When a person [Adam] from [among] you brings a sacrifice to the Lord;

(Vayikra 1:2)

Adam – Why is this term used here?

Just as Adam, the first man, never offered sacrifices from stolen property,

since everything was his, so too, you must not offer sacrifices from stolen

property.

(Rashi Vayikra 1:2, based on

Judaica Press translation)

Adam includes converts who take the covenant upon

themselves as does Israel, including non-Jews who do so. Even though adam

here means [a member of] Israel, later in the verse we find the word mikem

of the world. Together they constitute an instance of one exclusionary phrase

being followed by another. [According to the hermeneutic rule] such a double

exclusion must imply the inclusion of non-Jews. Similarly, [we apply

this rule to the repetitive expression] ish ish ("every man and

man"), saying that it includes non-Jews, that they make vows and pledges

like Israelites. brings a sacrifice

– After the Tabernacle was erected, He tells you how His servants will serve

Him in His house. From [among] you – and not all of you, to

exclude the Apikorsim [heretics] who do not accept the covenant as

Israelites do. From [among] you – My portion is among you and not

among the nations. Even if a gentile is completely wicked his sacrifice is accepted

in order to draw him near beneath the wings of the Divine Presence.

(Hizkuni ad loc)

When a person

from [among] you brings – When he brings something of his own, with

words of confession and submission, in the manner expressed by the verse our

lips shall offer bulls, and as it says the sacrifice to God is a broken

spirit, for there is no interest in fools who sacrifice without first

submitting themselves, as the Sages already said, "From you but not from

all of you, to exclude one who converts out of Judaism.

(Seforno Vayikra 1:2)

Hametz of the Heart

Yael Levine

As

everyone knows, on the night of the 14^th of Nissan every nook and

cranny of the house is checked to make sure it contains no hametz; this

inspection is supposed to include "holes and cracks." After the

inspection the familiar formula is recited, in which ownership is revoked over

whatever hametz may have escaped detection. On the morning before Passover the

hametz is burned, and another formula of renunciation is recited: "May all hametz

in my possession which I have neither seen nor removed be annulled and

considered as the dust of the earth."

These actions

mark the completion of the many exhausting physical preparations involved in

making the home kosher for Passover. Those seemingly prosaic tasks are lent

exalted significance and new vitality by exegetical, philosophical, Hassidic,

and kabbalistic texts. The physical work of cleaning takes on symbolic meaning;

it points to the spiritual goal of an internal inspection of the soul's

innermost places – something no less important than the physical search for

hametz. This approach has it that alongside the necessary physical preparations

for the holiday, the spiritual world must not be neglected. Everyone must set

their mind to free themselves from the shackles of self-bondage in their own

lives and move out to freedom.

Several issues

are emphasized in the sources dealing with the introspection that is to

accompany the preparations for the holiday. One of these is the need to

overcome the evil inclination, i.e., to rid oneself of the cravings that people

chase after and to draw oneself towards the good inclination, which is

symbolized by the matza. The source for this idea is found in the Babylonian

Talmud (Berakhot 17a), where the term se'or sheba'isa – "the hametz

in the dough" – is used to refer to the evil inclination of the heart. Another

salient point found in the sources is the need to undo negative character

traits. Pride is especially in need of being removed and broken, an idea

connected to matzah, the lehem oni ["bread of affliction" or "of

poverty"], which symbolizes humility and submission.

The Passover

holiday invites us to be attentive to ourselves and to undertake personal

journeys into the depths of our souls. As a result, it contains the possibility

for growth and repair that help us to return to our own essence. It should be

recalled how popular the saying has become, "It is easy to be rid of the

hametz in the house and difficult to be rid of the hametz of the heart." That

idea is based upon the recognition that personal change of character is not at

all easy; it requires great strength.

The season of

the Passover holiday is by its essence and nature an apt time for national

redemption, as the famous Talmudic dictum has it: "In Nissan they were

redeemed and in Nissan they will be redeemed in the future" (Rosh

HaShanah 11a). The approach which calls upon the individual to engage in

self-accounting before Passover requires us to recognize the value of the

experience of the isolated Jew within the social and collective whole. This

outlook jibes with the Haggadah's statement: "A person" – that is to

say, each and every individual – "is obliged to view himself as if he left

Egypt."

It seems that

introspection leading to transformation can take place in a more comfortable

and tranquil setting during the month of Nissan than during the Days of Awe,

when the moment of judgment is nigh.

