Bs”d Tzav 5782
How Is a Continuous Flame Preserved?
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
Parashat Tzav begins with the commandment to sacrifice the Korban Tamid. This was a sacrifice offered in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later in the Temple on a daily basis, morning and evening.
After a description of the kohen’s (priest’s) job in the process of this sacrifice, the Torah describes an additional job of the kohen’s – preserving the continuous flame.
A continuous fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall not go out.
(Vayikra 6,6)
The flame burning on the altar was continuous, without stop. Every morning, the kohen would place wood upon the altar and the fire would burn all through the day and night. The priests were obligated to keep that fire burning continuously.
This “continuous fire” was the result of a combination of human and heavenly acts, as it says in the Talmud:
“And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar,” indicating that even though fire descends from the heavens, there is still a mitzvah to bring fire by a