QUESTIONS FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE

PARSHAS ,VAYIKRA, 1:1- 5:26
PART I

We start a new Book this week, Vayikra or Leviticus.

At Vayikra 1:2 it says:”When a person from you will sacrifice an offering to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall sacrifice your offering”.

אָדָם כִּי-יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן, לַיהוָה--מִן-הַבְּהֵמָה, מִן-הַבָּקָר וּמִן-הַצֹּאן, תַּקְרִיבוּ, אֶת-קָרְבַּנְכֶם

Offering a sacrifice, in this case an animal, was the means for people at that time to come closer to God.

Rabbi Riskin expands on the term “from you” as meaning what does Hashem want from us?
He concludes that in making sacrifices today, Hashem wants us to give of ourselves, upfront and personal

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This week’s parsha begins with the word Vayikra: א ויקר   On all Torah scrolls the letter א is small…Why?

It was always seen as a symbol of the intense modesty of Moshe. But there is another explanation of the small aleph that Rabbi Berel Wein teaches us:
Hashem is to be seen and heard in the small things in life and not only in the large, great events. Hashem tells Elijah that He is not to be found in the wind, the noise of a quake, the brightness of a burning fire but rather in the still, small voice, in the sound of a whisper and not of a shout.

The still, small voice is most representative of God and his omnipotence. Science has shown us in our time that our physical appearance, if not even our longevity and health, lie in small almost invisible strands that make up our DNA. God calls out with a small aleph to his creatures – to see Him in every aspect of life, no matter how small and insignificant it may appear on its surface.

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The word “offering” or “sacrifice” is Korban or קָרְבָּן. The three letter root is קרב.
A verb having this root is לְהִתְקַרֵב , to come closer. Try squeezing out more meanings for קָרְבָּן.

Juggling the letters of the root yields the following possibilities:
רֵבקַ damn רקב decay ברק lightning בקר beef קַברֵ grave 

קַרֵב interior

Are we not the People of the Book, or what?

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This Wednesday night we celebrate the festival of Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the New Moon, the new month of Nissan.  But when was the moon really new?  And what do we know about its origin?

Among several theories of its origin, the Moon is thought (emphasis on “thought”, not actually known) to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after the Earth’s creation (4.6 billion years ago). The most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a hypothetical Mars-sized body.

I am guessing that when this collision took place there was a great sound and light show.  Quoting an excerpt from the liturgy of Kiddush Levanah, Sanctification of the Moon, קידוש לבנה: 
“May the light of the Moon be like the light of the Sun and like the light of the seven days of creation as it was before it was diminished…”, truly a blast from the past.

Here is what one moon rock looks like:

 This moon rock was collected in 1969 by American Astronauts.  It is a basalt which is an extrusive igneous rock.  Basalt rocks are commonly found in the Golan, not far from home.  The “holes” are vesicles formed by escaping gas while the rock lava was solidifying.

Good Chodesh everyone.