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.’ [...]

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. The parashah discusses five different types of offerings including the chatat, often referred to as the sin offering, and the asham, often known as the guilt offering. Modern translators, however, suggest a more helpful translation of these offerings; calling chatat the purgation offering and asham the reparation offering. In renaming these sacrifices, translators have helped us understand our forebears’ worldview in a much more meaningful way. For our ancestors, transgressions of civil or ritual law contaminated the public sphere. That contamination had to be removed through a purgation offering. However, some transgressions not only introduced contamination, they also ruptured the very fabric of the public sphere and therefore, required a reparation offering to repair the damage. We see this in our own lives. For some offenses, a [...]

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. The parashah discusses five different types of offerings including the zevach shlamim, often known as the peace offering or freewill offering.The sages suggest that the zevach shlamim brings shalom—peace—to Israel. Unlike other sacrifices, which accompany guilt or ritual celebrations, shlamim are offered strictly for the purpose of securing the continued peaceful existence of the celebrant. The zevach shlamim, then, represents one of the first rituals to formalize the process of bringing personal or familial aspirations to the public arena. By offering a zevach shlamim, an Israelite publicized the peace they sought for themselves or their family to the community. Three thousand years later, we still follow this practice, sharing our aspirations through communal prayers of supplication, such as mi shebeirach for healing or t’filat haderech prior to a challenging journey. In many ways, the zevach [...]

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. The parashah discusses five different types of offerings including the minchah, often known as the meal offering. When discussing the meal offering, the Torah remarks: “You shall season your every offering of meal with salt; you shall not omit from your meal offering the salt of your covenant with God; with all your offerings you must offer salt.” (Lev 2:13). Clearly, the Israelites believed in the import of salt! According to the medieval sage, Rashi, the salt represents the oceans, a symbol of creation. Ibn Ezra, meanwhile, suggests that salt symbolizes destruction, as stated within the 130th Psalm: “God turns the rivers into a wilderness, springs of water into thirsty land, fruitful land into a salt marsh, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.” [...]