The spiritual

repair experienced by a person in the wake of a process of growth of the kind

described above can inject him with positive energies which will help him to encounter

the holiday in high spirits and loftiness of soul, in spite of the physical

exhaustion he may feel after completing the day's physical preparations. Thus,

every individual in Israel can recline at the Seder table as a free-person with

a refreshed and cleansed soul on the night when the holiday is sanctified; each

can enjoy the feeling of renewal accompanying his liberation from the shackles

of his bondage and his accomplishment of personal, individual liberation.

Dr.

Yael Levine edited a collection of prayers titled "Sim Shalom," Tefillot

Lishlom Ha'olam, Asufa Mitokh "Likkutei Tefilot" which was

recently published by Megged (Koren) Publishers in Jerusalem.

The Torah's

Intention: Instructing the People in the Ways of Justice

I saw fit to briefly

express my opinion regarding sacrifices. The sacrifices did not originate with

a command, but rather with human choice. When people decided to offer Him

thanks for His kindnesses towards them, or to bring Him a gift in order to calm

His anger so that He might fulfill their wishes, they could only treat their

God as they would a king of flesh and bone. When they came to offer a gift to

God they could do nothing but burn it in fire, for by burning it they removed

it from their possession and from the possession of other human beings, and

from possession by beasts and birds. Also, when it burned the smoke rose up,

seeming to them as if it ascended to God. That which was burned in God's honor

was called kodesh ["sanctified"] from the expression yekod

aish ["burnt by fire"]. Later the term kodesh was borrowed

in Hebrew to refer to other matters in the Divine Torah, which were not aimed

at teaching the people wisdom and knowledge but rather at instructing them in

the ways of justice. It was within the Torah's power to discontinue sacrifice,

but it did not do so, because that practice is not evil in itself; it does not

hurt people or their moral characters. Rather, it does them good, for if the

Torah would have announced to the people that God does not want sacrifice,

later they would say: "What does God care whether we are just and what is

there to lose if we behave badly?" Since the belief that God oversees

human acts – loving those who do good and hating the wicked – is one of the

Torah's foundations, it was necessary that God not be portrayed in the full and

true degree of his exaltedness. Rather, His status was – so to speak – lowered

to be portrayed in human thought as a great king who understands all their

actions, hears their cries, and receives their gifts… if, instead of

sacrifices, God would have commanded prayer, hymns, reading of the Torah, and

moral preaching without commanding sacrifice, God's greatness and the fear of

Him would not have been impressed on the heart of the masses, for it would seem

to them that the foreign gods, whose devotees served them with sacrifices, were

greater and more honored than our God, who is served with mere words.

(ShaDaL Vayikra 1:2)

But the custom which was in those days general among all men, and the

general mode of worship in which the Israelites were brought up, consisted in

sacrificing animals in those temples which contained certain images, to bow

down to those images, and to burn incense before them; religious and ascetic

persons were in those days the persons that were devoted to the service in the

temples erected to the stars, as has been explained by us. It was in accordance

with the wisdom and plan of God, as displayed in the whole Creation, that He

did not command us to give up and to discontinue all these manners of service;

for to obey such a commandment it would have been contrary to the nature of

man, who generally cleaves to that to which he is used; it would in those days

in thought, and not by any action. For this reason God allowed these kinds

of service to continue; He transferred to His service that which had formerly

served as a worship of created beings, and of things imaginary and unreal, and

commanded us to serve Him in the same manner; viz., to build unto Him a temple;

comp. And they shall make unto me a sanctuary (Shemot 25:8); to have the altar erected to His name; comp. An

altar of earth thou shalt make unto me (ibid.

20: 21); to offer the sacrifices to Him; comp. If any man of you

bring an offering unto the Lord (Vayikra 1:2),

to bow down to Him and to burn incense before Him.

(Guide for the Perplexed,

3:32, pg. 323 in the Friedländer translation)

The Sacrifice Symbolizes the Way One Approaches God

And if his sacrifice to the Lord, is a

doves.

