Parshat Tzav: Turning "Ash" into Meaning | Rabbi Asher Sinclair

At first sight, some things in Judaism look somewhat weird. I remember someone who wasn't religious discovering the halakha that you should tie your left shoelace before your right. >> [music] >> He said to me, "I find it hard to believe that God actually cares about which shoe I tie first." >> [music] >> Judaism views every single activity in life as an opportunity to bring ourselves closer to God. What we eat, what we think, what we say, what we do, what we don't do. [music] In this week's Torah portion, the verse says, "The cohen, the priest, shall separate the ash where the fire has consumed [music] the burnt offering." The word for ash in Hebrew is deshen. Now, deshen can be read as an acronym for davar shalom nishav, something without importance. >> [music] >> When the Torah says, "He shall separate the ash," it's telling us to take everything, even those small, [music] insignificant things like ash, insignificant and without value, and place [music] them next to the altar of our divine service. In other words, to raise up the little, unthought-of parts of our lives, and use them to serve God. [music] For there is nothing in this world that cannot be used to serve God, even the humblest shoelace.