PARSHAS VAYIKRA, 1:1- 5:26, SHABBAT ZACHOR
We start a new Book this week, Vayikra ("and He called") or Leviticus.
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QUESTIONS FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
Questions For The Sabbath Table contains snippets from the weekly Torah portion. The goal of Questions For The Sabbath Table is to bring more Torah to English speakers living in Israel and abroad.
For some who have recently immigrated to Israel, there may be the nagging sentiment of being in a foreign country. If you need something to say at the Sabbath Table is intended to do away with that sentiment, for you not to be a stranger in a strange land.
And for those living abroad, it is a means to come closer to the Divine. If however you are living in the Land, you are already a step closer
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I have a compulsion for which I apologize. In the words of Rav Kook, the 1st Chief Rabbi of Israel: “I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent.”
קְרָא בְגָ'רוֹן אַל-תַּחְשֹׂךְ, כַּשּׁוֹפָר הָרֵם קוֹלֶךָ; וְהַגֵּד לְעַמִּי פִּשְׁעָם, וּלְבֵית יַעֲקֹב חַטֹּאתָם
“Call with a בְגָ'רוֹן, do not spare, like a shofar raise your voice, and make known to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins”. Isaiah 58:1
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The focus of this group will be what is going on in Nahariya and
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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.
As of the 15th of March, since the start of the war against Hamas, 591 Israeli security forces have paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending our Land.
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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 Hashem 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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In the Parsha there is a specific commandment, at 2:13, that the grain offering (the Minchah) requires salt. This is followed by a general statement that all sacrifices require salt, hence the custom to have salt at our Shabbos table where table is symbolic of the Altar on which sacrifices were placed.
וְכָל-קָרְבַּן מִנְחָתְךָ, בַּמֶּלַח תִּמְלָח, וְלֹא תַשְׁבִּית מֶלַח בְּרִית אֱלֹהֶיךָ, מֵעַל מִנְחָתֶךָ; עַל כָּל-קָרְבָּנְךָ, תַּקְרִיב מֶלחַ
“And every meal-offering of yours you shall season with salt; neither shall you omit the salt covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal-offerings; with all your offerings you shall offer salt”.
A question: What is the salt covenant?
Offerings must not lack salt. This is a commandment and as such does not need to be understood. (That does not mean that we should not try to understand the commandment.) The commandment is part of a covenant, the “salt covenant”. Apparently, the commandment a legally binding agreement that Hashem has imposed upon us. And Hashem’s obligations under the covenant, if any, are not stated.
In the Book of Numbers 18:19, God's covenant with the priesthood is said to be a covenant of salt. In the second book of Chronicles 13:5, God's covenant with the Davidic kings of Israel is also described as a covenant of salt. A covenant of salt most likely means that the covenant is a perpetual covenant, because of the use of salt as a preservative.
A question: What is it about salt that makes it so important to Hashem?
Try these facts to come up with your answer. Oceans are salty. They are comprised by about 35% salt. 98% of all the water on our planet is salty. Lakes, rivers and underground water comprise only 2% of the Earth’s water. All original life stemmed from sea water. Layers of salt, “rock salt”, are only the remains of ocean water that has evaporated.
My answer: There is a fundamental connection, evidenced by salt, between the creation of life and life’s Creator.
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In Parsha Vayikra we are instructed about the variety of offerings that are to be made to Hashem. The first offering that is discussed is known as the עולה, which is not shared with the public or the priests (except for the hides), but is entirely dedicated to Hashem.
עולה has in its narrow meaning something that is raised up. It is no coincidence that an immigrant Israeli is also referred to as an עולה. Native born Israelis, sabras as they are called, are great in their own right, but the עולה has special meaning to Hashem and for Israel. Be proud. Walk tall.
An עולה (Oleh) who in English-speaker is called an Anglo. An Anglo עולה is commonly depicted by native born Israelis as cowboys whether or not they hail from the USA, as they are often Canadians, Brits, Australians, South African and the like.
In 2015, Anglo’s living in Nahariya, Israel, dressed as cowboys marched in the city’s Purim parade. Here’s what we looked like:
In the USA in the 1800's the westward movement brought many distinct ethnicities all with their own. cultural traditions. In a way Israel is like that.
In terms of persistent stereotypes I like to think that cowboys represent the encouragement of honorable behavior, respect and patriotism.