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Come and see

how God is considerate of Israel's possessions –

He said to them: If one is obliged to bring an offering, if the offering

is to be an olah – a burnt offering – let him bring from his cattle – If

his burnt offering is a burnt offering from the herd (Vayikra 1:3); and should he not find from the

herd, let him bring a sheep, – … of sheep (Ibid.,

ibid. 10); and should he not find a sheep, let him bring a goat, or

of the goats (Ibid.)…; and if he does find a goat, let him bring

from the birds and from the fowl, and if he does not find a fowl, let him bring

an offering of meal – choice flour as a regular meal offering. Yet more,

all [other] offerings may not be brought by halves, but this latter one is

offered by halves – half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening

(Vayikra 6). Yet more, whoever

offers this is reckoned as though he offered from one end of the world to the

other end, as is written, For from where the sun rises to where it sets, etc.

(Malachi 1).

(Vayikra Rabba, Parasha 8)

Rabbi Abahu said: Let a person always be of the pursued and not

of the pursuers; among the fowl, none is pursued more than doves and

pigeons, and the Torah decreed them acceptable for offering upon the altar.

(Bava Kama 93a)

And if he is poor,

and cannot afford…

Rabbi Yehudah said: The

fulfiment of a mitzvah in good time is agreeable; he immediately brings a tenth

of an efah so that they do not have to wait for him to become wealthy.

(Yalkut Shimoni VaYikra 4: 474)

There are sins for which

the sinner is required to bring an offering called “rises and falls [in value]”

– That is: if he is rich, he brings an expensive offering, and if he cannot

two pigeons (Vayikra 5:7), and if he

does not even have that: and he will bring his offering for his sin a tenth

of an efah of fine flour.

It happened that a certain

woman brought a handful of fine flour [to the Temple], and the priest

disparaged her and said: "What do they offer? What is there to eat of it? What

is there to sacrifice?" The priest had a vision in a dream: "Do not

disparage her, it is as if she sacrificed her soul."

(VaYikra Rabbah 3:5)

The poor offering of the

indigent is equal in value to the costly offering of the rich man.

(A Shaltiel Shabbat Be'Shabbato vol. 2, pg. 11)

Who is Dependent upon Whom: The Leadership upon the People or Vice

Versa?

If it is the anointed priest who has incurred guilt, le'ashmat

ha'am [so that blame falls upon the people] (4:8). What is the meaning of the preposition le' in this

verse?

There are two approaches to understanding this matter, which may be

expressed in the words of the Sages: Does the generation – that is to say, the

social, cultural and moral character of a certain population at a certain time

– go according to the Prince (i.e., does the leadership determine the people's

character)? Or does the Prince go with the people (the leadership is

appropriate to the people)? Or as the nations of the world are wont to say,

does each nation get the leaders it deserves?

And so, there are two interpretations of if it is the anointed priest

who has incurred guilt, le'ashmat ha'am. It can mean that the priest's

unintentional sin (i.e., the leadership's mistakes) cause the people to sin as

well. That is to say, the sin of the anointed priest also incurs guilt for the

people. Or it can be interpreted as saying that the people cause the priest to

sin. That is to say, he sins because the people sins.

This returns us to a problem of profound social-political significance: Are

the generation's faults to be blamed on the leadership? Or should we say that

the character of the leadership reflects the character of the people? There is

an important practical consequence to the way we answer these questions. In the

one case, we can improve a situation by changing the leadership. In the other

case, the people cannot be changed, and improvement would be dependent upon

everyone's improving himself.

(Y. Leibowitz, He'arot le'Parshiyot

Ha'shavu'a)

Readers Respond

I would like to add a comment to Itay Marienberg-Milikovski's beautiful

drasha, which appeared in the Yitro edition. Letters to the editor are

generally sent out of disagreement or some kind of complaint. In the present

case, I would like to congratulate the author and further strengthen his words.

Itay chose to write about one of my favorite stories. I have it taught many

times and before various audiences, because I believe it epitomizes a humanistic-religious

approach. Itay's analysis of the story is fascinating and important.

I would just add one comment: If we examine the questions Moses asks the

angels – "Do you then perform work that you need

to rest?" "Are there any business dealings among you?" "Have you

fathers and mothers?" "Is there jealousy among you?" and so on –

we find that save one, all the questions are universal and describe what the

French philosophers call la condition humaine.

The only question which relates specifically to the Israelites asks: "Did you go down to Egypt? Were you enslaved to

Pharaoh?" That is to say, Israel is unique in its national-historical

experience. The Torah relates to human beings as human beings and offers Jewish-particularistic

answers to universal challenges. Other answers may be more appropriate for

other peoples with other histories. In any event, we can see how the Torah

combines the universal with the particular.

Dr. Deborah Weissman, Jerusalem

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