פרשת צו — ששי (Aliyah 6)
Parashat Tzav | Leviticus 8:22–8:29 | Aliyah 6 of 7
קלאוד על הפרשה
The sixth aliyah of Parashat Tzav presents the climactic ritual of the ordination ceremony: the offering of the eil hamiluim, the ram of ordination (Leviticus 8:22-29). Having already offered the sin offering and the burnt offering in the preceding passages, Moses now brings forward the second ram, which Rashi explains is essentially a shelamim, a peace offering, noting that the term miluim is synonymous with shelamim because through this sacrifice the priests are “filled” (memalim) and “completed” (mashlimim) in their priestly office. The act of semichah — Aaron and his sons laying their hands upon the ram’s head — signals the identification of the offerer with the offering, a transfer of purpose from person to animal that underlies the entire sacrificial system.
The most arresting detail in this passage is Moses’ placement of the ram’s blood on three points of Aaron’s body: the ridge (tenukh) of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. This same ritual reappears in Leviticus 14 for the purification of the metzora (one afflicted with tzaraat), suggesting a deep structural parallel between priestly consecration and spiritual restoration. The classical commentators understand these three points as representing the totality of human engagement with the divine. The ear is consecrated so that the priest will hear and heed God’s commandments; the hand so that his actions and service will be dedicated to holiness; and the foot so that his walk through life will follow the path of righteousness. Ibn Ezra, drawing on the principle that “the blood atones for the life” (Leviticus 17:11), sees the blood application as a life-for-life consecration — the vitality of the sacrifice transferred to the priest’s very being. That the right side is specified throughout underscores the association of the right with strength, blessing, and the primary hand of sacred action.
After the blood ritual, Moses separates the fat portions — the broad tail, the fat covering the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right thigh — and combines them with three types of unleavened bread from the consecration basket: a plain matzah cake, an oil-soaked cake (which Rashi identifies as the revukhah, a scalded bread requiring an especially generous quantity of oil), and a thin wafer. Sforno observes that the inclusion of the right thigh on the altar is unique to the ordination offering; in all other shelamim, the right thigh goes to the officiating priest, but since the miluim is the sacrifice that creates the priesthood itself, there is no priest yet entitled to receive it as a portion. This detail highlights the paradox at the heart of the installation: Moses, who is not a priest, must officiate because the priesthood does not yet exist.
The wave offering (tenufah) forms the ceremonial apex of this passage. Moses places the combined fat, bread, and thigh portions onto the palms of Aaron and his sons, and they wave them together before God. Ibn Ezra offers the striking interpretation that Moses waved not merely the offerings but Aaron and his sons themselves, just as Aaron would later wave the Levites during their own consecration (Numbers 8:11). The act of tenufah — moving the offering in all directions — symbolizes the acknowledgment that God’s sovereignty extends everywhere and that the priests’ service radiates outward from the Tabernacle to encompass all of creation.
The passage closes with Moses taking the breast of the ram as his own portion, waving it as a tenufah before God. Rashi notes that during all seven days of installation, Moses served as the officiating priest, wearing a plain white garment (Avodah Zarah 34a). The breast — normally the priest’s share in a shelamim — was given to Moses as his rightful payment for performing the service. The Torah’s careful notation that this was “as the Lord had commanded Moses” (kaasher tzivah Hashem et Moshe) punctuates the entire ordination narrative, emphasizing that every detail of this unprecedented ceremony was executed according to divine instruction, leaving nothing to human improvisation. Moses’ role here is at once unique and temporary: he inaugurates a priesthood to which he himself does not belong, serving as the bridge between divine command and its enduring human institution.
