Questions for Titzaveh

1.   Where do we see in this week’s parsha, for the first time, that members of a tribe should stick together.

2. Three of the Shivas Haminim are mentioned in the parsha.

3. A unique use of the blood of a korban. It appears only here and it was done only once in history.

Alternatively, for people who learned יומא נח ע"ב and נט ע"ב:    Once the blood of a korban has been put on the Mizbei'ach, it loses its kedusha- it is נעשית מצוותו and אין לך דבר שנעשית מצוותו ומועלין בו. There is one, and only one, exception to this rule, and it is in our parsha.

4. What in the parsha is described as "constant," tamid? (5 answers)

5. We find that Pinchas became a Kohen much later. Why wasn’t Pinchas, whose father was Elazar the Kohen, automatically a Kohen.

6. Which bigdei kahuna were Shatnez.  

7.  What do these three things have in common: Everyday Tzitzis, the Choshen of the Kohen Gadol, and the Tzitz of the Kohen Gadol.

8.   Assuming, as Rashi in 28:21 does, that the stones on the Choshen are placed in birth order, what is a good nickname for Reuven. 

9. Ephraim and Menashe should be entitled to separate billing, but only Yosef's name is on the Choshen. But the symbol of Yosef is doubled. Where?

10. There are two places in the Parsha that show that you cannot assume that a four-sided equilateral is a square.  In these cases, we are told that it should be four sided and equilateral and still, the Torah finds it necessary to tell us that it should be a square.  Once we have been told that all the sides are equal length, to be told that it should be square seems unnecessary. 

What are these cases, and why is it necessary?

11. The title "Levi" derives from the fact that before birkas kohanim, the Levi washes the Kohen's hands, as in Latin, to wash is Lavare, so Levi means "washer." 

No, that is just a joke. This is a pure coincidence. But where in this week's parsha do we find a Levi preparing Kohanim for their Avodah by washing them, or seeing them immerse in the mikva.

12.  Most avoda in the Mishkan is done during the day. Name three in the parsha that are done Bein Ha’arbayim.

 

 

 

 

1.   Where do we see in this week’s parsha, for the first time, that members of a tribe should stick together.

-Rav Reuven Chaim Klein points out that the word shevet is used for the first time for a tribe (28:21) in our parsha.  

 

2. Three of the Shivas Haminim are mentioned in the parsha.

-Olives and pomegranates are mentioned in the parsha. Olive oil is used in the Menorah (27:20), woolen pomegranates are attached to the bottom of the Me'il of the Kohen Gadol (28:34). and wheat for the menachos, (29:3).

 

3. A unique use of the blood of a korban. It appears only here and it was done only once in history.

Alternatively, for people who learned יומא נח ע"ב and נט ע"ב:   Once the blood of a korban has been put on the Mizbei'ach, it loses its kedusha- it is נעשית מצוותו and אין לך דבר שנעשית מצוותו ומועלין בו. There is one, and only one, exception to this rule, and it is in our parsha.

-Taking blood that had been thrown on the mizbeiach and putting it on Aharon and his sons.

29:21

וְלָקַחְתָּ מִן הַדָּם אֲשֶׁר עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וּמִשֶּׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה וְהִזֵּיתָ עַל אַהֲרֹן וְעַל בְּגָדָיו וְעַל בָּנָיו וְעַל בִּגְדֵי בָנָיו אִתּוֹ וְקָדַשׁ הוּא וּבְגָדָיו וּבָנָיו וּבִגְדֵי בָנָיו אִתּוֹ.

 Chizkuni says that's the way it was:

ולקחת מן הדם אשר על המזבח לא מצינו הזאה כזו לאסוף הדם אחר שנזרק אלא להאחות אותו למזבח לקח הדם שנתקדש במזבח. והזה עליהם להעיד ולהיות עד ואות לדורות שהם משרתיו ועליו לא יקרבו זרים.

 

Daas Zkeinim finds it hard to believe:

ולקחת מן הדם. צ"ע אם כשנזרק כבר על המזבח אם היה חוזר ולוקח ממנו להזות עליהן:

 

Netziv in Haamek Davar also reads it kipshuto.

 

In any case, it would be subject to Meilah, because even though it was on the Mizbeiach, it was not נעשית מצוותו until it was put on the Kohanim.

 

4. What in the parsha is described as "constant," tamid? (5 answers)

-The following five things are described as being tamid:

(1) The Menorah is lit tamid – this is the lamp called the Ner Maaravi (Exodus 27:20). 

(2) The choshen of the Kohen Gadol is always on the heart of the Kohen Gadol (28:29). 

(3) The tzitz is constantly on the forehead of the Kohen Gadol (28:38). 

(4) The Tamid is brought twice each day (29:38). 

(5) The Ketores is brought every day (30:8).

Side observation:  The word תמיד appears in the Torah exactly 24 times, either as תמיד  or as התמיד. How many of those times are in dinim of Kodshim?  Twenty three.

Of the twenty four in Chumash, twenty three are in dinim of Kodshim.  "HaTamid" appears seven times, every single one in kodshim.  Of the seventeen 'Tamids' in the Torah, sixteen are Kodshim and one is not.  The single, the solitary, the sole exception is in Devarim 11:12.

אֶ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ דֹּרֵ֣שׁ אֹתָ֑הּ תָּמִ֗יד עֵינֵ֨י  ה' אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ בָּ֔הּ מֵֽרֵשִׁית֙ הַשָּׁנָ֔ה וְעַ֖ד אַחֲרִ֥ית שָׁנָֽה׃

 

5. We find that Pinchas became a Kohen much later. Why wasn’t Pinchas, whose father was Elazar the Kohen, automatically a Kohen.

