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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHA VAYIKRA: LEVITICUS 1:01-5:26
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA VAYIKRA
LEVITICUS 1:01-5:26
SHABBAT ZACHOR (REMEMBRANCE)
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"Altar-Rations"
This week's Torah portion brings us to the beginning of the Book of
Leviticus. It was so named by church leaders as it is full of the
laws and rituals incumbent upon the priesthood. Its Hebrew name however is
Vayikra, meaning "He called." If you take a moment and open your Chumash
(Five Books of Moses), you will note that the Aleph, which is the last
letter of the word Vayikra, is written in a smaller font than the other letters.
Rabbi Bunam, a leading Chassidic rebbe at the turn of the nineteenth
century in Poland said that the smallness of the aleph actually gives prominence
to the letter as if it were a separate word. The word "aleph" means "to teach"
and also "to lead." (The modern Hebrew word for a general in the Israeli
army is derived from this word.) It implies that one should learn to be humble,
even if he or she is a teacher or a leader. Rabbi Bunam reminds us that Moses,
our greatest prophet, was the humblest man in history.
As we read through our portion we note that its entirety is about
sacrifices. Again, we are given a mistranslation of our Hebrew. The Hebrew word is
korban, or offering. It comes from the root word meaning "coming near."
Offerings were the means to bring ourselves closer to God. But if God is
omnipotent and lacking in form, what does God need of our farm animals?
Was iT just to keep the priests on a high-cholesterol diet? Was this the
original high-protein weight loss diet?
Of course God has no need for our offerings. Maimonides (the Rambam-Rabbi
Moses ben Maimon) in his Guide for the Perplexed says that we had become accustomed to this
ritual dependency from other pagan sacrificial rites we had witnessed. He posits
that the Torah amended these rites into something more palatable. But
why would these laws continue into the days of the Second Temple when the
pagan rituals of Egypt were long behind us?
Nachmanides (the Ramban-Rabbi
Moses ben Nachman) writes that
these korbanem relate to various aspects of our need for exoneration for
various sins that we as humans commit regularly. The ultimate ritual of
spilling the blood of an animal is to remind us of how precious life is
and how close we are to having our own lives taken without warning.
When we as modern liberal Jews do teshuvah for our sins, do we "return"
and come closer to God? What do we offer? What is our korban? What is our
sacrifice? Rabbi Samson Hirsch says a sacrifice implies giving up
something that is of value to one's self for the benefit on another. An offering is
a gift that satisfies the receiver.
Moses ben Nachman) writes that
these korbanem relate to various aspects of our need for exoneration for
various sins that we as humans commit regularly. The ultimate ritual of
spilling the blood of an animal is to remind us of how precious life is
and how close we are to having our own lives taken without warning.
When we as modern liberal Jews do teshuvah for our sins, do we "return"
and come closer to God? What do we offer? What is our korban? What is our
sacrifice? Rabbi Samson Hirsch says a sacrifice implies giving up
something that is of value to one's self for the benefit on another. An offering is
a gift that satisfies the receiver.
Since we now understand that God does
not need our offerings, we come to the realization that the offerings were to
OUR benefit! We were the giver, but we also were the receiver. We needed them
to deal with the emotions we had from private and communal sinning, guilt,
and dishonesty. We also needed korbanem to ask for peace. But DID we then
and DO we now?
"I desired Chesed-kindness, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings" (Hoshea 6:06). The writings of the prophets give us
another way of coming closer to God. The rabbis in the Talmud do as well. But
this way takes a lot more effort, sacrifice, and offering than did our bringing
our prized live stock to our priests. It also takes a lot more effort than
today's "checkbook Judaism" requires.
"The human being who only does good and never sins does not exist on
earth" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We are continually making errors. It is part
of the human condition. It would be wonderful if we could always learn from
our mistakes, fix any problems we caused, and not repeat them. And even
better still, it would be grand if we could teach others of our errors, so that
they would not make the mistakes that we have made. Within time, if this
worked, the 11 o'clock news would be a half hour of weather reports.
In Deuteronomy we will read in chapter 11, verse 13, in what we call the
Shema, that we are to "love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all
your heart and with all your soul." In the Talmud (Tractate Ta'anit 2A), the
rabbis ask, "What is the service of the heart?" And they answer
"prayer."
not need our offerings, we come to the realization that the offerings were to
OUR benefit! We were the giver, but we also were the receiver. We needed them
to deal with the emotions we had from private and communal sinning, guilt,
and dishonesty. We also needed korbanem to ask for peace. But DID we then
and DO we now?
"I desired Chesed-kindness, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings" (Hoshea 6:06). The writings of the prophets give us
another way of coming closer to God. The rabbis in the Talmud do as well. But
this way takes a lot more effort, sacrifice, and offering than did our bringing
our prized live stock to our priests. It also takes a lot more effort than
today's "checkbook Judaism" requires.
"The human being who only does good and never sins does not exist on
earth" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We are continually making errors. It is part
of the human condition. It would be wonderful if we could always learn from
our mistakes, fix any problems we caused, and not repeat them. And even
better still, it would be grand if we could teach others of our errors, so that
they would not make the mistakes that we have made. Within time, if this
worked, the 11 o'clock news would be a half hour of weather reports.
In Deuteronomy we will read in chapter 11, verse 13, in what we call the
Shema, that we are to "love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all
your heart and with all your soul." In the Talmud (Tractate Ta'anit 2A), the
rabbis ask, "What is the service of the heart?" And they answer
"prayer."
