401. Twice a Day, Every Day: The obligation to offer two lambs daily

The nation was commanded to offer two lambs each day as a korban olah (burnt offering), one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These were called the korban tamid, meaning a “perpetual offering,” since it was offered daily in addition to any sacrifices that were brought for Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Pesach, Yom Kippur or any other occasion.

The reason for this mitzvah is similar to what we have said about sacrifices: they are intended to draw us closer to God. These sacrifices were offered continually so that we might have a constant, ongoing relationship with Him. If we prepare food every morning and evening for our physical needs, we should do no less for our spiritual needs.

Even today, in the absence of the Temple, our daily prayer services correspond to these sacrifices. “But,” you ask, “that only accounts for shacharis and mincha. What about maariv?” Well, you know how only shacharis and mincha have chazaras hashatz, the “reader’s repetition” of the Shemoneh Esrei? That’s because the silent Amidah, said privately, corresponds to the individual prayers uttered by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Torah. The public repetition is only said at shacharis and mincha because that corresponds to the two communal offerings that were given in the Temple each day.[1]

Rambam (Maimonides) considers the obligation to offer both daily sacrifices a single mitzvah. Ramban (Nachmanides), however, considers the morning tamid and the afternoon tamid to be separate mitzvos. His reason for doing so is that the two sacrifices are obligated at different times and they are not mutually exclusive. (That is, even if they failed to offer the morning tamid, they would still be separately obligated to bring the afternoon tamid.)

This mitzvah applies at a time when the Temple service is in effect. In the Talmud, it is discussed in the tractates of Tamid (particularly on pages 30b-31b) and Yoma (15a-b). It is codified in the Mishneh Torah in Hilchos Temidin U’Musafin. This mitzvah is #39 of the 248 positive mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.

1. This is not the conventional explanation, in which the three daily prayer services are said to correspond to the prayers of the Forefathers and/or the daily sacrifices offered in the Temple, without making any distinction between the private and public prayers. While this author’s approach is unconventional, it is not unprecedented. I refer you, for example, to Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s dichotomy between tefillah b’tzibbur and tefillas hatzibbur, as seen in Mesorah Journal #5–Inyan Chazaras HaShatz–and Nefesh HaRav.