited…during the days of Pesach, because the Thanksgiving Offering (described in Parashat Tzav) is not offered on these days because of “Chametz”…

 

Mishna Berura #22

Because along with the Thanksgiving Offering itself, it was required that 10 leavened loaves also be brought[1] (and “Chametz” is prohibited during Pesach).

With regard to the eve of Pesach the “Toda” would not be brought out of fear that all of the accompanying bread would not be consumed before the time of the prohibition of eating “Chametz”, and it would be necessary to burn what remains.

The prohibition against offering the Thanksgiving Sacrifice on the eve of Pesach is because it is prohibited to allow Sacrifices to devolve into a situation where they have to be destroyed (once the delineated time for their consumption has passed).

 

The omission of “Mizmor LeToda” from the daily prayers due to the rules governing the Sacrifice that once was associated with it, i.e., “Korban Toda” (the Thanksgiving Offering), constitutes another manifestation of the Rabbinic premise that with the absence of the Temple and its sacrificial rites, prayer in the synagogue becomes the substitute for former Temple Offerings. If reciting the relevant portions from the Written and Oral Traditions describing the Sacrifices[2] was intended only to encourage one to reflect upon what took place in the Temple in the past, and to beseech God that these practices be reinstituted in the future, it would not seem terribly important whether or not the prayers were said only on the days when the corresponding Sacrifices originally had been offered. But when we consider the more metaphysical interpretation that the recitations of these passages actually constitute a vicarious but nevertheless present-day “offering” of the Sacrifices described, it becomes understandable why the question of including or excluding the prayer must be governed by a particular day of the week, Shabbat or Yom Tov.[3]

 

A further curious aspect of the omission of Tehillim 100 from Shabbat, Yom Tov and Erev Pesach prayers is that aside from the two opening words, “Mizmor LeToda”, the Tehilla does not contain anything that suggests an exclusive association with a particular sacrifice:[4]

 

Tehillim 100

A Song of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His Presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He Who Made us, and we belong to Him. We are His People, and the sheep of His Pasture.

Enter His Gates with thanksgiving and His Courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His Name.

For the Lord is Good; His steadfast Love Endures forever and His Faithfulness to all generations.

 

Granted that within this Tehilla we are instructed to express our appreciation of and thanks to HaShem; however, shouldn’t one do so even on occasions when he is not specifically offering up a Thanksgiving Sacrifice? As for the phrase “entering His Gates and His Courts”, it could suggest we are referring to a purposeful visit to the Temple to offer the Thanksgiving Sacrifice. Yet, any time one comes to the Temple, expressing thanks and appreciation to HaShem is most appropriate, and it therefore does not seem necessary to insist that such behavior is worthy of only the four types of people mentioned in Tehillim 107 and deemed by the Talmud as obligated to bring “Toda Offerings” following their difficult ordeals.[5] By insisting on the omission of “Mizmor LeToda” from the prayers, the unfortunate impression is given that it is the act of expressing thankfulness that is being censored, and it is difficult to understand why such an implication should be allowed to be kept in place. Can a distinction be drawn between the type of thankfulness that is expressed by the final section of the “Amida” (lit. the standing; the silent devotion prayer) beginning with the phrase “Modim Anachnu Lach” (we give thanks to You), and the thankfulness associated with Tehillim 100, the former being deemed more acceptable than the latter?

 

Perhaps the starting point for attempting to deal with question of the nature of particular ritual expressions of thanksgiving is to think about the unique characteristics of the Thanksgiving Offering. One can only appreciate the strangeness of the presence of “Chametz” as part of this Sacrifice when a comparison is made with other “Mincha” (flour) sacrifices.

 

VaYikra 2:4-5, 11

And if you bring a Sacrifice of Meal Offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

And if your Sacrifice be a Meal Offering baked in a pan, if shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.

No Meal Offering that you shall bring to the Lord, shall be made with “Chametz” for you shall not burn any leaven or any honey in any Offering of the Lord made by fire.

 

Ibid. 6:9-10

And the remainder of it shall Aharon and his sons eat. With unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place, in the Court of the Tent of Meeting they shall eat it.

It shall not be baked with leaven. I have Given it to them for their portion of My Offerings made by fire.

 

Ibid. 8:26

And out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer and put them on the fat and upon the right shoulder.

 

Consequently Mishna Menachot 5:1 forthrightly states: All Meal Offerings must be comprised of “Matza” with the exception of the “Chametz” that is part of the “Korban Toda”, and the two loaves (offered on Shavuot) [6] that they come in “Chametz” form.

