Vayikra וַיִּקְרָ֖א Leviticus,1:1 - 5:26 Making Torah Personal Finding Meaning in Offerings

In English, 'to sacrifice' usually means depriving ourselves of something. The offerings in Vayikra were for various purposes, but all were expressions of reverence. The origins of the word sacrifice is from the Latin meaning "to make something holy". In Hebrew, korban / קרבן means to bring near.

קָרַב (v) heb

1. • to come near, approach, enter into, draw near
     • (Qal) to approach, draw near
     • (Niphal) to be brought near, to bring, present.

SUMMARY

Sacrificial laws will take up the entirety of this parsha:

God calls to Moses from the Tent of Meeting and tells him the laws of the animal and meal offerings (korbanot) brought in the Sanctuary.

There are various offerings:

• Olah (ascending) that is wholly burned by the fire on top of the altar. Represents giving everything, having entire commitment. (voluntary)

• Minchah (meal offering), of which there are 5 kinds prepared with fine flour, olive oil and frankincense put on top just before the offering is brought to the altar. (voluntary though 2:13-16 might refer to obligatory as well).

• Shelamim (complete, means wholeness) known as the offering of well-being, whose meat was eaten by the one bringing the offering {after parts are burned on the altar}, parts of which are also given to the kohanim (priests). (voluntary)

• Chatat (sin offering) brought to atone for transgressions committed unintentionally by the Kohein Gadol (High Priest) or the entire community, or an ordinary person. However 5:1, 5 says that included is withholding legal testimony (would be deliberate). Some is offered up, some eaten by Kohanim, none by people. (mandatory). Offerings may be a bull, sheep, goat, fowl or meal offering.

• Asham (guilt offering) brought a person guilty of a wrongdoing, brought chiefly by one who has misappropriated property*. the person must restore what was taken plus 20% indemnity. (* or does not report a wrong, or knowingly commits a sin, or by swearing falsely to defraud another person, or deals dishonestly). Sacrifice occurs after restoration is made. (mandatory). A ram is mandatory.

About the Book of Leviticus: Generally was called Torat Kohanim / The Priestly Torah. Greek translators called it "the Levitical book" which in Latin is Leviticus. Oddly, the Levites are mentioned in the entire book only in one passage 25:32-34--- though the priests / kohanim were all members of the Levite tribe.

"..while the ritual procedures here described resembled those of other ancient peoples, the significant difference is notable. Other Near Eastern nations had myths and legends, bodies of civil and criminal law, but their ritual and liturgical texts were generally kept in temples for the exclusive use of the priests. Only in the Torah do we find that this was made accessible to all the people. ~adapted from The Torah, A Modern Commentary.

The very first verse of Leviticus reads: “God VaYikra/Called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting…” (Leviticus 1:1) There is a peculiarity to the way scribes calligraph the word “VaYikra/called.” The letter aleph (the final letter in the biblical Hebrew word “Vayikra”) is traditionally written much smaller than the other letters. One of the explanations of the small aleph is that, originally, the Torah was written without spaces between the words. The aleph became lost between the words. Our small aleph is the result of scribal tzimtzum. The scribes found room to allow a letter to exist. ~ Rabbi Menachem Creditor

“In the letters of the Torah, which G‑d gave at Sinai, there are three sizes: intermediate letters, oversized letters and miniature letters. As a rule, the Torah is written with intermediate letters, signifying that a person should strive for the level of ‘the intermediate man’ (a concept that Rabbi Schneur Zalman puts forth in his Tanya). Adam’s name is spelled with an oversize aleph (in I Chronicles 1:1), because his self-awareness led to his downfall. On the other hand, Moses, through his sense of insufficiency, attained the highest level of humility, expressed by the miniature aleph of Vayikra.”