Leviticus 8:22–8:29 · ויקרא ח:כב–ח:כט
פסוק ח:כב · 8:22
Hebrew:
וַיַּקְרֵב֙ אֶת־הָאַ֣יִל הַשֵּׁנִ֔י אֵ֖יל הַמִּלֻּאִ֑ים וַֽיִּסְמְכ֞וּ אַהֲרֹ֧ן וּבָנָ֛יו אֶת־יְדֵיהֶ֖ם עַל־רֹ֥אשׁ הָאָֽיִל׃
English:
He brought forward the second ram, the ram of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the ram’s head,
פסוק ח:כג · 8:23
Hebrew:
וַיִּשְׁחָ֓ט ׀ וַיִּקַּ֤ח מֹשֶׁה֙ מִדָּמ֔וֹ וַיִּתֵּ֛ן עַל־תְּנ֥וּךְ אֹֽזֶן־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַיְמָנִ֑ית וְעַל־בֹּ֤הֶן יָדוֹ֙ הַיְמָנִ֔ית וְעַל־בֹּ֥הֶן רַגְל֖וֹ הַיְמָנִֽית׃
English:
and it was slaughtered. Moses took some of its blood and put it on the ridge*ridge Or “lobe.” of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
פסוק ח:כד · 8:24
Hebrew:
וַיַּקְרֵ֞ב אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֗ן וַיִּתֵּ֨ן מֹשֶׁ֤ה מִן־הַדָּם֙ עַל־תְּנ֤וּךְ אׇזְנָם֙ הַיְמָנִ֔ית וְעַל־בֹּ֤הֶן יָדָם֙ הַיְמָנִ֔ית וְעַל־בֹּ֥הֶן רַגְלָ֖ם הַיְמָנִ֑ית וַיִּזְרֹ֨ק מֹשֶׁ֧ה אֶת־הַדָּ֛ם עַל־הַֽמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ סָבִֽיב׃
English:
Moses then brought forward the sons of Aaron, and put some of the blood on the ridges of their right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet; and the rest of the blood Moses dashed against every side of the altar.
פסוק ח:כה · 8:25
Hebrew:
וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־הַחֵ֣לֶב וְאֶת־הָֽאַלְיָ֗ה וְאֶֽת־כׇּל־הַחֵ֘לֶב֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־הַקֶּ֒רֶב֒ וְאֵת֙ יֹתֶ֣רֶת הַכָּבֵ֔ד וְאֶת־שְׁתֵּ֥י הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת וְאֶֽת־חֶלְבְּהֶ֑ן וְאֵ֖ת שׁ֥וֹק הַיָּמִֽין׃
English:
He took the fat—the broad tail, all the fat about the entrails, the protuberance of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat—and the right thigh.
פסוק ח:כו · 8:26
Hebrew:
וּמִסַּ֨ל הַמַּצּ֜וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֗ה לָ֠קַ֠ח חַלַּ֨ת מַצָּ֤ה אַחַת֙ וְֽחַלַּ֨ת לֶ֥חֶם שֶׁ֛מֶן אַחַ֖ת וְרָקִ֣יק אֶחָ֑ד וַיָּ֙שֶׂם֙ עַל־הַ֣חֲלָבִ֔ים וְעַ֖ל שׁ֥וֹק הַיָּמִֽין׃
English:
From the basket of unleavened bread that was before יהוה, he took one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of oil bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat parts and on the right thigh.
פסוק ח:כז · 8:27
Hebrew:
וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶת־הַכֹּ֔ל עַ֚ל כַּפֵּ֣י אַהֲרֹ֔ן וְעַ֖ל כַּפֵּ֣י בָנָ֑יו וַיָּ֧נֶף אֹתָ֛ם תְּנוּפָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃
English:
He placed all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and elevated them as an elevation offering before יהוה.
פסוק ח:כח · 8:28
Hebrew:
וַיִּקַּ֨ח מֹשֶׁ֤ה אֹתָם֙ מֵעַ֣ל כַּפֵּיהֶ֔ם וַיַּקְטֵ֥ר הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חָה עַל־הָעֹלָ֑ה מִלֻּאִ֥ים הֵם֙ לְרֵ֣יחַ נִיחֹ֔חַ אִשֶּׁ֥ה ה֖וּא לַיהֹוָֽה׃
English:
Then Moses took them from their hands and turned them into smoke on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering for a pleasing odor; it was an offering by fire to יהוה.
פסוק ח:כט · 8:29
Hebrew:
וַיִּקַּ֤ח מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶת־הֶ֣חָזֶ֔ה וַיְנִיפֵ֥הוּ תְנוּפָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה מֵאֵ֣יל הַמִּלֻּאִ֗ים לְמֹשֶׁ֤ה הָיָה֙ לְמָנָ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃
English:
Moses took the breast and elevated it as an elevation offering before יהוה; it was Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination—as יהוה had commanded Moses.