Rabbi Aharon Halevi, writing in 14th century Spain, said: “By attending daily to the command of fire we may merit blessing in the matter of the fire that is within us. And what is this fire within, if not the life force of the person?”

So perhaps when we are told to keep the fire alight day and night, what we are really talking about is the human spirit. We are commanded to be a nation of priests, to take responsibility for our world, to be healers and, when necessary, to stand between life and death, as Aaron does. But we need to nurture ourselves. 

Without a perpetual fire burning on the altar, all our prayers, all our attempts at forming relationships, all our holy work would cease. This fire on the altar of our hearts is the prerequisite for everything we do. Tzav directs us in how to look after our innermost fire. If it goes out, if we lose our sense of spirit, our sense of hope, then everything we do is meaningless. 

The purpose of keeping the fire going in the Torah narrative is to be able to offer up sacrifices. The word for sacrifice in Hebrew is korban, and to bring a sacrifice is a verb from the root form, karav. Karav means to “come close”. We are talking here about how to come close to God, how to come close to each other, how to come close to ourselves. 

We are discussing the building of relationships with each other and with ourselves. The parashah ends  with the ceremony that consecrates the priesthood, setting us on the path to our higher selves and sending us to do our holy work.  

But in order to be priests, to keep the korbanot going, we need to maintain the fire. 

As the 16th century kabbalist, Elazar ben Moshe Azikri, wrote: “In my heart I will build a  sanctuary. For the eternal light I will take the fire of Isaac’s sacrifice and for a sacrifice I will offer my unique soul.”

We each have a unique soul. And together we keep our fire alight by working together to ensure that our spirits are strong enough for us to make our own contribution to the world.  

May we all be aware of a flame burning within us and that our task is to reveal the light of our flame to the world — and may we all help each other keep the fire going.