Parashat
Vayikra
1
Nisan 5778 / 17-18 March 2018
Torah reading: Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26
Torah reading: Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26
Reading
for Rosh Chodesh: Numbers 28:9-15
Reading
for HaChodesh: Exodus 12:1-20
Haftarah:
Ezekiel 45:16 – 46:18
Calendar
and dedications follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info
about Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier, check out: www.bnaihayim.com
My
“Pesach Resources Guide – 5778 Edition” is available at my blog:
Please
feel free to pass this on this to a friend, and please cite the source.
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ON
THE NATURE OF SACRIFICE
"Speak
to the Children of Israel, and say to them, 'If one from among you (mikem)
shall sacrifice a sacrifice to the Lord ...'" Leviticus 1:2
This parashah, like nearly all the book of Leviticus, is about the sacrifices that were offered, first in the Tabernacle, later on various high places, and finally in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Jews have struggled for centuries over the significance of the sacrifices. Rambam (Maimonides) taught that the sacrifices were a compromise - the ancient Israelites, being exposed to sacrificial cults in Egypt and Canaan, could not comprehend a God or a religion that did not involve the offering of sacrifices. In his view, the people needed to be weaned from the idolatrous practices they saw all about them. The Temple was ultimately destroyed by God because there was no longer a need on the part of humans for animal sacrifice. God had never needed them.
This parashah, like nearly all the book of Leviticus, is about the sacrifices that were offered, first in the Tabernacle, later on various high places, and finally in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Jews have struggled for centuries over the significance of the sacrifices. Rambam (Maimonides) taught that the sacrifices were a compromise - the ancient Israelites, being exposed to sacrificial cults in Egypt and Canaan, could not comprehend a God or a religion that did not involve the offering of sacrifices. In his view, the people needed to be weaned from the idolatrous practices they saw all about them. The Temple was ultimately destroyed by God because there was no longer a need on the part of humans for animal sacrifice. God had never needed them.
Ramban
(Nachmanides) rejected this view. He saw the sacrifices as having moral and
spiritual symbolism which was essential to Jewish religious practice. This
dispute is still played out within the various movements of modern
Judaism. Orthodox prayer books retain the prayers for the re-establishment
of the Temple and the sacrificial cult. Over 130 years ago, Reform Judaism
deleted these prayers. About 80 years ago, Conservative Judaism reformulated
the prayers to be in the past tense, as a remembrance of what once was.
Regardless of one's viewpoint, what does one do today with these passages about the sacrifices? Obviously, they cannot be offered. The beauty of the Hebrew language and the absence of punctuation in the Torah allow the instruction of our verse to be read as a double entendre: "If one sacrifices, let it be of yourselves (mikem)." The Torah itself gives a clue. It is not animals which we must sacrifice. Rather, we must give of ourselves.
The idea of lovingkindness as being preferable to sacrifice is quite ancient. This was clearly articulated shortly after the destruction of the Temple by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. Asked how one might make atonement in the absence of sacrifice, he replied: "We have another way of gaining atonement which is equal to it. What is it? Deeds of lovingkindness, as it is written: 'For it is lovingkindness I desire, and not sacrifice.'" Avot D’Rabbi Natan 11a, quoting the prophet Hosea. This was reiterated by Rabbi Elazar: "Doing deeds of charity is greater than all of the sacrificial offerings." BT Sukkah 49b
Deeds of lovingkindness, the giving of charity, the donation of time and energy to the betterment of the community and the world - these are what God wants from us. Is that too much of a sacrifice?
Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Tov!
Regardless of one's viewpoint, what does one do today with these passages about the sacrifices? Obviously, they cannot be offered. The beauty of the Hebrew language and the absence of punctuation in the Torah allow the instruction of our verse to be read as a double entendre: "If one sacrifices, let it be of yourselves (mikem)." The Torah itself gives a clue. It is not animals which we must sacrifice. Rather, we must give of ourselves.
The idea of lovingkindness as being preferable to sacrifice is quite ancient. This was clearly articulated shortly after the destruction of the Temple by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. Asked how one might make atonement in the absence of sacrifice, he replied: "We have another way of gaining atonement which is equal to it. What is it? Deeds of lovingkindness, as it is written: 'For it is lovingkindness I desire, and not sacrifice.'" Avot D’Rabbi Natan 11a, quoting the prophet Hosea. This was reiterated by Rabbi Elazar: "Doing deeds of charity is greater than all of the sacrificial offerings." BT Sukkah 49b
Deeds of lovingkindness, the giving of charity, the donation of time and energy to the betterment of the community and the world - these are what God wants from us. Is that too much of a sacrifice?
Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Tov!
Rabbi
Richard A. Flom
Temple
B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Visit
me on Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence
in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT
Yevamot 88a
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Candle lighting: 6:44pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm – followed by Oneg
Shabbat.
Saturday – NO Breakfast and Torah study this Shabbat –
resume March 24. Women’s Rosh Chodesh Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am.
Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am.
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday, March 23 – Shabbat Evening Service
– 7:30 pm – followed by Oneg Shabbat.
Saturday, March 24 – Breakfast and Torah
study - 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon
follows.
Sunday, March 25 – Religious School – 9:30 am. “A
Walk Through the Haggadah” – Adult education with Rabbi Flom – 10:00 am
Friday, March 30 – Study session for fast of
the first-born – 8:00 am
Check your snail mail for information about the TBH/CBM Second
Seder and the Installation of Rabbi Flom and Rabbi Van Leeuwen. Or go to our
website: www.bnaihayim.com
Next time you come to TBH/CBM, please bring some
non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for
SOVA.
This d'var torah is offered in honor of all the women of TBH/CBM who
are conducting our Shabbat morning service.
This d'var torah is offered in honor of all those who make
sacrifices and give of themselves for the benefit of their synagogue community.
This d'var torah is offered in memory of my father-in-law, Abraham
Kronzek, whose yahrzeit falls on Shabbat, 1 Nisan. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah – His
memory is a blessing.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Ze’ev ben
Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andriola, Susan Arbetman,
Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht
(Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Jerry Forman, Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman, Leah
Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya
Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Lyndia Lowy (Leah bat Sarah), David
Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya
Feiga bat Kreina), Alan Stolzenberg, Jonathan Woolf, Howard
Yudell, and Meagan Yudell.
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this
list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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