Tend the flame - Parshat Tzav 5786

In Parshat Tzav, the priests receive a commandment that is deceptively tedious: keep the fire on the altar burning. Continuously. It must not go out. Every morning, the Kohen tends it — removing the ash, adding fresh wood, maintaining what was lit the day before. While we no longer have the mishkan or the Temple where this altar stood, most synagogues still have some version of a light that is never turned off.