Daily Talk
The Book of Temple Service does not end with a ritual. It ends with the Rambam turning to face us and defending the whole enterprise, and then, on the very next page, he opens the Book of Sacrifices with a lamb that no one may eat alone. Why answer the hardest question in the Torah with a crowd around one small animal?
The Last Warning and the First Lamb
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About This Talk
Me'ilah 8 closes Sefer Avodah with the small economics of holiness, wages and wood and salt and the exact width of a cubit, and then with the Rambam's own plea never to hold a decree lightly because its reason is hidden. Korban Pesach 1 and 2 open Sefer Korbanot with the offering that is slaughtered in three great groups behind locked gates and enumerated upon while it is still alive. Together they move from guarding holiness in the smallest transaction to the one sacrifice that was never permitted to be brought alone.