 

An approach to the intrinsic and particular nature of the “Thanksgiving Offering” that might allow one to address why this Sacrifice and its Tehilla are excluded from Shabbat and Yom Tov Service is a lengthy exposition by Klee Yakar as to why the “Korban Toda” included “Chametz” along with “Matza”.

 

Klee Yakar on VaYikra 6:9

And the reason for the avoidance of “Chametz” (in most of the Meal Offerings) it can be explained in one of two ways:

The first approach is based upon the words of R. Aleksandri who said (Berachot 17a): It is our desire to comply with Your Will; but the “leavening in the dough” is preventing this from taking place…

And for this reason it is stated here (with respect to the Meal Offering that accompanies the Sin Offering) “It shall not be baked with leaven…it is most holy, as is the Sin Offering and the Guilt Offering (themselves, i.e., the animal portions of these offerings).” Via the offering of a Sacrifice, the person bringing the “Korban” is “sacrificing” his Evil Inclination, to the point where if he subsequently seeks it out, he will not find it. It is for this reason that the Meal Offering that is part of the Sin Offering is brought completely free of leavening…

However with respect to the “Korban Toda”, loaves of “Chametz” and “Matza” would be brought at the same time. The “Matza” symbolizes that a person has to some degree subjugated the past iniquity by means of the anguish felt in his heart (due to the traumatic experience that he has undergone), as is written concerning the four categories of human experiences that are obligated to give thanks, (Tehillim 107:12) “So that He Brought down their hearts with anguish…”.[7] The Midrash (Beraishit Rabba 34:10) states: Evildoers are at the mercy of their hearts (they give in to every inclination that arises within them). The Rabbis in Sanhedrin 43b interpret the verse (Tehillim 50:23) “Zoveach Toda Yechabdaneni” (Whoever offers thanks / a Thanksgiving Offering, glorifies Me) as referring to one who sacrifices his Evil Inclination and confesses regarding the sin that it had caused him to commit… Therefore he (who brings a Thanksgiving Offering that is accompanied by leavened loaves) also brings unleavened loaves (representing his rejection of sinfulness, at least to some degree). But he does not only bring unleavened loaves, since the Evil Inclination is necessary for the preservation of the species.[8] For this reason (one does not bring only unleavened cakes, but rather) there are also leavened cakes. And the ratio of unleavened to leavened was three to one,[9] the majority serving to nullify the overarching influence of the Evil Inclination, because each person should divide his life into four portions, three of them corresponding to the three divisions of the Tora, Bible, Mishna and Talmud,[10],[11] with the fourth portion devoted to maintaining his physical and material existence.

However, because we find no “Chametz” in the Meal Offering that accompanies the Sin Offering, we could say, in contrast to the one offering a Thanksgiving Offering, that the former, because he comes forward on his own, without any external catalysts (such as sickness, danger or incarceration) is indicating that nothing remains from the original inner “leavening” that caused his transgression. But the person offering the “Toda” only after he had experienced travails that had “forced” him to repent,[12] there most probably remains within him a remnant of the inner “leavening”…[13]

 

The second approach the more correct and easily accepted is that “Matza” is a symbol of subjugation, similar to the dough of “Matza” that does not rise. The “Matza” of Pesach is the touchstone, because it is the symbol of freedom and redemption. For God was only Attracted to Israel because they diminished themselves…for humility brings one to God-fearingness. There is a direct relationship between the degree of humility that informs people on this earth and the extent to which the Kingdom of Heaven will be seen and revealed, because HaShem, may He Be Blessed, is Clothed in Exaltedness, there is none besides Him.[14] This was the entire purpose of the exile to Egypt, to instill within the Jewish people a sense of subjugation arising from the “furnace” of affliction… It was by means of internalizing this subjugation that they were able to emerge from being under the thumb of a human king, and enter into rule of the Kingdom of Heaven…

For this reason, “Matza” is the symbol of redemption and freedom in several contexts, including Pesach and the Thanksgiving Offering, as it is written (Tehillim 107:1-2)

Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is Good, for His steadfast Love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has Redeemed from the land of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and the west, from the north and from the south.

