“He shall slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and cast the blood all around on the altar that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (Leviticus 1:5). “He shall slaughter the young bull…” Regarding the ram it says: “To the north…before the Lord” (Leviticus 1:11). [The Sages] said: When Abraham our patriarch bound Isaac his son, the Holy One blessed be He prepared two sheep, one for the morning and one for the evening.32God decided to command Israel to bring the daily offering of a sheep in the morning and a sheep in the evening.
Why to that extent? It is because when Israel would sacrifice a daily offering on the altar and read this verse: “To the north…before the Lord,”33There was no obligation to read this verse upon the offering of the sacrifice. The point is that they fulfilled that verse. Alternatively, when Israel reads the verse today, when they cannot bring the offering (Etz Yosef). the Holy One blessed be He would remember the binding of Isaac.
I call the heavens and the earth to testify for me34This statement is attributed to Elijah the prophet (Tanna d’Vei Eliyahu 7). that both gentile and Israelite, both man and woman, both slave and maidservant, when they read this verse: “To the north…before the Lord,” the Holy One blessed be He remembers the binding of Isaac, as it is stated: “To the north…before the Lord.” Another matter, “to the north [tzafona]…before the Lord,” refers to the actions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which are preserved before Him.
From where is it derived that tzafona is an expression of preservation? As it is stated: “New and old as well, I preserved [tzafanti] them for you, my beloved” (Song of Songs 7:14). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are “old,” Amram son of Kehat and all the upright who were in Egypt are “new,” as it is stated: “New and old as well.” The company of Moses, the company of Joshua, the company of David and of Hezekiah – “old.”
The company of Ezra, Hillel, Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Meir and his colleagues – “new.” In their regard it says: “Old and new as well.”