Parshat Tzav and Shabbat Hagadol

“A constant fire shall be,
Kept burning on the altar," in our Parsha we see,
"It shall not be extinguished," why repeat,
There is a lesson here about passion and heat.

Bringing a sacrifice is really nice,
But are we happy to do it or do we think twice?
Excitement, passion and fire, Hashem wants to see,
This is why on the alter, a fire burned constantly.

A sacrifice itself is insufficient without fire,
To serve Hashem is our true desire,
It's not enough to go the extra mile,
We've got to do it with a smile.

"It shall not be extinguished," is a guarantee,
That if we serve Hashem properly,
Then the "not," which represents negativity,
Will be extinguished, and turn into positivity.

This Shabbat we commemorate,
A miracle that was truly great,
"It shall not be extinguished," here too we see,
Negativity can be extinguished and transformed totally.

The Egyptians saw the Jews designating sheep,
They felt week and wanted to weep,
To the sheep they would pray,
For the Passover sacrifice, the Jews were taking them away.

The sheep they were planning to roast,
The blood they would put on the doorpost,
The angel of death would pass over the homes of the Jews,
For the Egyptians there would be bad news.

The Jews said that at midnight of the Seder night,
There would be no more first born Egyptians in sight,
The first born Egyptians didn't want to die,
"Free the Jews now," they did cry.

They pleaded before Pharoah the king,
But he refused to do anything,
The firstborn sons who were the lawmakers,
Wanted to be the lawbreakers.

The ones who made the Jews work for so many years,
Were fighting a civil war with tears,
The oppressors finally did choose,
To support the Jews.

Parshat Tzav and the Great Shabbat come together,
But there is one lesson to remember,
We must keep our fires burning both day and night,
And may any negativity stay out of sight.

Souvenir: flame pencil