OFSTED” (Office for Standards in Education), the very name conjures up feeling of panic for many. As children we may remember the days that those serious looking Ofsted officers came to school to monitor, assess and wander around the school with clipboards, peering into everything in sight on site! Those of us involved in schools at the staff level of teachers, secretaries, etc. know only too well what happens when the phone call comes in from Ofsted heralding their arrival. Suddenly school offices and staffrooms become places of mad panic! For the next 24 hours – even throughout the night – the school is prepared for the visit. Paperwork has to be brought up to date. Classrooms need to be tidied up, decorated and made sure they are according to the Health & Safety guidelines.
The above scenario is a particularly apt parable to explain an interesting Medresh in which various verses are brought which are considered to be particularly weighty in that they in some way encapsulate the entire Torah. The first two verses put forward are ones we would expect to appear in the ‘Top-10’; “Shema Yisroel…..” and “Love Thy Neighbour…..”
However a verse from this weeks Sedra is on the list as a seminal verse of Judaism; “the one lamb shall you offer up in the morning and the second lamb shall you offer up in the afternoon”. This verse is describing the ‘Korban Tamid’ – the daily sacrifice. Everyday in the Temple the very first offering was one sheep Tamid and the very last offering was one sheep in the afternoon. But what is it about this verse that makes it so significant? The Medresh even concludes that this is “The One” that tops the charts; that encompasses (or at least should) all of Judaism. How so?
Perhaps our parable can help us understand. If you want to know the real level of a school then you have to go and observe what goes on there on a regular day. The day the Ofsted inspectors come is not the true test of the functioning of the school. If you want to know what really goes on then you have to see the day-to-day running. What is the constant upon which the school runs? Is the level of our davening during those final moments of Ne’ilah on Yom Kippur our real level of engagement with Hashem through prayer? It certainly highlights to us the level that we can get to, but the way we daven daily is more indicative of our connection to Hashem. So too the regular Tamid offering that was always there is a true reflection of the constant connection to Hashem. Through it we show a continued and unwavering commitment.
The Maharal [1520-1609] develops this idea one stage further. The quintessential character trait is that of being a ‘servant of Hashem’. When we are Hashem’s servant then ALL that we do is always to serve Him. When our day constantly starts and finishes with, “one sheep in the morning and one sheep in the afternoon” – what we are effectively announcing is our complete dedication, all day every day to Hashem.
Let us see this very idea expressed in another incident in this week’s Sedra. We read how Moshe is instructed to appoint Yehoshua (Joshua) as the successor for the leadership of the Jews. Why was Yehoshua chosen?
Rashi quotes the Medresh, “Yehoshua is worthy of taking reward for his service for ‘he did not depart from within the tent’ and this is what King Shlomo referred to when he said, “he who guards the fig tree shall eat its fruit””.
What exactly is special about the fig tree? Reb Chaim Kaufman [1937-2005] explained: the Medresh elsewhere tells us about qualities of the fig tree. Unlike most trees where the fruit is harvested in one specific time, the fig tree is constantly harvested, a bit today and a bit tomorrow. This is the speciality of Yehoshua—to plug away at something every single day. He was the one who never left the side of Moshe – he may not have been the brightest student but he was the one who was a complete ‘servant of Moshe’; and ultimately through this understood how to be a true ‘servant of Hashem’. It was this quality that was needed to ‘service’ the people; to be constantly there for them and not just to put on a good show when the inspectors come.
The excitement and specialness of various points in the Jewish calendar is much like the day the inspectors come. But the verse regarding the Tamid offering is of supreme importance. To remind us that we are to be constantly engaged in the service of Hashem. One can’t just celebrate an anniversary in style and then neglect one’s spouse for the rest of the year! It must be a daily commitment that then has chances to peak at certain points of the year.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov