Many times, we find that a particular phenomenon has three singular examples in the Torah. One of these, found first in our parashah, is a verse that begins with the words, “This is the Torah...” (אתֹזהָרֹוּתַה). The verse in our parashah reads, “This is the Torah regarding the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and the offering of ordination, and the peace offering” (םׁשָאָלְאת וּטַחַלְה וחְנִּמַה לָלֹעָה לָרֹוּתַאת הֹזיםִמָלְּׁשַחַבֶזְלּים וִאּוּלִּמַלְו). The second such verse appears in parashat Metzora “This is the Torah regarding all lesions of leprosy, for scalls” (קֶתָּנַלְת ועַרָּצַע הגֶל נָכה לָרֹוּתַאת הֹז).
The third verse can be found in parashat Chukat, “This is the Torah: When a person dies in a tent, whoever enters the tent and whoever is in the tent shall be unclean seven days” (אּבַל הָל כֶּהֹאְּת בּמוָי יִם כָּדָה אָרֹוּתַאת הֹזיםִמָת יַעְבִׁא שָמְטִל יֶהֹאָּר בֶׁשֲל אָכלְל וֶהֹאָל הֶא).
The verse from parashat Tzav contains 9 words and 47 letters. As an example of what is known as self-reference, the first and last letters are zayin (ז) and mem (ם), whose combined value is 47, the same as the number of letters in the verse. The value of the entire verse is 2764. The value of the opening phrase, “This is the Torah...” (אתֹזהָרֹוּתַה), which we said opens three verses in the Pentateuch, is 1024, or 210.
Six Types of Sacrifices
The verse describes six different types of sacrifice: 1) the burnt offering (הָלֹע), 2) the meal offering (הָחְנִמ), 3) the sin offering (אתּטַח), 4) the guilt offering (םׁשָא), 5) the offering of ordination (יםִאּוּלִמ), and 6) the peace offering (חַבֶזיםִמָלְּׁשַה). The combined value of these six types as written in the verse is 1536, or 6 times 256, the value of Aharon [the High Priest] (ןֹרֲהַא), or 6 times 28.