These verses are referring to the four categories of people that are obligated to give thanks (see Berachot 52b), because they became subjugated/humble as a result of the anguish of their hearts. Consequently he (the one bringing the Thanksgiving Offering) brings unleavened cakes, because by means of the Sacrifices the individual is redeemed from the thrall in which his Evil Inclination held him, and whose net ensnares him to cause him to fall as a result of the travails of affliction, and he frees himself from the afflictions and from the domination of government and from the Angel of Death, by means of the sacrifice which brings him to a state of a broken spirit and subjugation. For this reason the Meal Offerings involve “Matzot” similar to Sin and Guilt Offerings.[15]

 

Whether according to Klee Yakar the absence of leavening in “Matza” represents repentance from sin, or the acquisition of humility—the fundamental difference between these approaches being whether the religious “move” precipitated by a life-threatening experience and subsequently being expressed via the Thanksgiving Sacrifice is in reaction to prior finite negative actions or a more overall negative character trait—it is interesting to consider the possibility that the “Korban Toda” has a great deal in common with “Korban Chatat” and “Asham” (Sin and Guilt Offerings). From such a perspective, the words of Tehillim 100 take on very different connotations from simple expressions of general appreciation of God’s Presence and Involvement in our lives:

 

Serve the Lord with gladness (although you have not done so in the past due to your sinfulness or arrogance).

Come before His Presence with singing (in contrast to before when you avoided His Presence and certainly did not sing His Praises due to your lack of spirituality and great self-absorption).

Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He Who Made us, and we belong to Him. We are His People, and the sheep of His Pasture (and therefore we have a significant obligation to comply with His Will and to see our own concerns as vastly less important than those of serving our Creator).

Enter His Gates with thanksgiving and His Courts with praise (even if you had no occasion to do so in the past).

Be thankful to Him and bless His Name (starting from now on). 

 

Our spiritual heavy lifting in terms of soul-searching leading to repentance and a strengthened resolve to change our ways is simply not what Shabbat and Yom Tov were set aside for.[16] Accordingly, even during the Temple period, on days devoted to “Simchat Yom Tov” (the joy of the Festival) and “Oneg Shabbat” (the pleasure of Shabbat), not only no personal Sin and Guilt Offerings were sacrificed, but Thanksgiving Offerings and the prayers associated with them were also not accepted.

 

Although engaging in repentance on Shabbat may not be in the spirit of the day, this does not mean that repentance should not be part of pre-Shabbat preparations. Mishna Berura on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 250, #3 includes the following directive for preparing for Shabbat:

 

…It is written in the books that a person should think about repentance and review all of his actions each week before Shabbat, because Shabbat is called “the Bride”, “the Queen”, and it is as if one is receiving the King, may His Name Be Blessed. And it is not appropriate for one to receive the King in clothing that is worn and soiled with sinfulness.

And one should remove spider webs from the house on the eve of Shabbat, and it is all the more important to sweep the house and thereby remove dust and dirt while it is still day. And all of this comes under the rubric of honoring Shabbat. And one should think of the need for such painstaking preparations as those required for a human king who was coming to stay in one’s home. It is so much more the case with regard to the Shabbat Queen.

 

“Bedikat Chametz” (the search for leavening that takes place on the evening before the beginning of Pesach) could be viewed as a more formalized form of a similar mindset, i.e., just as I must prepare my house for the onset of the holiday coming up by searching for and removing Chametz before Pesach, the same is true for either the sinfulness or haughtiness represented by “Chametz”. Consequently, even if “Mizmor LeToda” is omitted on Shabbat and Pesach, this does not mean that engaging in spiritual introspection is not part of Shabbat and Pesach preparations.

 

Shabbat Shalom and may we have a “Kasher Pesach”, devoid of “Chametz”, of sin and negative personality traits, and full of “Matza”, “Mitzvot”, and “Middot Tovot”.

 

 


[1]             VaYikra 7:12-3.

If he offer it (a Peace Offering) for Thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving (i.e., the animal that is being sacrificed) unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, well-soaked.

Together with loaves of leavened bread shall he make his offering, these to be added to his Peace Offering of Thanksgiving.

 

Mishna Menachot 8:1 (In the Talmud it is the beginning of Chapt. 8; in the Mishnayot it is the beginning of Chapt. 7.)

The Thanksgiving Offering required 5 Seah’s of flour, Jerusalem measure, which are 6 Seah’s, wilderness measure. (While the Jews were wandering in the desert, the Seah measurement was smaller. It was increased by 1/5 after they came to Canaan and settled the land. Therefore, what was considered 6 Seah’s in the wilderness, was considered only 5 in the land of Israel.)

This was equivalent to 2 Ephah’s (each Ephah = 3 Seah’s), or to 20 tenths of an Ephah, 10 for the leavened (Chametz) cakes, and 10 for the unleavened (Matza) cakes.

“10 for the leavened cakes”—1/10 for each cake.

“10 for the unleavened cakes”—of unleavened cakes there were three kinds: cakes, wafers, and soaked cakes. Therefore there were 3 1/3 tenths of flour for each kind, 3 cakes to every tenth.

