I don’t think that any one text of Holy Scripture resonates so easily with modern people these days than Leviticus. After all, it’s so easy to connect with it right? It’s not at all hard to interpret and apply to our modern daily lives. Ok obviously I’m kidding. Leviticus can be such a pain in the tuchis. Seriously. Animal sacrifices, ritual purity laws, very graphic and rather frank medical conditions. Ew. But despite all this difficulty, unlike probably any other text in the Bible except for maybe Proverbs, Leviticus gives us a glimpse into something of the People of Israel that no other part of the Scripture does or can do…their regular day to day lives. Often thought of as very inaccessible, it contains some of the most important teachings in Judaism. The command to love our neighbor as ourself is found in this book of the Torah. Just to give one example. So within this rather difficult text we find out much about how Ancient Israel once lived. This is what they believed. It details the calendar, enabling Israel, both then as well as now, to regulate and calculate the passage of time and seasons. The sacred times of holidays get attention which were at the time mostly based on a very agricultural society. Much detail is given on how the People of Israel worshipped God at a central location, our first sanctuary, long before the established liturgy and the institution of any synagogues. Almost half of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot are found in this one book.
W. Gunter Plaut, who was a very prominent Reform Rabbi in Canada, wrote in his revised Torah commentary, before he died, that if we say Genesis and most of Exodus make a cascading river of exciting narrative, then Leviticus is a calm, deep pool. Not very much narrative in there at all. Yes, Jewish tradition tells us that when children first begin learning and studying the Torah for themselves, their main textbook is either Leviticus itself, or a book about it. But why is this so? One answer to this question is found in the Midrash at Vayikra Rabbah 7.3, says that because children are considered pure, they should begin their Jewish learning about matters of purity and holiness. That is the only widely accepted Jewish explanation I could find. Which makes sense in one way. Ignorance is bliss some say. But kids know much more than we often think they do.
When I am examining the Torah, especially in Hebrew, I keep an eye out for any scribal oddities of the text. What I mean by that is if you were to spend enough time with a Torah Scroll, you would notice that a lot of letters are written either smaller or larger than normal. Some words are arranged in a way that depict waves of water like the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15, or two high columns like the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. The first word in all Leviticus has an unusual scribal form to it. The letter א in ויקרא is written noticeably smaller than it normally should be. There are many letters in the Hebrew Bible that are written smaller or larger than normal. And each one is for a reason. So why here? One commentary I was able to consult for an answer, thanks to Sefaria.org, called Kitzer Baal HaTurim says “The א of ויקרא is written as a small letter because Moshe wanted to write ויקר “and it just happened”, the way it is written regarding Bilaam, which implies God appeared to him only as a chance occurrence. God, however, told him to write the א which indicates God’s affection, but Moses still made the letter א small.”
Please don’t get me wrong when I say this, translations into the many languages of the world of Judaism’s sacred texts are indispensable. It takes me a few days practice before I can properly read parts of the Torah to you from one of the Scrolls. There are no vowels in it. Nor is there any punctuation and the entire document is carefully handwritten. Many of us cannot read the original text for ourselves. And that’s ok. The most important thing is to make an effort to try. The Talmud Bavli tells us in Berakhot 15a that the validity of a prayer depends on the hearts intention. How much more so for anyone who makes a sincere effort to learn the languages of our sacred tradition. Yes, Yiddish could also be included in that as well. How much am I really missing when I read the stories of Tevye the Dairyman by Sholom Alechem in an English translation, rather than looking at and comprehending the original? Probably much more than I know. But make no mistake. Take it from someone who learned this lesson himself a little over 15 years ago, back when I was learning American Sign Language, there is no full substitute for learning to read the Torah, or any other Jewish book, in the original language it was first written.
~Christo Chaney כלב דניאל
Congregation Sha’areth Israel, Lubbock TX
W. Gunter Plaut, who was a very prominent Reform Rabbi in Canada, wrote in his revised Torah commentary, before he died, that if we say Genesis and most of Exodus make a cascading river of exciting narrative, then Leviticus is a calm, deep pool. Not very much narrative in there at all. Yes, Jewish tradition tells us that when children first begin learning and studying the Torah for themselves, their main textbook is either Leviticus itself, or a book about it. But why is this so? One answer to this question is found in the Midrash at Vayikra Rabbah 7.3, says that because children are considered pure, they should begin their Jewish learning about matters of purity and holiness. That is the only widely accepted Jewish explanation I could find. Which makes sense in one way. Ignorance is bliss some say. But kids know much more than we often think they do.
When I am examining the Torah, especially in Hebrew, I keep an eye out for any scribal oddities of the text. What I mean by that is if you were to spend enough time with a Torah Scroll, you would notice that a lot of letters are written either smaller or larger than normal. Some words are arranged in a way that depict waves of water like the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15, or two high columns like the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. The first word in all Leviticus has an unusual scribal form to it. The letter א in ויקרא is written noticeably smaller than it normally should be. There are many letters in the Hebrew Bible that are written smaller or larger than normal. And each one is for a reason. So why here? One commentary I was able to consult for an answer, thanks to Sefaria.org, called Kitzer Baal HaTurim says “The א of ויקרא is written as a small letter because Moshe wanted to write ויקר “and it just happened”, the way it is written regarding Bilaam, which implies God appeared to him only as a chance occurrence. God, however, told him to write the א which indicates God’s affection, but Moses still made the letter א small.”
Please don’t get me wrong when I say this, translations into the many languages of the world of Judaism’s sacred texts are indispensable. It takes me a few days practice before I can properly read parts of the Torah to you from one of the Scrolls. There are no vowels in it. Nor is there any punctuation and the entire document is carefully handwritten. Many of us cannot read the original text for ourselves. And that’s ok. The most important thing is to make an effort to try. The Talmud Bavli tells us in Berakhot 15a that the validity of a prayer depends on the hearts intention. How much more so for anyone who makes a sincere effort to learn the languages of our sacred tradition. Yes, Yiddish could also be included in that as well. How much am I really missing when I read the stories of Tevye the Dairyman by Sholom Alechem in an English translation, rather than looking at and comprehending the original? Probably much more than I know. But make no mistake. Take it from someone who learned this lesson himself a little over 15 years ago, back when I was learning American Sign Language, there is no full substitute for learning to read the Torah, or any other Jewish book, in the original language it was first written.
~Christo Chaney כלב דניאל
Congregation Sha’areth Israel, Lubbock TX