Dvar Torah on Parshat Vayikra

This week we begin the Book of Vayikra - Leviticus - which focuses on the ritual in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the desert. By the end of the previous book, the Book of Exodus, the Tabernacle has been completed, and has been filled with the Divine Presence, the clouds of glory which indicate the presence of God. The central ritual which takes place within the Tabernacle, the regular offering of sacrifices, is now the first order of business.

Nachmanides, in his introduction to Leviticus, has an interesting understanding of the sacrificial rites. This is how he explains them: "This book [Leviticus]...commands him [Moshe] about the sacrifices and the care of the Tabernacle; that the sacrifices will serve as an atonement for them [Israel], and their sins will not cause the Divine Presence to depart." This understanding of the sacrifices, which Nachmanides repeats again and again in his commentary on the Bible, is different from what we might ordinarily think about them. The fact that the Torah, once the Tabernacle is built, immediately goes into the laws of the sacrifices, leads many readers to believe that the sacrifices are the point of the Mishkan; the Tabernacle was built in order to house the cult of sacrifices. Nachmanides, on the other hand, sees these rites as a means, rather than an end. The point of the Tabernacle is to be a place where the people of Israel live with God, where they can experience and interact with His presence. That is what the Tabernacle was built for. However, as in every close relationship, in which there is an ongoing intimate interaction, mistakes will be made, feelings will be hurt, acts will be committed which disappoint, or betray, or insult. The Torah knows this, and, quite cleverly, builds into the relationship between God and the Jewish people a system of atonement, a way for the partners to make up after some hurtful act has been committed. According to Nachmanides, therefore, the system of sacrifices is not the point of the Tabernacle - an intimate and immediate relationship with God and His Torah is. The sacrifices are a recognition of the difficulty inherent in such a relationship, and are an attempt to arrange a solution to that difficulty.

This point is borne out throughout the Parsha. The first half of Vayikra is an overview of all of the various animal and grain sacrifices, a description of how, from a technical point of view, they are to be offered. After that, the Torah talks about a number of specific sacrifices, all of which are precipitated by the same trigger: "When a sin is committed in error...". This scenario, the committing of a sin by mistake, whether it is done by an individual, the community, or one of the leaders of the community, and the subsequent offering of a sacrifice to atone for that sin, is the first specific sacrificial ritual discussed in the parsha.

The insight here is crucial. The Tabernacle represents our intimate relationship with God, it is the place where that demanding relationship is played out. The Torah assumes that the relationship will be marred by sins, and therefore prescribes a ritual of forgiveness and atonement when such sins are committed, whether by an individual or by the entire community.

There is a very interesting implication here. First, it is clear that the relationship which we attempt to build with the Divine is, in a sense, doomed to fail. The inevitability of human error, of sin, means that an intimate relationship with God is constantly teetering on the brink of destruction; we are simply unworthy of it, unable to live up to a relationship with the perfect partner - the partner who demands of us goodness, righteousness, loyalty and faithfulness. However, the beauty of our parsha is that it teaches us that knowing this rather depressing fact is not a reason to abandon the relationship. Instead, the Torah encourages us to persevere, to sacrifice, to give of what we have in order to somehow maintain the relationship.

I think it is crucial to note that the dynamic of giving, of sacrificing, of taking what is yours and giving it up to God, is the way to make this relationship work. Only a willingness to let go of what we have, what we own (perhaps, in some symbolic way, of who we are?), for the sake of the relationship, can keep it intact. The implications for our human relationships are enormous. Just as the Torah assumes that the Jewish people will sin - will act in ways which jeopardize their relationship with God - and therefore, at the very beginning of the relationship, sets in place a mechanism for dealing with those relationship-threatening moments, we, too, when entering into an intimate relationship, should also assume that not all will necessarily go smoothly. Things will probably happen which will make it impossible for one of the sides in the relationship to remain in it. Feelings will be hurt, expectations will not be met, harmful things will be done and said. Knowing that this is the case, anticipating it, and being ready to create a space for forgiveness and atonement, a space for sacrifice, so that the relationship can get back on track, is essential in all meaningful interactions. A willingness to sacrifice, to let go of something that is mine (not a sheep or a goat, but perhaps a belief or a goal, a personality trait, or an opinion) for the sake of the relationship, is the only way to keep that relationship alive.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Shimon Felix