This week’s Torah portion covers Leviticus 6:8–8:36. The second reading in Leviticus is titled Tzav, which means “Command!” Like last week, the text dryly expounds on how the priests are to present the sacrifices in the tabernacle. Details include how they are to dispose of the ashes, eat the grain offerings, and maintain the eternal fire. Each type of offering—be it burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, or peace offering—has a distinct set of rules.

What are Jewish people supposed to do with the manual now that there is no temple? At this point, they have lived far longer without a sanctuary than they lived with one. There are still those who know they are in the Levitical priesthood, but they have not had an altar to service or an animal to slay for 2,000 years. It isn’t as if the Jews ever had the chance to voluntarily phase out their sacrificial system; the Romans decided that for them. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE abruptly ended the Jews’ most central form of worship. As they mourned the loss of their sacred sanctuary, they asked themselves how they were supposed to atone for their sins without a temple. Of the 613 laws, 150 pertain to temple worship. How were they to maintain God’s laws when a sixth of them were no longer possible?

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