Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week.
But if he cannot afford two turtle
doves or two young doves, then he shall bring as his sacrifice for his sin one
tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.
He shall not put oil over it, nor shall he place frankincense upon it,
for it is a sin
offering. (Vayikra 5:11)
Rabbi Yehuda said: Beloved is a
mitzvah performed at its proper time, for he brings a tenth of an efa immediately, and there is no waiting until he
becomes wealthier.
(Yalkut
Shimoni, Vayikra 4,
474)
Once a woman brought a kometz
[a handful] of choice flour to the
(Vayikra
Rabbah 3:5)
That is
as Scripture states: to revive the spirit of the humble (Isaiah 57:15). R. Yitzhak said: come and see, when the Holy One,
blessed be He, mentioned an animal sacrifice, which is the sacrifice offered by
the wealthy, He mentioned neither the owner's soul nor name, rather [He says], when
a person [adam] brings a sacrifice (Vayikra 1:2). However, when He mentions the meal offering,
which is a poor-person's sacrifice, He shows it favor and publicizes it,
saying, when a soul [nefesh] makes a sacrifice - as if he
[the poor person] had sacrificed his own soul. And know this: he [the poor
person] had only a se'a of wheat to feed his household, [but] he took it
and ground it and made it into fine flour and brought it as a sacrifice. He is
left with nothing; therefore Scripture accounts it to him as if he had
sacrificed his own soul. That is why it says: when a soul makes a sacrifice.
(Midrash HaGadol, as quoted in N.Leibowitz, Iyyunim Hadashim
Besefer Vayikra, pg. 42)
Why Bother Me with Sacrifice Now?
Yonatan Orich
Parashat Vayikra opens the third of the Five Books of Moses, that
book is also known as Torat Kohanim - the Law of the Priests.
The previous book of the Torah - Shemot
- deals with the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and their
formation into a nation. However, up to now we have encountered a passive
lifestyle (the Lord will fight for you and you shall remain still) that
suppressed the people's creative abilities. Now we read of the call for the
building of the Tabernacle, and the organizing of the priestly service and the
sacrifices. What is happening?
The detailed procedure of the Tabernacle service establishes
the worship of God in terms of practices and obligations, rather than founding
it upon mere religious experience alone. The obligation to serve God remains in
force even when we are not inclined to it. Hit'habrut
- "connectedness" - is important and central [Rahmana
liba ba'ei - "God
wants the heart"], but there is also a plain understanding that religious
emotions are incapable of persisting over time without the obligations of a
practical halakhic framework.
In my humble opinion, Moses' invitation to the tent of
Meeting created a kind of framework for serving God. The framework, the
invitation, makes the encounter with God more ceremonial and respectful. Things
would look entirely different if such an encounter took place in a happenstance
fashion. I think this is the point made by the midrash:
On this basis
they said: Any scholar who is without intelligence - a scoundrel [neveila] is better than him. Know that it is so. Go
and learn from [the example of] Moses, [who was] the father of wisdom, the father
of prophets, who took Israel out of Egypt, and who performed miracles, wonders
in the Land of Ham, and awe-inspiring things at the Red Sea, and who ascended
to high heaven and brought down the Torah, and who was engaged in building the
Tabernacle. Despite all this he did not enter until He called him, for it is
said, And He called Moses. (Yalkut Shimoni Vayikra 1: 429)
The technicalities of the Tabernacle service were also
important for an additional reason. The sinner wanders about in the world, not
finding his place. He seeks solace for his powerful feelings of guilt and of
hope in the service of his God. The Torah offers the path of repentance and
repair to him together with the sacrificial service. The technicalities of
ritual slaughter are of no use to anyone, but they do serve as a significant
symbol of the virtue of peace which the sinner should adopt. Rabbeinu Behayeiy writes:
It should
furthermore be explained that Scripture designated the domesticated animals for
sacrifice on the altar in order to teach the virtue of innocence [temimut], for the domesticated animals are innocent,
and they live in human settlements, and it was they who were chosen by our
father Jacob when his mother told him please go to the flocks (Bereishit 27), and he chose the trait of peace and
was called an ish tam - a man of
innocence - which is translated as gevar shalim - a man of peace, and the Torah given to his
seed is entirely peace, for it is said, her ways are ways of pleasantness
and all her paths are peace (Proverbs 3). Likewise
This notion of the sacrifice and the altar as symbols of
peace appears earlier: And when you make for Me an
altar of stones, you shall not build them of hewn stones, lest you wield your
sword upon it and desecrate it (Shemot 20:22). Following
the Sages' lead, Rashi makes this comment: "...for
the altar was created to lengthen man's days, and iron was created to shorten
man's days [because it is used to make swords]. It is improper that the "shortener" be wielded over the "lengthener"
(Middot 3:4). Moreover, the altar makes peace between
The idea that sacrifices symbolize peace is not just some
nice "vordt" to tell on Shabbat eve.
It is anchored in the plain meaning of Scripture. I think that the sacrificial
service is a kind of tshuvat mihamishkal - repentance through successful
re-engagement with the conditions that led to past failure - for the sin that
sprang from the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Those two wanted to offer up the
best of their possessions to God; they wanted to devote their all to His
worship. That powerful drive led them to hatred and murder. Adding to the
description of Cain's envy of Abel found in the plain meaning of Scripture, the
midrash tells us how they
argued over the ownership of the location of the future
...about what
did they quarrel? One said, "The Temple must be built in my area,"
while the other claimed, "It must be built in mine." For thus it is
written, and it came to pass, when they were in the field: Now field
refers to nought but the
This midrash
and the story in tractate Yoma 23a about the priests
who competed with each other for the honor of cleaning the altar show us that
the Sages were aware of the dangers that arise when religious fervor is
combined with competitiveness. That is to say: the holy service in itself does
not guarantee peace if people are motivated by acquisitiveness and
competitiveness.
However, the laws of the sacrifices with their intricate
practical details ward off any messianic-emotional outburst. They repent for
the shedding of Abel's blood over the first altar. Worship of God cannot
tolerate hatred, anger, or murder.
Yonatan Orich is a student in Yeshivat Har Etzion
When a person from [among] you brings a
sacrifice to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall
bring your sacrifice.
The Sacrifices: Of You? Of Animals?
What does it say previously about this matter? When one
has thus sinned and, realizing his guilt, would restore that which he gained
through robbery (Vayikra 5: 23) and
afterwards, This is the ritual of the burnt
offering (6:2). If you want
to offer a sacrifice, never rob anything from anyone. Why? Because,
in connection with the burnt offering, God loves justice and hates robbery.
When can you make a burnt offering that is acceptable to Me?
When your hand has no part of robbery. David said: Who
may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalms 24:3-4).
From the beginning of the laws of sacrifices we learn, when mikem
[any of you, but also from you - not from the possessions of others]
presents an offering...
The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: When you offer sacrifice
to me, be like Adam [a play on the verse, When any of you – adam - presents an offering]
who could not steal from others because he was the only person in existence.
(Yalkut
Shimoni Vayikra 6: 480)
Adam ki yakriv
mikem [When any of you presents]: This may be
read as allowing for human sacrifice, since it could have been formulated less
ambiguously as Adam mikem ki
yakriv. However, Scripture has avoided this and
prohibited it [human sacrifice], and so the verse should be rendered: If a
person from amongst you wishes to make an offering to God, you should offer
cattle or sheep, but not humans. And that is what the prophet said: Which
I never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My
mind (Jeremiah
19: 5).
And that is why the section regarding sacrifices begins with the word adam [human being], to tell
you that humans will be the sacrificers and not the
sacrificed.
(Rabbeinu Behayeiy on Vayikra 1:2)
It is written: Which I never commanded, never decreed,
and which never came to My mind (Jeremiah 19:
5).
Which I never commanded - This is the son of Mesha King of Moav, as it is
written: So he took his firstborn son, who was supposed to succeed him as
king, and offered him up as a burnt offering (II Kings 3: 27).
Never decreed - this is Yiftah.
And which never came to My mind - That is
Isaac, Abraham's son.
(Ta'anit 4a)
Adam ki yakriv
mikem korban la'Hashem min habeheima [When any
of you presents an offering of cattle to the Lord] One must
understand why the word adam
appears several times in Leviticus. In my humble opinion, it appears that
if Adam had not sinned, sacrifice would be practiced in a completely different
way, in the spiritual manner of angels, as God said, "I want words" (Shemot Rabbah 38:4). That is why
it begins with the word adam, as if to say
that Adam's sin made this form of redress, i.e., the presenting of an
offering of cattle, necessary.
(Yodei
Binah, pg. 57)
"
There was an incident involving a certain man whose friend
was called "Kamtza" and whose enemy was
called "Bar Kamtza." He made a feast, and
told his servant: "Bring me Kamtza." He
went and [mistakenly] brought him Bar Kamtza. He came
and discovered him [Bar Kamtza] sitting [at the
feast]. He said to him: "Look, you hate me, what are you doing here? Get
up and leave!" He said to him: "Since I am already here, leave me
alone, and I will pay you the cost of whatever I eat and drink." He told
him: "No!"... "I will pay the cost of your entire
feast!"... "No!" They grabbed him by the hand, stood him up, and
took him out.
