Excerpts from a sermon by Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, quoting from Lewis Hyde's The Gift.

In describing different tribal economies of gift exchange, Hyde emphasizes the distinction between reciprocal giving and circular giving.

“When the gift moves in a circle,” he notes, “no one ever receives it from the same person he gives it to . . . the smaller the circle is – and particularly if it is just two people – the more a man can keep his eye on things and the more likely it is he will start to think like a salesman.” It is when the gift passes out of sight – when we let it out of our control – “that the real fruits of the exchange begin to be felt.”

It is through this prism that Hyde invites us to understand the sacrificial system of ancient Israel. It is a traditional gift cycle – one that includes the people, the flocks, the priests . . . and God.

“The inclusion of God in the circle,” he suggests, “changes and enlarges the way the gift moves unlike any other addition.”
The gift we offer passes out of sight and into mystery –
A gesture that implicitly acknowledges
The Great Mystery
from which the gift of life itself
comes to us.

***

This is what Hyde says about the offerings of Vayikra – about the circle of giving that includes God.

“The passage [of the gift] into mystery always refreshes. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom. Then we know they are . . . inexhaustible. Anything contained within a boundary must contain as well its own exhaustion . . . But when the gift passes out of sight and then returns, we are enlivened.”