15 Jul PINCHAS: BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

The Pitfall of
Consistency: Been
There; Done That
Parshas Pinchas
contains a long list of
sacrifices that are
brought on various
occasions. The first
offering the Torah discusses is the Korban
Tamid – the Daily Sacrifice. When the Temple
is standing there is a Biblical command to
offer a Tamid Offering, every single day —
“One Lamb is to be offered in the morning and
one Lamb is to be brought toward the evening”
[Bamidbar 28:4]. This offering is brought
every day of the year, even on Shabbos, even
on Yom Kippur.
There is something beautiful about
consistency. But consistency does have one
major pitfall.
This pitfall is hinted to, by an incongruous
verse in the middle of the chapter of the
Korban Tamid. For no apparent reason, the
Torah inserts, into the description of the
Korban Tamid, the verse, “The continual
Burnt Offering which was made at Har Sinai
for a pleasant aroma, a Fire Offering, before
HaShem [Bamidbar 28:6].”
What does the Olah that was brought on Har
Sinai have to do with this section about the

Korban Tamid? That which happened on Har
Sinai is history! Why is it mentioned in the
middle of the section of the Korban Tamid?
In the Sifrei and the Talmud [Chagiga 6b], the
Tanaaim are all bothered by the question,
“What is this verse teaching us?” One opinion
states that the Olah on Har Sinai needed
accompanying libations; one says it did not
need libations; one says they did not offer the
Tamid offering at Har Sinai and that it only
started later on. They are all troubled by the
presence of this verse over here.
Rav Yosef Salant says that although the
Rabbis of the Talmud are arguing about a
halachic issue, there is also a very important
hashkafic point that we derive from the
presence this verse. That hashkafic point
relates to this pitfall of consistency.
When something is done day in day out, as
wonderful as it may be, it eventually becomes
done by rote. It becomes stale. It becomes
automatic, without thought.
One only needs to have the nachas of seeing a
son put on Tefillin for the first time, to
remember what it was like. We can come in
late and quickly put on our Tefillin in the time
between Yishtabach and Borchu and still have
time to answer ‘Yehei Shmei Rabba’. That is
the amount of time it takes us to put on Tefillin!

But watch a Bar Mitzvah boy put on Tefillin,
making sure they are straight and making sure
they are tight enough and that every strap is in
order. What is the difference? We have been
putting on Tefillin for forty years. On the one
hand that is great — it is ‘Tamid’. We can look
back and say, we never missed a day! But that
‘Tamid’ becomes ‘old hat’ and sometimes
lacks the true meaning of the Mitzvah. That is
the pitfall of Tamid.
Therefore, the Torah inserts, “The Continuous
Burnt Offering that was offered on Har Sinai
for a pleasant Aroma, a Fire Offering before
HaShem,” in the middle of the parsha of the
Korban Tamid that applies for all generations.
Remember that first Tamid! Remember the
Tamid that was brought on Har Sinai with all
the enthusiasm and all the newness and
excitement. Remember that! There should
always be a little of that Tamid in the Tamid
that is brought every single day.
That is the way it should be with our Tefillin
and with our Kerias Shemah and with our
Shmoneh Esreis. We cannot lose the whole
value of consistency by letting that very value
become the pitfall.
Dovid HaMelech says in Tehillim, “I asked
one thing from G-d, that is my request; to
dwell in the House of G-d all the days of my
life, and to visit His Palace.” [Tehillim 27:4]

The commentaries all ask what Dovid is
saying. First he asks to dwell in G-d’s House
his entire life, and then he asks to be a visitor?
Which is it — a Resident or a Visitor? Is he a
“shivti b’veis HaShem”-nik or is he a “L’vaker
b’Heicholo”-nik?
Dovid’s request is to have it both ways. He
wants to be one who dwells everyday in G-d’s
house, but he wants to feel as if he is only a
visitor. He always wants it to feel special and
new.
This is a difficult request, because these two
qualities are almost mutually exclusive. When
one has ‘Tamid’ he does not have ‘Chiddush’
and when one has ‘Chiddush’ he does not have
‘Tamid’.
But this is the goal and this is the lesson of the
Korban Tamid. It needs to be “One every
morning and one every evening” but it also
must be “like the first one which was ever
offered, on Har Sinai.”