TZAV

This is the law of the “olah” sacrifice (the sacrifice which is totally consumed by fire)…He (the Kohen) shall then take off his garments and clothe himself in other garments and take the ashes out of the camp to a pure place. The fire for the altar shall be kindled upon it; it must not go out.

Leviticus 6:4 – 5

Sacrifice without morality is meaningless

Nechama Leibowitz

Every trace of yesterday’s devotion is to be removed from the place upon the altar where the offerings were burned so that the next day’s service may be begun on completely untouched ground, as it were. In light of the above, the law that the Kohanim must wear humble, worn garb when they handle the products of the past day’s functions, when they remove, and probably also “take up” the ashes, may be seen in its full significance. The past must recede into the background; it must not clothe us in pride as we set out upon the new task to which every new day summons us.

Samson Raphael Hirsch

A man should not say to himself, “I will go ahead and do vile things, even things that are unspeakable, then bring a burnt offering, all of it to be consumed by the fire, and present it on the altar so that God will look on me with favor.” Instead Scripture urges a man to do good deeds and engage in study of Torah. If he does so, it is enough for him to bring a meal offering, even if it is worth no more than a (trifle) and present it upon the altar…

Tanna Debe Eliyahu

Because prayer is service of the heart we have tied prayer to the Olah sacrifice. As an Olah is an offering that “rises” towards God in its entirety, since the whole of the animal is being offered on the altar, so is prayer an offering of the heart which rises toward Heaven in its entirety.

Akedat Yitzchak

Why does the Torah commence with the parts of the offering that were left over after burning, instead of giving us details of the daily morning offering first? Altars built by man prior to the consecration of the Tabernacle were not holy in the sense of their being a gift to God. Now with the advent of this Altar and the Heavenly fire which descended regularly to consume the offerings brought thereon, a different degree of sanctity envelops this Altar…The reason that part of the ash combined with the left over fat parts are removed while the Kohen wears his sacrificial vestments…is because they have been subject to this Heavenly fire, as distinct from the ashes which are merely remains of the firewood regularly stacked on the Altar.

Moshe Alshich

It is normal for us to want to grasp the whole world in the palm of our hands. When we are young, we want everything: money, status, possessions, love, power. We are greedy. Our society is a consuming culture. We are known as consumers. It has become our identity. We are called that by everyone. Advertisers hope we become even greater consumers. Sometimes I visualize us as a huge maw desperately sucking in everything we can, always on the lookout for more and more….Perhaps this time is a time when we measure out our days…with a spiritual measure…

Azriel Fellner

The ashes are disposed of in “a clean place.” But when the camp moves on, they are left behind…The verses we talked about reveal a sense of appropriateness of time and place in ritual. For the new sacrifice to be made, for the service of God to continue, that which is past must be done with. Not hastily, or thoughtlessly, but with the recognition that it was, for its appointed time, the bearer of holiness…There is not a new mode of sacrifice each day but there is a new medium…In our lies we need to know that things will be the same. But when we do not clear out the ashes of the old…we cannot proceed with our own service to God

Amy Hill Siewers.