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Parashat Tzav - Vayikra / Leviticus 6.1–8:36 - Korban Todah - The Remedy to the Sin of Ungratefulness

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I. Introduction

A. The personal relevance of the Korban Todah (Thanksgiving Offering) - VaYikrah 7: 11- 15

B. Parashah Abbreviated Outline

1. G-d instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties and rights as Kohanim ("priests") who offer the Korban ot (animal and meal offerings) in the Sanctuary.
2. The fire on the Altar must be kept burning at all times. In it are burned the wholly consumed Ascending Offering; veins of fat from the Peace, Sin, and Guilt Offerings; and the "handful" separated from the Meal Offering.
3. The Kohanim eat the meat of the Sin and Guilt Offerings and the remainder of the Meal Offering. The Peace Offering is eaten by the one who brought it, except for specified portions given to the Kohen. The holy meat of the offerings must be eaten by ritually pure persons, in their designated holy place, and within their specified time.
4. Aaron and his sons remain within the Sanctuary compound for seven days, during which Moses initiates them into the priesthood.

C. Review

1. Since the Torah is the word of G-d, who is infinite, it is itself infinite. Infinite in time, because it is eternally binding. Infinite in meaning, because every verse has innumerable layers of interpretation and significance. At the literal level (peshat) it contains laws and narratives; at the level of allusion (remez) it points obliquely to the deeper principles of Judaism; homiletically (drush) it outlines the religious ethic of the Jew; and esoterically (sod) it contains the clues to the mysteries of the experience of G-d
2. When G-d told Moses to erect a Sanctuary, He said: "And they shall make Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell in them," meaning, in the soul of every Jew/believer. Thus, even though the physical Temple is destroyed, the inward Temple, which each Jew/believer makes within himself, survives, indestructible. And the service, which he conducts in the reaches of his soul, mirrors in every respect the service of the Temple and Sanctuary. So their laws, which appeared at first sight to have no contemporary application, are in fact precise instructions for the inner life of the Jew/believer.
3. Drawing near as a "living Korban  (sacrifice)."

a. Symbolic meaning of Korban

b. Looking to Avraham Avinu as our example - as one who was willing to be a living Korban  - Is 51:1-3

c. The word Korban  literally means, "drawing near " not sacrifice.

d. Literally Vayikrah can be read as "When you draw near to God with a sacrifice bring your self as a sacrifice and in addition bring an animal.

1. The animal represents the "animal soul " which constitutes all physical desires and all the instincts, which a man has in virtue of having a body and being part of the animal world.
2. Thus the aim of the Korban is the redirection and sanctification of the " animal " in man
3. Every facet of sacrifice in the physical sanctuary has its counterpart in the sanctuary of the soul
4. If HaShem required a sacrifice in the "outer" sanctuary how much more does he require an act of sacrifice in the inward sanctuary, which has become the "temple of the living God! - cp 1 Cor. 6:19

D. The problem and the remedy - Kifuy Tovah (Ungratefulness) & Korban  Todah

III The personal relevance of the Korban  Todah

A. The problem - Kifuy Tovah.

1. The root cause of all our sins
2. The manifestation of ungratefulness is Bachyanut - complaining 
3. Constant complaining after the deliverance from Mitzraim cp Shemot 17:1-1-16; Midrash T'Chuma Parashat Balak  - cp Psalm 106
4. The root problem in the home and the reason for the lack of Shalom Bayit
5. Kifuy Tovah opens the door to to Bachyanut which leads to greed, lust, & theft

D. The remedy - Korban Todah

1. The one Korban that will endure forever - Lev. R. 9:7
2. A type of voluntary Sh'lamim  (peace offering)
3. Major categories that require a Korban  Todah - Psalms 107

a. Sea voyage (vss 23-30) - crossing the Sea of Reeds - (Shemot 14; 1ff -God protects us from being drowned by our sorrows

b. Journeys in the desert (vss 4-9) - forty years in the desert - Deut 29:5 - God provides for our journey in this world - 2 Peter 1:3

c. Imprisoned - (vss 10-16)- imprisoned in the desert in the desert because it was decreed because of rebellion and unbelief that only their children could enter the promised land - Nu 14:26- 45 - God sets the captives FREE from the constraints of being imprisoned in a body

d. Healing (v20) - The healing serpent in the wilderness - Nu 21:8-9 - God heals the broken hearted and when He chooses to He heals those who are physically ill. He restores us to health through our relationship with Him

B. One thankful leper - Luke 17:11-19

C. In the Temple Psalm 100 was sung by the Levites during the time of the Korban Todah

III. Conclusion

A. Pesach - Z'man Cheiruteinu (Season of our Freedom); when we gained our freedom from the Egyptian enslavement.

B. We can only be free from the things the enslave us by presenting ourselves as "living Korban ot." which includes the Korban Todah

C. Yeshua is the one who makes our Korban Todah Complete!