-It was only on this day that people were made Kohanim, and the Torah specifies that they were Aharon and his four sons. Nobody else became a Kohen that day. Only after this day were those born to kohanim automatically Kohanim. Any children they had prior to that investiture were not automatically Kohanim.  Pinchas had been born earlier, so he was not automatically a kohen.

 

6. Which bigdei kahuna were Shatnez.  

 -Efod: כח, ו.

Choshen:    כח טו.

(Avneit/belt of the Kohen Gadol, and possibly that of the Hedyot as well: שמות לט, כט in parshas Pekudei. It is mentioned in Tetzaveh but the material is not specified. See Yoma 6a.))

 

7.  What do these three things have in common: Everyday Tzitzis, the Choshen of the Kohen Gadol, and the Tzitz of the Kohen Gadol.

-A solitary thread of techeiles.

28:28, the Choshen on the chest,

וְיִרְכְּסוּ אֶת הַחֹשֶׁן מִטַּבְּעֹתָו אֶל טַבְּעֹת הָאֵפוֹד בִּפְתִיל תְּכֵלֶת 

28: 37-8 the Tzitz on the forehead,

 וְעָשִׂיתָ צִּיץ זָהָב טָהוֹר וּפִתַּחְתָּ עָלָיו פִּתּוּחֵי חֹתָם קֹדֶשׁ לַיהֹוָה. וְשַׂמְתָּ אֹתוֹ עַל פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת וְהָיָה עַל הַמִּצְנָפֶת

and Tzitzis, in the end of Parsha Shelach, Bamidbar 15:38,

וְנָתְנוּ עַל צִיצִת הַכָּנָף פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת.

 

8.   Assuming, as Rashi in 28:21 does, that the stones on the Choshen are placed in birth order, what is a good nickname for Reuven. 

-If the stones were in birth order, Reuven's stone was the Odem.    So, Ruby. This works in every major language except Hebrew and Chinese.

French: "Rubis"

Spanish: "Rubí"

German: "Rubin"

Italian: "Rubino"

Portuguese: "Rubi"

Japanese: "ルビー" (Rubī)

Chinese: "红宝石" (Hóng bǎoshí) - meaning "red gemstone"

Korean: "루비 보석" (Rubi boseok)

.

9. Ephraim and Menashe should be entitled to separate billing, but only Yosef's name is on the Choshen. But the symbol of Yosef is doubled. Where?

-Again, assuming that the stones were by birth order, Yosef was the next to last, the Shoham. Besides the twelve stones of the Choshen, there were two additional stones on the shoulders of the Kohen Gadol, on the Eiphod - Shoham stones- the stone associated with Yosef.

It is probably just a coincidence, but it's interesting that in Breishis 48:5, Yaakov tells Yosef that he is giving him a double inheritance:

ועתה שני בניך הנולדים לך בארץ מצרים עד באי אליך מצרימה לי הם אפרים ומנשה כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי

Later in that discussion, in 48:22, Yaakov says

ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך אשר לקחתי מיד האמרי בחרבי ובקשתי

Rashi says the word שכם means the city of Shechem. But the Ramban, for example, says it is a description of a portion of Yerusha, that Yaakov had given Yosef an extra portion of the yerusha. So you have that word Shechem describing the extra that is given to Yosef via Ephraim and Menashe, and that is where the Shoham stones were, on the כתפות האפוד, on Aharon's שכם.

 

10. There are two places in the Parsha that show that you cannot assume that a four-sided equilateral is a square.  In these cases, we are told that it should be four sided and equilateral and still, the Torah finds it necessary to tell us that it should be a square.  Once we have been told that all the sides are equal length, to be told that it should be square seems unnecessary. 

What are these cases, and why is it necessary?

-The Choshen is described in 28:16 as being square, a zeres by a zeres.

 רבוע יהיה כפול זרת ארכו וזרת רחבו.

The same is true in the instructions for the Mizbei'ach Hazahav (30:1),

ועשית מזבח מקטר קטרת עצי שטים תעשה אתו.  ב אמה ארכו ואמה רחבו רבוע יהיה ואמתים קמתו ממנו קרנתיו.

So what it the pshat? Why is it necessary to say square if we were already told that the four sides must be equal?

1.    Shina alav hakasuv l’akeiv.

2.    In the name of Reb Chaim- two separate requirements. The specified size, and square.

3.     Malkie- don’t make it a rhombus.

4.     Gary- otherwise, you could make a cylinder into which a square of that size could be inscribed, and just disregard the chords. That would satisfy the requirement of having those measurements.

 

11. . The title "Levi" derives from the fact that before birkas kohanim, the Levi washes the Kohen's hands, as in Latin, to wash is Lavare, so Levi means "washer." 

No, that is just a joke. This is a pure coincidence. But where in this week's parsha do we find a Levi preparing Kohanim for their Avodah by washing them, or seeing them immerse in the mikva.

 -29:4

ואת אהרן ואת בניו תקריב אל פתח אהל מועד ורחצת אתם במים

 

12.  Most avoda in the Mishkan is done during the day. Name three in the parsha that are done Bein Ha’arbayim.

-1, the afternoon Tamid, 29:29

וְאֵת הַכֶּבֶשׂ הַשֵּׁנִי תַּעֲשֶׂה בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם

2 and 3, lighting the Menora and burning the afternoon Ketores, 30:8

וּבְהַעֲלֹת אַהֲרֹן אֶת הַנֵּרֹת בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם יַקְטִירֶנָּה קְטֹרֶת תָּמִיד לִפְנֵי ה' לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם