When a person [Adam] from [among] you brings a sacrifice to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall bring your sacrifice. (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 [from you], which means from you but not from the nations 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 have made the same impression as a prophet would make at present if he called us to the service of God and told us in His name, that we should not pray to Him, not fast, not seek His help in time of trouble; that we should serve Him 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 burnt offering from birds, he shall bring [it] from turtle doves or from young 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 afford a lamb, he will bring as a guilt offering for his sin two turtledoves or 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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