 

Gemora Menachot 77b

Therefore there were 3 1/3 tenths for each kind, 3 cakes to every tenth; thus there were 40 cakes for the Thanksgiving Offering. (It is assumed that each type of cake—the three that are Matza and the one that is Chametz—will consist of 10 individual cakes, resulting in a grand total of 40.)

[2] See this year’s essay on Parshat VaYikra, “The Fire from Within” at http://www.kmsynagogue.org/Vayikra3.html .

[3] With regard to the Mishna Zevachim, Chapt. 5 “Eizehu Mekoman Shel Zevachim” that constitutes the final portion of the section of the daily prayers known as “Korbanot” (Sacrifices), in Siddur Beit Yaakov, the Siddur containing R. Yaakov Emden’s customs and directives, after each of the sacrifices described in the Mishna, a short supplication appears: e.g., regarding the “Chatat” (Sin Offering)—Let it be Your Will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, if I was obligated to offer a Sin Offering (due to my inadvertently transgressing the type of sin that had it been done with intent would have resulted in “Karet” [ritual –excision]), may this recitation be considered before You as if I have offered up a Sin Offering.

The supplication is then followed by a parenthetical caveat: On Shabbat, one does not say this “Yehi Ratzon”. While it is not explicitly stated in the Siddur why the supplication for the Sin Offering would not be proper to recite on Shabbat, in light of our foregoing discussion, the reason is obvious. On Shabbat only communal offerings, as opposed to individual Sacrifices, including a Sin Offering, could be offered. The Siddur does not require the section in “Eizehu Mekoman” dealing with the Sin Offering to be omitted entirely, as in the case of Tehillim 100 due to its apparent association with “Korban Toda”; however, a distinction is obviously being made between the recitation of the relevant Mishna, and the explicit request that such a recitation constitute a vicarious Sacrifice. Such a dichotomy is reinforced when one notices that the “Korban Toda” is referenced in “Eizehu Mekoman” despite the fact that due to its being  another individual sacrifice, it too could not be offered on Shabbat.

[4] In their respective commentaries on Tehillim 100:1, while RaShI, Metzudat David and Da’at Mikra mention that this Tehilla was recited when a “Korban Toda” was offered, Ibn Ezra, MaLBIM and R. S.R. Hirsch make no mention of this. Perhaps there is a debate among the commentators with respect of the connotations of the opening phrase: Is the Psalmist intending that “LeToda” means “for the Korban Toda” or “for thanksgiving”?

[5]             Berachot 52b

Said Rav in the name of R. Yehuda: 4 have to give thanks—sea sailors (Tehillim 107:23), desert travelers (Ibid. 107:4), someone who was ill and has subsequently recovered (Ibid. 107:18), and someone who was imprisoned and is now released (Ibid. 107:10).

Meiri states that these are only examples, and that anyone who has undergone a life-threatening experience should publicly acknowledge what happened and how he was saved.

[6]           VaYikra 23:17

You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth measures. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits of HaShem.

[7] Klee Yakar understands Tehillim 107 as well as Berachot 52b’s gloss upon it not as a general call for people to express their thankfulness to HaShem for everything good that happens to them by making    these four cases into a paradigm—just as one has to give thanks in extreme circumstances, we should also give thanks in lesser contexts—but rather as describing the thanksgiving of individuals who have been subjected to life-threatening experiences in order to elicit from them a literal “change of heart”, i.e., a different attitude than the one that they had had prior to what they have just lived through. In this sense, the “Korban Toda” becomes a form of “Vidui” (confession) and acknowledgement that an attitudinal and spiritual shortcoming that they might have had in the past, has now been corrected by means of an adjustment in outlook and perspective arising from their having somehow survived what has just befallen them.

[8] Klee Yakar is referring to Beraishit Rabba 9:7—…Without the Evil Inclination no one would build a house, marry, have children, or engage in commerce… Consequently, this Inclination is only Evil if one obsesses over these types of activities, or engages in them in immoral and/or irresponsible ways. When one “sacrifices” the Evil Inclination, he is not to obliterate it, but rather discipline and sublimate it.

[9] Out of the 40 cakes that would accompany the Thanksgiving Offering—see fn. 1—30 were unleavened and 10 were leavened.