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What will the rebuilt Temple be like? Will we really offer animal sacrifices once again?
These are some views on the subject held by Rav Kook as interpreted by Channon Morison:
In the writings of the Kabbalists, we find a remarkable description of how the universe will look in the future. All aspects of the universe will be elevated. Even the animals in that future era will be different. Animals will advance to the level of people today (Sha’ar Hamitzvot of the Ari z"l). Obviously, no sacrifice could be offered from such humanlike animals. At that time, there will no longer be strife and conflict between inhabitants of the world.
Human beings for their own physical, moral, and spiritual needs will no longer take the lives of animals.
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More from Rav Kook?
Is fasting a substitute for bringing a sacrifice?
When the fourth-century scholar Rav Sheshet fasted, he would add the following request to his Amidah (Standing) prayer:
“Master of the Universe! You know that when the Temple stood, a person who sinned would bring a sacrifice. Although only the fats and blood would be offered on the altar, the person would be granted atonement.
Now I have fasted, and my fat and my blood have diminished. May it be Your Will that the decrease in my fat and my blood should be considered as if I offered them on the altar, and my offering was accepted.” (Berachot 17a)
Rav Sheshet’s prayer is inspiring, but it makes one wonder: Why should one go to the trouble of bringing a sacrifice if the same atonement may be achieved through fasting?
Coming forward to today let me add my 2 cents:
I probably fast five days a week. An individual fast may last as little as 12 hours or as much as 20 hours. I drink water or tea or black coffee during a fast.
When you have fasted for 12 hours, amazing things begin to happen:
Your insulin level begins to drop which is a guarantee of becoming healthier. Also a cascade of Human Growth Hormone begins, and this will strengthen your bones, increase your muscle mass, strengthen your immune system and slow down the aging process. As the hours increase things get better and better.
At around 16 hours or more your body on a cellular level experiences a phenomenon called autophagy:
Autophagy is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. The body removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components Consider it as a form of recycling or waste management.
Now, relating fasting to sacrifice, think of this: Offering sacrifices was a form of purification. You offer the sacrifice and you come out a better or "cleaner" person.
Fasting will do the same.
Rav Sheshet in the 4th century was on to something good.
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There are verses in Psalm
50 that relate to Hashem’s take on bringing Him sacrifices.
Every animal is
already part of Hashem’s possession.
8 - I will not reprove
you concerning your sacrifices, neither are your burnt offerings before Me
constantly.
9 - I will not take
from your household a bull, from your pens any goats.
10 - For all the
beasts of the forest are Mine,…
Rashi: If you do not
bring Me sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are not before Me constantly. I
do not set My eyes and My heart on that.
14 - Slaughter for God
a confession and pay the Most High your vows.
Rashi: Confess your
deeds and return to Me. That is the sacrifice that I desire, and afterwards pay
the Most High your vows, for then they will be accepted willingly.
15 - And call to Me on
a day of distress; I will rescue you and you will honor Me.
12 - If I were hungry,
I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine.
13 - Will I eat the
flesh of bulls or do I drink the blood of he-goats?
Do not to think of the
sacrifice as food for God, for God neither hungers nor eats.
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This Shabbat is called Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance, שבת זכור. It is the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim. On Shabbat Zachor we read from Deuteronomy 25:17-19 which describes the attack by Amalek:
“You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God.
Therefore, it will be, when the Lord your God grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which the Lord, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens”.
“You shall not forget!”
There is a tradition from the Talmud that Haman, the antagonist of the Purim story, was descended from Amalek. The portion that is read on Shabbat includes a commandment to remember the attack by Amalek, and therefore at this public reading both men and women make a special effort to hear the reading.
We were entering a “bad neighborhood”. It was bad then and it is still bad today.
And there is a lesson to be learned in connection with a “bad neighborhood”:
Moshe should have known that there were stragglers who were vulnerable, and needed rear-guard protection. A leader is responsible for the well-being of his people. Moshe needed to learn this.
On this Shabbat we remember Amalek:
There are similarities in Amalek’s attack way
back when and Hamas’ attack on the 7th of October. Moses had a duty to protect
his people. He knew or should have known that we were vulnerable. For that very
same reason Hashem had us avoid the Philistines. Likewise, our government and
military today knew or should have known that our communities south of Gaza were
vulnerable to an imminent attack.
Leaders are responsible for the well-being of
their people. Moshe failed in this responsibility as did our government and
military today.
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