Parashas Tzav

Im al todah yakrivenu...
If he shall bring it (the shlamim sacrifice) for thanksgiving...

This week's parasha discusses the laws concerning the todah sacrifice.  Rashi informs us that such a korban was brought to acknowledge a miracle that was done to the person.  Rashi brings the four classic situations that would warrant the sacrificing of the todah:
1. yordei hayam - successfully crossing the ocean
2.holchei midbaros - successfully travelling and making it through the desert
3.chavushei beis ha'asurim - release from prison
4.choleh shenisrapai - recovery from illness

TODAH.
In spoken Hebrew today, we all use this word to say 'thank you".  How did this evolve??
The Ksav v'kabala points our attention to the root of the word, which is  Yud-Dalet-Hei.  Yad=Hand.  When one expresses thanksgiving, he acknowledges the one who has done him the favour.  Acknowledgement is submission, the raising of one's hands in surrender to the one who has done him the favour.  (Perhaps this explains the practice of those who raise up their hands in time of tefilla.)  Thus, the truly accurate meaning of the word todah is acknowledgement, and the ensuing surrender and submission.  The thanksgiving and praise are the RESULT.

Hodaya, acknowledgement or gratitude is a most basic and central theme in Yahadus, it is the very name by which our nation is called.  Just this week, we all heard the reading of Megillas Esther.  Mordechai is called HaYehudi.  Am Yisrael is called HaYehudim - the Jewish nation.  Yehuda, son of Yaakov Avinu and Laya Imeinu was called his name by his mother, saying, hapa'am odeh es Hashem,  "This time I will thank Hashem".  Yaakov had four wives.  Twelve tribes were to be born.  Each wife should have given birth to three tribes.  Yehuda was Laya's fourth son.  "This time I will thank Hashem", Laya Imeinu exclaimed IN UTTER SURRENDER TO G-D, acknowledging that she had received more than her portion, beyond what was coming to her.

Humility  and submission, kabolas ol Malchus Shomayim  are the signs of true gratitude to Hashem.

* * *

Let us examine the laws of the korban todah.
The Todah was a type of korban Shlamim; however there are two differences.
1.  A regular shlamim was kodshim kalim.  That is it could be eaten, not only in the courtyard of the Bais HaMikdash, but in all of Yerushalayim.  It could be eaten for two days and one night after the animal was sacrificed.  The korban todah, too, could be eaten in all of Yerushalayim, but could only be eaten FOR ONE DAY AND ONE NIGHT.
2. The korban Todah had to be brought together with FORTY CHALLOS CHAMETZ.
Thus , there was much more to eat and only half  the time in which to finish it.
The Netziv miVolozhin explains that this was to enable pirsumei nisa, the maximum attention and exposure to be given to the miracle which had taken place.  Given the large amount of lechem kodashim that had to be eaten in such a short time,  a great seudah would be arranged for  a very large crowd.  The reason why it was chametz, when kodashim is usually non-chametz is because it is much more readily eaten.

Look at perek 116 in Tehillim.  Here is a precise description of the korban Todah:
Mah ashiv laHashem kol tagmulohi alay, kos yeshu'os esah uveshaim Hashem ekrah,
How can I repay Hashem for all of His goodness to me; I will raise the cup of salvation and I will publicize the name of Hashem
Lecha ezbach zevach Todah... negdah nah l'chol amo.  B'chatzros Bais Hashem, b'sochaichi Yerushalayim..
To You I will bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving.. in the presence of all His nation.  In the courts of the House of Hashem, in the midst of Yerushalayim..
 

When a person experiences salvation and success,  he feels great elation and joy.  There is a danger that this expansive feeling can be intoxicating to the ego.  A person can become very absorbed in his own success and good fortune.  He can chas veshalom become smug and complacent with himself and forget about others around him.

We can learn from the laws of the korban Todah how to deal with this expansive feeling that accompanies success and joy.  A time of success and joy is a time to INCLUDE others in the simcha,  to remember all of our brethren.

This truly has been the way of Am Yisrael, the Jewish nation, throughout the ages.  No wedding or bar mitzvah or simcha is complete without including the poor and the lonely.  What a beautiful and befitting way to express gratitude and surrender before HaKadosh Baruch Hu, by sharing and gladdening the hearts of His children through the personal simcha.

May Am Yisrael share only simchas, and may we soon merit to indeed sacrifice the Korban Toda for all the countless wonders and miracles that Hashem constantly bestows upon us.
 

A gutten Erev Shabbos
from Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh