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Parshat Pinchas
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 

Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

את הכבש אחד תעשה בבקר ואת הכבש השני תעשה בין הערבים

"May it be Your Will HaShem our God and God of our Fathers that this utterance be considered as if we have sacrificed the Tamid sacrifice in its time, place, according to its law."

Famous is the teaching in the beginning of Pirkei Avot, 'on three things the world stands, on the Torah, on the Service, and on the commitment of kind deeds'. Although many explain 'Service' as 'prayer', it is important to differentiate that this explanation is a true explanation, but perhaps not the most basic explanation of this term.

In seeking for the most basic explanation of this term let us search for the Biblical source offered for this teaching by our Sages. The source for Torah obtaining the world is 'if not for my covenant (homiletically interpreted as Torah)... the laws of heaven of earth I did not place' (Jer. 33, 25), while the source for kind deeds obtaining the world is 'a world of kindness shall be built' (Ps. 89, 3).

In regard to the Service being 'a pillar' on which the world stands, the proof-text given by our Sages is the same verse given for Torah, but in this case 'My covenant' refers to the covenant with Avraham at 'the covenant of the pieces' (brit bein habtarim) when the covenant between HaShem and Avraham and his offspring was formed in context of the sacrifices offered by Avraham which alluded to the future Service in the Bais HaMikdash. Therefore, it is clear that the most basic understanding of 'Service' refers to the continuous  ('covenant night and day') sacrifices in the Bait Mikdash, especially the Tamid offering and its like (continuous guarding of the Bait HaMikdash, Maamadot, etc.).

The explanation of 'Service' as prayer does not negate this explanation but rather completes it, for the specified prayer (un-specified prayer had always been a Biblical mitzvah) today was enacted in inspiration from the sacrifices. Interestingly, both the covenant with Avraham, which acted as the forerunner of the sacrifices and the Tamid sacrifice, and the Tamid sacrifice itself, evoke Hebron.

Hebron is both "the City of the Covenant with Avraham' for here Avraham entered the covenant via circumcision, and the primary place from which the sheep for the Tamid offering were brought as mentioned in the Talmud and ruled by the Rambam. In turn, it is via Hebron (and it seems that afterwards via Jerusalem) that our prayers, which correspond to the Tamid sacrifice, arise to Heaven. 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #78:

"Once I took down my mezuzah at the front entrance of my apartment to be checked without replacing it with a spare mezuzah. When I approached the entrance of the apartment I realized I had lost the keys, so I phoned my mother, who had another copy of the keys, to come and help me. However, she told me that she couldn't come, because her car was in the garage-repair. I figured, 'maybe HaShem doesn't want me to go into a house without a mezuza', so I asked someone to lend me their mezuzah which I fastened to the doorpost... Within the hour, suddenly my mother arrived and gave me the keys to the apartment".

Sources: Bartenura on Avot, Megila 31b, Sifri Shlah p. 111 Brachot 26b, Rambam Isurei Mizbeach 7, 2,  the 'Middle Rebbe' of Habad