The cultural area that develops along the Mediterranean Sea has and shares many common traits among the peoples and cultures found in the regions bathed by its waters. One of these common characteristics is the olive tree, from which we produce oil. On our planet, there are approximately twenty-one areas where oil is produced, thirteen of which are in the Mediterranean area.
Olive cultivation began seven thousand years ago and spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. This contributed to making the olive and its derivatives some of the most used and valued products among the cultures it came into contact with, being used in both daily and sacred practices. Olive oil and olive culture can be found throughout the North African and Middle Eastern areas (including Israel), and in the Mediterranean region, more than 70% of all olives worldwide are produced.
In our Jewish culture as well, the use of oil is fundamental, and in the Torah portion we will read this Sabbath, Tzav, there is a particularly sacred use.
The word "olive" is mentioned forty times throughout the Torah.
It is used in some parts of the Temple of Solomon, which were built with olive trees. The first time the olive is mentioned is in Bereshit at the end of the Universal Flood. According to the prophet Jeremiah, the olive is the symbol of the Jewish People, where the tree represents qualities such as beauty, fecundity, and exuberance.
And what does oil mean?
We all know the Miracle of Hanukkah and the duration of the candles, of pure oil, for eight days, even though there was only enough for much less.
The word "oil" (in the Torah) is mentioned more than a hundred times, according to two denominations: "shemen" and "yizhar." The two uses made of oil are interesting, one mundane and the other sacred. An example of mundane use is found in the book of Deuteronomy (32:13), where oil is named as one of the products of the land.
If, on the one hand, we have a non-religious use of this precious gift, its sacred use can be found throughout the five books of the Torah.
In the Parashah of Vayetze, oil is used by Jacob at the moment of his awakening, after dreaming of the stairs, the angels, and speaking with God, who tells him that his descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Jacob consecrates, with oil poured over the stone, the place where he slept, to God, giving it the name Bet-El, the house of the Lord.
These are just a few examples in which oil and olive are used, so what is the sacred use of this week's Parashah? In the Parashah of Tzav, which means "Command," we find the description of three different sacrifices (Chatat, Asham, and Shelamim) made for different reasons, the obligation of the Mishkan's fire, which must always be learned and never extinguished, the prohibition of blood, and finally, the investiture of Aaron and his sons (the investiture of the Kohanim, which lasts for a week in which all the actions Moses did on the first day must be repeated).
At this point, oil appears. The use of sacred oil, ordered by God, serves to first purify the components of the Temple and then the Kohanim, they and their garments. Sacred oil is one of the necessary components to consecrate the high priests.
The oil carries with it such a purifying value that without it, Moses cannot perform the ritual of consecrating the Kohanim.
In Psalm 133:3, there is a description of consecration through sacred oil descending upon Aaron's body and becoming a jewel of the community: "It is like fragrant oil upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, that runs down over the collar of his robes, like the dew of Hermon" (Psalm 133:3).
Can a thing, in this case, oil, which apparently has no life, teach us something?
In some regions of Polynesia and Melanesia, there are things that take the form of a gift that carry "a soul," a value, a part of the person making the donation, and are charged with energy. A full and powerful energy, difficult to handle, but that allows extending the concept of life to things that apparently do not have it. We have made a long list of functions and uses in which oil and olive are employed; in fact, two things considered inanimate actually have a special, renewing, different condition that allows giving them a new meaning.
So, they are clearly not inanimate or without agency. In the Parashah of Tzav, oil is necessary to consecrate Aaron and his descendants. With due deference.
If we imagine oil as a gift granted to us by God, the next time we use it or have the opportunity to contemplate an olive tree, let us remember the values, symbols, teachings, and various Jewish meanings that they contain.
Am Israel Chai.
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