Parashat Tzav

In this week’s parasha, Parashat Tzav, there’s a simple instruction:

“A continuous fire shall be kept burning on the altar—it must not go out.”

At first, it sounds like Temple maintenance. Keep the fire on. Don’t forget.

But the rabbis understood this as something deeper: not just a fire on an altar—but an inner fire.

On a campus like this, life isn’t exactly… steady.

One day you feel on top of everything—classes make sense, conversations are meaningful, you feel like you know where you’re going.

And the next day, you’re behind on readings, questioning your life choices, and checking the weather like:
“Is it winter? Is it summer? Do I need a coat or sunscreen?”

Spiritual life works the same way.

Some days you feel connected.
Some days you’re just here because someone said there would be food.

And that’s okay.

Because Tzav isn’t asking for intensity—it’s asking for consistency.

Not a huge fire.
Just a continuous one.

Judaism doesn’t expect you to feel inspired all the time.

It asks something much more realistic:

Keep something going.

Show up sometimes.
Take a pause.
Come to Shabbat dinner—even if you’re not totally sure why.

Because the danger isn’t that the fire goes out all at once.

It’s that it slowly fades when we stop paying attention.

So maybe the question tonight isn’t:

“Am I feeling inspired?”

Maybe it’s:
“What’s one small thing that keeps my fire going?”

Shabbat Shalom