Bar Kamtza said: Since there were
sages sitting there and did not protest - they are untroubled [by my
humiliation] - I will go and inform on them to the king. He came to the Emperor
and told him: "The Jews have rebelled against you"... The Emperor
said, "Who can know?..
He told the Emperor: Send them an offering and see if they
will sacrifice it.
He went and sent a calf with him [Bar Kamtza].
On the way, Bar Kamtza mutilated its lip - others say
he mutilated the external membrane of the eye - a place that is considered a
flaw for us [rendering the animal unfit for sacrifice] but not for them
[according to Roman ritual law].
The Sages said it should be sacrificed to preserve the peace
of the kingdom. Rabbi Zekhariyah ben
Avikolus said to them: "[People] will say,
‘unfit animals are sacrificed at the altar!?'"
They said that Bar Kamtza should
be killed, so that he would not go and tell the king, Rabbi Zekhariyah
told them: "People will say: ‘One who blemishes a consecrated animal is to
be killed?!'"
Rabbi Yokhanan said: Rabbi Zekhariyah ben Avikolus's humility destroyed our house, burned our temple,
and banished us from our land."
(Gittin 55b-56a).
Readers respond
Bombs are set
in professors' homes, and we say nothing. Extreme rightists hold political
demonstrations in the name of religion, and we remain silent. Those extreme
rightists commit pogroms and various attacks against members of minorities, and
we simply do not react. Instead, for too long I read the vague and abstruse
Talmudic speculations of the honorable authors whose work appears in Shabbat
Shalom. I understand that genuine discussion of the controversial issues
will not be welcome in every synagogue. Nonetheless, I ask what point is there
to Netivot Shalom's
producing a periodical if it constantly sits on the fence in connection with
the acute moral issues of the hour? You, the editor,
have demonstrated your concern, but it seems that your writers feel that the
Torah is largely irrelevant to modernity. This is the only religious
publication distributed in synagogues that can offer a critical voice. The time
is come for it to assume its responsibility and say its piece. Yes - this will
require courage.
Pinchas Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, responds:
I thank my
friend David Waimann for his letter. It offers me an
opportunity to once again make clear my guidelines for editing Shabbat
Shalom. As we announced in our first issue, the main goal of Shabbat
Shalom is to expose the worshipping public of
We believe that
the fact that all human beings, without distinction of religion, race, or sex,
are created in the Divine image, together with our collective memory of
enslavement in Egypt, demand that every human being - as a human being - must
be treated respectfully. Similarly, we hold that it is impossible to
distinguish between "ceremonial" commandments and the recognition of
peace as a religious value, as was expressed in today's article by Yonatan Orich, which cited the midrash
that tells us that the altar is intended to lengthen human life.
Despite our
deep commitment to the values of justice, freedom, and peace as religious
values originating in the Torah of Israel, and despite our understanding that
this must be the contribution of religious Zionism, it is important for us to
create serious discourse, even involving a "disagreement for the sake of
heaven," with religious Jews who disagree with us.
Therefore,
perhaps in contrast to other Shabbat sheets, we do not deal in political op-eds but rather in value-informed Torah interpretation which
invites dialogue. Different writers differ in how explicitly they relate their
Torah interpretation to current issues, and as an editor I respect that
stylistic variety.
Sometimes, as
David Waimann writes, I see my editorial role as
requiring my response to unpleasant events to which we are witnesses when such
events involve desecration of the Name of Heaven and seriously damage Torah
morality. Usually, an issue is printed about three weeks before its
distribution date, making it understandably impossible to react to critical
events in "real time."
I hope and
believe that our writers' articles and the passages from midrashim
and commentaries published in Shabbat Shalom also bring our readers to
think about simple human values such as peace, social justice, human dignity,
the treatment of the stranger and the Other in Torah terms. We welcome any
further comments on this important issue.
Dear readers,
With God's help, with the help
of the generous support of a peace fund, and with your own help, we have
distributed Shabbat Shalom to hundreds of synagogues and many readers,
in Israel and abroad, both in Hebrew and English, since 5758.
We have done this without
requiring payment or selling advertising space.
We believe that you are
interested in seeing this partnership continue
so
that we may continue to spread the Torah of peace, social justice, and
loving-kindness each week.
Send your check made out to
"Oz Veshalom" to:
Oz VeShalom
- Netivot Shalom
POB 4433
Contributions are tax
deductible.
For further details (including
the possibility of dedicating an issue) please consult
If you enjoy Shabbat
Shalom, please consider contributing towards its publication and
distribution.
In
US and British tax-exempt contributions to Oz VeShalom may be made through:
New
New
Please note
that the NIF is no longer accepting donations under $100