Tzav begins by describing the first duty of the Kohen as he began the day’s services, known as “Removing of the Ashes” (Terumos Hadeshen). In this service, the Kohen removed a portion of the previous day’s ashes from the Altar.
Before giving this commandment, the Torah states the Kohen's obligation to put on his special and sacred clothing – an obligation already stated with regard to all of the Kohen's other services (Shemos 28: 40 – 43). Why was it necessary for the Torah to repeat this requirement with regard to the removing of the ashes”?
Rabbi Aharon Kotler moved to America when it was almost entirely devoid of Torah, and founded the yeshiva movement which has positively changed history and its far reaching effects are responsible for almost every Jewish community in the USA. Every minute of his time was critical and he was very careful to utilize every moment of his life to accomplish this monumental feat.
Once, shortly after leaving his home on his way to an important session in yeshiva, he asked his driver to turn around and return home. His driver couldn’t imagine what he had forgotten that could possibly be so critical, but he immediately obeyed. When they arrived at R' Aharon Kotler's home, the driver offered to run inside to fetch whatever was forgotten, but R' Aharon insisted that he would go into the house personally. The curious driver followed to observe what was so important and was astonished to observe R' Aharon tell his wife “Goodbye, and have a wonderful day,” and return to the car. He explained to his perplexed driver that every day he said goodbye to his wife before leaving. That day he had accidentally forgotten, and he didn’t want to hurt his wife’s feelings. Only after expending the time to return home and personally say goodbye was he able to proceed to yeshiva (partnersintorah.org).
We sometimes adopt a mentality that only certain actions, like lulav and esrog or lighting shabbos candles, are especially holy mitzvos. On the other hand, necessary “menial" obligations that we may find ourselves busy with, similar to the Kohen's obligation to remove ashes from the Altar, are not especially sacred tasks, but rather, a chore that must be completed solely so we can move on to "more important" goals.
One such person who demonstrated this mentality was Yissachar Ish Kfar Barkai. The Gemara (Pesachim 57a-b) relates that he felt that the removing of the ashes was not a lofty mitzvah, but rather, an undignified yet necessary task to make room for more korbonos. Therefore, every time he performed this service, he first wrapped his hands in silk, so as not to “sully" them. (His attitude was extremely displeasing to Hashem, and he was punished for his actions).
Our story with R' Aharon Kotler embodies how wrong this attitude is, and teaches us that remembering to focus on the "small" mitzvos is precisely what makes a great Jew. Indeed, R’ Aaron Lopiansky explains that in order to guard against this very attitude, the Torah "goes out of its way" to make it clear that all of the Kohen's duties were holy and elevated in nature. Even those tasks that an individual might consider lowly had to be performed while wearing special vestments. This was intended to teach us a crucial lesson in Judaism: there is no such thing as a "menial" task when it comes to serving the Creator. Every single action of serving Hashem, no matter how "small" it seems, is imbued with incredible holiness and, in essence, is worthy enough to be performed with special, sacred clothing.
Living Inspired
The fact that the Torah repeats that even the “Removing of the Ashes” can only be performed while wearing special and sacred clothing, teaches us that even the "smallest" actions that that are Hashem's Will, and every necessary detail of doing so, are from the loftiest actions imaginable and should be fulfilled with pride. From serving your family dinner, to carpool, to changing diapers, to taking the time to make your spouse and children happy, to grocery shopping, to having to spend 2 hours on the phone with a customer service representative - EVERY task that Hashem sends you has the highest level of holiness.
There are no “menial” tasks in Judaism. Anything and everything that you are faced with in life is never ever a waste of your time. On the contrary, it is from the loftiest acts of serving Hashem imaginable. Indeed, as R' Aharon Kotler demonstrated, properly valuing the "small" mitzvos is exactly what makes a great Jew.