[10] The commentator is providing his own spin to the Rabbinic passage in Kiddushin 30a:

Said R. Safra in the name of R. Yehoshua ben Chanania: What is meant by the phrase (Devarim 6:7) “VeShinantam LeVanecha” (lit. and you will teach them—words of Tora—to your children; the Rabbis are wondering why the more standard verb “L-M-D” is not employed in this verse, as it is later in Devarim 11:19 “VeLimadetem Otam Et Benaichem”)? Don’t read it “VeShinantam” but rather “VeShilashtam” (the Rabbis are punning on the parallel between the verb that means to teach and the word meaning “two” or “twice”—“Shnayim”, and expanding the implication from 2 to 3, from “and you will ‘twice’ them to your children”, to “and you will ‘thrice’ them to your children”). A person should divide his life into three portions, 1/3 for Bible, 1/3 for Mishna and 1/3 for Talmud. But who knows how long one will live? (The original assumption is that 1/3 of one’s life would be completely devoted to Bible, and only then will he begin to study Mishna. But in order to accomplish such a goal, you have to know how many years in total you have to work with, and this is unknown.) This is not a matter for years, but rather for each day (i.e., a person should divide the time that he devotes to Tora learning each day into these three categories of study).

Klee Yakar quite correctly assumes that there has to be a fourth portion of each day, and this portion will be driven by the “Yetzer” as it prompts the individual to take care of material and physical matters.

[11] In his commentary to VaYikra 2:11, Klee Yakar explains that on Shavuot, which celebrates the receiving of the Tora, “Chametz” is acceptable, since the Tora serves as the antidote to the Yetzer HaRa—see Kiddushin 30b.

[12] A case in point was the sailors that accompanied Yona on his ill-fated sea voyage.

Yona 1:14-6

So they cried out to the Lord and they said: We beseech You, Oh Lord. We beseech You. Let us not perish for this man’s life and Lay not upon us innocent blood. For You, Oh Lord, have Done as it pleased You.

And they picked up Yona and cast him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging.

And then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a Sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

[13] Apparently, according to Klee Yakar, a distinction must be drawn between remnants of the Evil Inclination that could lead to a return to sin, and those that contribute to the progress and development of humanity—see fn. 8. The commentator’s typology whereby the exclusive use of “Matza” represents the obliteration of the Evil Inclination, whereas when one brings “Chametz” there is a suggestion of a residual Evil Inclination, would appear to advance an unrealistic ideal. It is only the potential for evil that allows something to be good, it is only those things that can become “Chametz” that can be made into “Matza” and it is only the possibility of failure that makes success so satisfying. Even if one would want to claim that the portion of the Evil Inclination responsible for the sin which is precipitating the “Korban” has been obliterated, as opposed to the rest of the Evil Inclination, nevertheless empirical evidence suggests that if anything, an individual has great potential to give in once again to a weakness that he may appear to have overcome, at least for the moment. Wouldn’t it be more realistic to always acknowledge the continuing presence of the Evil Inclination, and thereby one can be more on guard against its negative impact? Shouldn’t all “Korbanot”—“Mincha” as well as “Chatat” then include “Matza”?

[14] Klee Yakar’s assumption rests upon the premise that if an individual himself is haughty, then just as HaShem will not Choose to Reveal Himself to him, he will not have the aptitude or the inclination to the be the recipient of such a Revelation.

[15] Although Klee Yakar does not complete the analysis in his second approach to account for the leavened cakes as well, it is reasonable to assume that what was stated as part of the first approach would apply here too, i.e., that as much as humility and subjugation may be religious ideals, it is not assumed that the person’s material and physical needs must be abjectly neglected. Even the most devoted servant/slave must not only wait upon his master, but also must devote some time to take care of his personal needs.

[16] However we must take note of the fact that when Rosh HaShana or Yom HaKippurim take place on Shabbat, the theme of repentance is not suppressed. Perhaps it is comparable to Shabbat’s being partially pushed aside in the interests of an overriding consideration, such as in the case of a circumcision when the 8th day following a boy’s birth should it occur on Shabbat becomes the occasion of actions that normally would be prohibited. The Rabbinic rationale for such a practice is that since the Tora itself that delineates Shabbat observance also calls for the “Brit Mila” to ideally take place on the 8th day, Shabbat was never meant to suppress the performance of this particular Mitzva. A similar argument is made regarding the offering of Sacrifices on Shabbat and Yom Tov. While activities associated with food consumption are allowed on Yom Tov, and some parts of the Sacrifices are consumed, this is not true with regard to all Sacrifices. And as for Shabbat, whether the sacrifice will be eaten is irrelevant. Nevertheless those Sacrifices that the Tora specifies must take place daily are offered, despite the necessity to violate certain types of “Melacha” ordinarily prohibited. By extension, the occasions for repentance and atonement that Rosh HaShana and Yom HaKippurim represent are considered religious requirements that the Tora itself stipulates, and therefore it is allowed even on Shabbat in these particular instances.