This week’s parashah, Vayikra, the first in the Book of Leviticus, introduces our forebears’ manual for creating and sustaining holiness among the Israelites, beginning with a discussion of ritual animal sacrifice. However, the Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, doesn’t mean “to give up something”, as it does in English. Rather, it means, “to approach”. For our ancestors, sacrifice was a method for drawing nearer to God.
The Torah explicitly commands that the Israelites must bring the very best of their flocks and herds, tamim, “without blemish”, to draw closer to God’s compassion and mercy (Leviticus 3:1). Centuries later, the prophet Malachi admonishes the Judeans and the priests of Jerusalem for failing to live up to this standard; suggesting that God will scorn the Judeans because they scorn God’s table:
“You offer defiled food upon My altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘God’s table may be treated with scorn.’ When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, it doesn’t bother you! When you present a lame or sick one, you pay no heed! Bring it to your governor! Will he take it?” (Malachi 1:7-8).
For a korban to effectively draw the Israelites closer to God, it needs to be perfect. This raises significant concern in an age in which prayer serves as a substitute for the ancient sacrificial cult. Must our prayers, too, be “unblemished”, to draw closer to God? If so, how does one offer “perfect” prayer?
Tamim, “without blemish”, may also mean “whole” or “undivided”. Just as our ancestors felt that they could only draw nearer to God by offering a whole and healthful representative of their precious flock, perhaps the secret to drawing nearer to the Divine in our days relies upon offering a whole and undivided representative of our most precious resource—our time.
By setting aside a whole, undivided offering of our time and attention to nurture our relationship with our tradition and with our community, perhaps we, too, like our forebears, may know what it means to draw closer to God.
—Rabbi Josh Knobel