Many of us think we know what prayer is. Again, we are saddled with a
mistranslation. Tephellah comes from the root of hitpallal, to judge
one's self. We are not praying to God, asking for things to be given to us,
although at times, that is what is seems like. True prayer, with full
kavenah, intention and concentration, should be like an intensive
psychotherapy session. We need to take a daily (if not bi- or tri-daily
as we traditionally did), accounting of our blessings, our actions, our good
deeds, and our errors. Even the Hebrew word for sin means to miss the mark, as
an arrow that has not made contact with its target.
In archery we know that with time, patience, and practice we will hit our targets more often than
not. If when we pray, we do real tephellah, real self-judging, and learn
from our errors, do teshuvah and try to fix the harm we have caused
others, we will have made a modern korban and will have come closer and
more intimate with God and our own souls.
We are now in the month of Adar (2) when the holiday of Purim occurs.
not. If when we pray, we do real tephellah, real self-judging, and learn
from our errors, do teshuvah and try to fix the harm we have caused
others, we will have made a modern korban and will have come closer and
more intimate with God and our own souls.
We are now in the month of Adar (2) when the holiday of Purim occurs.
. In the above quoted Talmud Ta'anit (29a) the rabbis write that
"when Adar arrives, we increase our joy." They teach that Adar is the best
month to try to remove personal barriers to holiness. The rabbis counsel that true
happiness is not achieved by satisfying our corporal needs, but rather is
achieved by using the wonderful pleasures of this world to gain spirituality. Adar's zodiac
sign is the fish. I am a Pisces (and I am known to be a bit spaced and sometimes
out of touch with the nuts and bolts of daily existence).
"when Adar arrives, we increase our joy." They teach that Adar is the best
month to try to remove personal barriers to holiness. The rabbis counsel that true
happiness is not achieved by satisfying our corporal needs, but rather is
achieved by using the wonderful pleasures of this world to gain spirituality. Adar's zodiac
sign is the fish. I am a Pisces (and I am known to be a bit spaced and sometimes
out of touch with the nuts and bolts of daily existence).
Fish do not have eyelids. Our eyes are always open. We see what "is," and we also see "what can
be." We are always doing hitpallal, self-judging. We swim in an ocean of
spirituality held buoyant by Torah values. I never thanked God for the ability to
walk without pain, limp, or tilt. I took it for granted. I finally appreciate
what I do not have anymore, and I thank
God every day for the many blessings I still am given.
One final point before this week's d'var Torah ends. This is Shabbat
Zachor. We are commanded to remember Amalek. We fulfill this mitzvah by reading
three verses from Deuteronomy this Shabbat, in addition to this parasha (Deut.
25:17-19). Amalek was a tribe that snuck up on the rear of our camp,
killing some of our women and children. We were told by God to always remember
them.
be." We are always doing hitpallal, self-judging. We swim in an ocean of
spirituality held buoyant by Torah values. I never thanked God for the ability to
walk without pain, limp, or tilt. I took it for granted. I finally appreciate
what I do not have anymore, and I thank
God every day for the many blessings I still am given.
One final point before this week's d'var Torah ends. This is Shabbat
Zachor. We are commanded to remember Amalek. We fulfill this mitzvah by reading
three verses from Deuteronomy this Shabbat, in addition to this parasha (Deut.
25:17-19). Amalek was a tribe that snuck up on the rear of our camp,
killing some of our women and children. We were told by God to always remember
them.
This special Shabbat precedes Purim, as Haman, we are taught, was a
descendant of Agog, king of the Amaleks. Most of our sages interpret this to always
be on guard for anti-Semites who are set out to destroy us. Unfortunately,
the disease of Amalek is not confined to those outside of our religion. Each
of us has the capacity to be Amalek. Thank God most of us keep that part of
us in check.
But there are those of us, many who have positions in our very
synagogues, temples, and shuls that engage in murderous behavior. The
Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Kagen) teaches that one who does loshan ha ra,
gossips, bad mouths, even if the information is true, murders three people: the
subject, the person they speak to, and their own self. The Talmud
(Berachoth) also says that one who snubs or does not respond to a greeting in a similar
matter is also a murderer as they cause the blood to drain from a
person's face and cause intended good will to be destroyed.
synagogues, temples, and shuls that engage in murderous behavior. The
Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Kagen) teaches that one who does loshan ha ra,
gossips, bad mouths, even if the information is true, murders three people: the
subject, the person they speak to, and their own self. The Talmud
(Berachoth) also says that one who snubs or does not respond to a greeting in a similar
matter is also a murderer as they cause the blood to drain from a
person's face and cause intended good will to be destroyed.
Our temples, which house our sanctuaries, were meant to be places of refuge from the sinful
behavior that is found on the streets. If we go to our temples to do offerings
with the service of our hearts, to study to gain closeness to God, to do
kavenah- filled tephellah so we can become better people, can we truly accomplish
this while witnessing Amalek-type behavior? Perhaps this Shabbat
Zachor, when we remember Amalek, we cannot only think of ways of stopping those
people outside our synagogues' walls that practice hurtful behavior, but
those among us, inside our sanctuaries, as well.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
behavior that is found on the streets. If we go to our temples to do offerings
with the service of our hearts, to study to gain closeness to God, to do
kavenah- filled tephellah so we can become better people, can we truly accomplish
this while witnessing Amalek-type behavior? Perhaps this Shabbat
Zachor, when we remember Amalek, we cannot only think of ways of stopping those
people outside our synagogues' walls that practice hurtful behavior, but
those among us, inside our sanctuaries, as well.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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