Halacha:

Korbanot 

Parsha:

Tzav,  Vayikra 

Collections: R' Etshalom Sefer Vayikra

Description

In our continued analysis of the שלמים, we note that the prohibition of eating חֵלֶב appears, along with the prohibition of eating דם, within the context of זבח השלמים and follows the declaration that כל חֵלֶב לשם (all חֵלֶב belongs to God). This leads us to exploring the broader notion that some ritual prohibitions are not generated by the unseemliness of engaging with them, rather by the propriety of benefiting from that which rightly belongs to the מזבח - or, to put it more bluntly, is "God's own". We see this approach in the stern commands to avoid using the "oil of anointment" or the "incense" for personal use. In both of those cases, just as with חֵלֶב ודם, the punishment for intentionally using it for personal enjoyment is כרת. This is the first of a two-part analysis.