~From the talks of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson

It is stated at the conclusion of Exodus (40:35) that Moses could not enter the Tabernacle due to the cloud of God’s glory that filled it. Therefore, the Lord called to Moses, telling him to enter the Sanctuary. ~Steinsaltz, commentary on Vayikra

Although we associate prayer with liturgy that our rabbis and sages developed over the centuries, the act of unscripted prayer is equally important and authentic to the Jewish experience. Hitbodedut (self-isolation), a style of prayer first popularized by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, is the act of open, spontaneous, and direct communication with God, and is accessible to all, regardless of how deeply one is engaged in Judaism. By removing the potential pretense and awkwardness of reciting prayers others have written in Hebrew and Aramaic, hitbodedut lets us speak our minds and hearts, embrace our vulnerability, and open ourselves to what the universe has to offer. C.E. Harrison

• Word for Mashiach משיח is the same letters as the word for Mesiach משיח ….one who converses
• Moshiach’s chief concern will be teaching people how to speak to HaShem. ~ Rabbi Shalom Arush, translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

This is the deeper significance of the Torah’s reference to the bearer of a korban—which has the power to obtain atonement for a transgression—as an “Adam.” Every man, the Torah is saying, harbors in the pith of his soul a pristine “Adam,” a primordial man untouched by sin. Even at the very moment when his external self was transgressing the Divine will, his inner essence remained loyal to G‑d; it was only silenced and suppressed by his baser instincts. It is by accessing this core of purity, by unearthing that part of himself that did not sin in the first place and restoring it to its rightful place as the sovereign of his life, that man attains the state of teshuvah—return to his original state of perfection. ~ The Lubavitcher Rebbe

However, the word order of the {second] sentence in Hebrew is strange and unexpected. We would expect to read: adam mikem ki yakriv, “when one of you offers a sacrifice.” Instead, what it says is adam ki yakriv mikem, “when one offers a sacrifice of you.”

The essence of sacrifice, said Rabbi Shneur Zalman, is that we offer ourselves. We bring to God our faculties, our energies, our thoughts and emotions. The physical form of sacrifice – an animal offered on the altar – is only an external manifestation of an inner act. The real sacrifice is mikem, “of you.” We give God something of ourselves.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on Rabbi Zalman of Liadi, Likutei Torah.

The chemistry of spiritual growth is at work in the very dynamic of pouring out one's striving soul to God. Rabbi Elyakim Krumbein, Mussar for Moderns

The verse does not say “a man of you who shall bring near an offering,” but “a man who shall bring near of you an offering”—the offering must come from within the person. It is the animal within man that must be “brought near” and elevated by the Divine fire upon the altar. ~ The Chassidic Masters

A soul who shall offer a meal offering to G‑d (2:1)

Why is the meal offering distinguished in that the expression “soul” is used? Because G‑d says: “Who is it that usually brings a meal offering? It is the poor man. I account it as though he had offered his own soul to Me.”

Why is the meal offering distinguished in that five kinds of oil dishes are stated in connection with it? This can be likened to the case of a human king for whom his friend had prepared a feast. The king knew that his friend was poor [and had only one food to offer him], so he said to him: “Prepare it for me in five kinds of dishes, so that I will derive pleasure from you.” ~Talmud, Menachot 104b

It is said of a large ox, “A fire offering, a sweet savor”; of a small bird, “A fire offering, a sweet savor”; and of a meal offering, “A fire offering, a sweet savor.” This is to teach you that it is the same whether a person offers much or little, so long as he directs his heart to heaven. ~ Talmud, Menachot 110a

“Humans can drive God out of the sanctuary by polluting it with their moral and ritual sins” p.9 Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics

Happy (ashrei) is the generation whose leader (nasi) is strong enough to admit having sinned! ~Sifra

Let no person say "I will go and do ugly and immoral things. Then I will bring a bull with much meat and offer it as a sacrifice on the altar, and God will forgive me." God will not have mercy on such a person. ~Leviticus Rabbah 2:12

For perspective on the sacrificial system, Rabbi Maurice Harris, a Reconstructionst rabbi, shares a 13 year old student's response to classmates who said the subject matter was 'barbaric and gross':

"Well which do you think is more moral? Doing a sacred ritual and dealing with God every time you kill an animal for its meat, or anonymously shoving millions of animals into crowded pens and cages so that they’re growing up in their own feces on factory farms, and filling the animals up with drugs . . . and then cutting up their body parts, shrink wrapping them in plastic and lining the walls of grocery store refrigerator cases with a horror show of dead animal parts from factory farms while you and your parents stand there talking about soccer?"

Maurice D. Harris, Leviticus: You Have No Idea, p.36 [as quoted in S. Tamar Kamionkowski: Leviticus]