Overview of the Weekly
Reading: Vayikrah
To be read on the Shabbat of 3 Nissan, 5762 (March 16)
Torah: Lev.1:1-5:26
Haftorah: Isaiah
43:21-44:23 (on the theme of sacrifices)
Stats: Vayikrah contains 11 positive mitzvot and
5 prohibitive mitzvot. Among the Weekly Readings,
Vayikrah ranks 26 out of 54 in number of verses, 20 in
number of words, and 20 in number of letters
Vayikra opens with a discussion of how to bring burnt offerings of
cattle, smaller animals and birds. It then continues with a discussion
of the different types of meal offerings: burnt, baked, pan-fried, deep
fried, and the offering of the first grain of the season. After these,
other types of offerings are discussed. Peace offerings could be of
cattle, sheep or goats. Sin offerings are brought as an atonement. First
described is the sin offering for the high priest, then for the community,
for the king or for an individual. There are some sins that the Torah
delineates specifically as requiring a sin offering. In these cases,
he can choose between smaller animals, birds or a meal offering. The
portion ends with details about guilt offerings brought because of errors,
doubtful situations or dishonesty or theft.
FROM
THE CHASSIDIC REBBES Vayikrah
)
"And G-d called to Moses" (1:1)
We learn about the various offerings and sacrifices to teach us that
we must be willing to make sacrifices, both monetary and otherwise, to
afford our children a proper Jewish education. Furthermore, a child's
earliest and most precious years must be devoted to Torah study, without
regard for later professional choices. For this reason, young children
just beginning their Torah studies start with the book of Leviticus.
(Avnei Ezel)
"The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar."
(1:7)
Even though a heavenly fire descended from on High to consume the offerings,
the priests were still required to bring ordinary fire as well, to the
altar. We learn from this that one may not rely solely on the "fire
that descends from on high"--the natural, innate love of G-d which
is present in the soul of every Jew. Each of us must also bring an "ordinary
fire," kindle that innate love of G-d by taking the initiative and
contemplating His greatness, to further nurture that inner spark.
(Lubavitcher Rebbe)
"He shall kill it on the side of the altar, northward, before
G-d." (1:11)
The person bringing the offering must be willing to sacrifice his own
wants and desires for a higher cause. The offering is only a symbol of
our willingness for self-sacrifice. This is alluded to in the Hebrew word
for "north," which is related to the word meaning "hidden."
Even our hidden thoughts and feelings must be dedicated to G-dliness.
(Chidushei Harim)
FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALAH
Vayikrah
)
Selected with permission from the five-volume English
edition of Ohr HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar,
as translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco,
on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of
Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was
on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker,
hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only
to his Torah commentary.
"I someone sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, etc."
[5:21-22]
The words vema'aleh ma'al meh HaShem may be understood in kabbalistic
terms. Every Jewish soul depends on continuous input from celestial forces
called shefa neshamot in order to sustain itself spiritually inside
a body. The only soul which does not enjoy this continuous spiritual input
is one whose nefesh, the person it resides in, has become guilty
of criminal sins which will result in its being deprived of the celestial
spiritual input. This is what the Torah meant when it described the nefesh
being "cut off" in Genesis 17:14 as the consequence of a Jew
ignoring the commandment to circumcise himself or be circumcised.
The celestial spiritual input into our souls which we have described enters
by means of two thin "threads" through a person's two nostrils
as this is the area where the nefesh is joined makom deveikut,
to its owner, i.e. to G-d. This is what Moses meant when he said in Deut.
4:4: "all of you who have cleaved unto the Lord your G-d are alive
as of this day."
If man commits the sins described in this paragraph his soul comes under
the domination of the forces of evil, if the spiritual input from celestial
sources were to continue, it would actually strengthen the forces of evil
which have taken over in that person. When the Torah speaks of vema'aleh
ma'al meh Hashem, this describes such a process of strengthening him
who trespassed against G-d.
…All of Israel are branches of one soul. If any branch of that soul
becomes involved in evil this has repercussions on the entire people.
This is the deeper meaning of the words vekachash be-amito, his
denial extends to the members of his am, his people. His people
become kachash, "weak" through his sinful behavior. …The
Jewish nation increases in spiritual power by means of its men of valor
who contribute to its peace and harmony and who thereby assure it of itself.
An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter
Vayikrah
)
The Reading begins:
"A person, when he will bring from you an offering to G-d"
(1/2). Rabbi Moshe Alsheich (of 16th century Safed) writes
that when we sin we distance ourselves from G-d, but an offering in the
Temple atones for this, bringing us close to G-d again. Today, this atonement
is accomplished by reading about the offerings in our daily prayer, and
by doing teshuvah (returning to G-d). Still, it would be fitting
that when we sin, we should offer our own lives as atonement-"from
you an offering"; in His kindness, G-d allows us to offer an
animal instead. The actions in preparing the sacrifices described in the
portion's first verses are actually processes of spiritually cleansing
ourselves from the sin. This is completed with "He should skin the
burnt offering" (1/6), meaning that the sin-defiled spiritual garments
we wore are removed. Following this, the sacrifice is "cut it into
pieces"-all negative thoughts that originally caused us to sin are
eradicated. They are burnt up by the supernal fire, and thereby the hold
of the Heavenly accuser is weakened, and he will not be able to again
drag us to sin.
The Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch commented that the word "to
offer" can be literally translated "will come close." Then
the verse is read "A person when he wishes to come closer to G-d."
When doing so, it is incumbent on us to check our spiritual status to
know exactly what steps are necessary in this spiritual ascent. Such an
inspection will most likely reveal at how low a level one truly is. This
could lead us to think, "How can such a lowly creature such as I
come closer to G-d?" and deter us from any attempt to improve. Therefore,
the answer is given immediately, "from you is the offering"-
a spiritual ascent is dependent completely upon us. Every Jewish person
has the inner strengths that will allow success in a spiritual journey
to come closer to G-d, even against the most difficult of obstacles. This
potential is not only for advancing to higher levels than before, but
even to reach the level of "G-d"-the tetragramaton, the last
word in this section of the verse-and signifies a supranatural level.
"He should skin the burnt offering, and cut it into pieces"
(1/6). Rebbe Michil of Zalotchov demands of us to be on guard against
self-delusions. It is easy to judge ourselves favorably, or sometimes
just ignore our faults in the face of even minor positive traits. ("I
know I am not perfect, but at least I am a good person...") In connection
with the above verse, he says that when we become conscious of any positive
trait, we often relax our guard and forget about our faults. Even worse
than this, a person can then be led to false pride, which may blind him
or her from attaining any spiritual growth. The solution is to examine
every part of our body, in its fulfillment of commandments associated
with it: Leg-do I walk fast enough when on my way to do a mitzvah? Heart-do
I pray with proper devotion? Mouth-etc.... If we are honest with ourselves,
we will see that the negative traits we have yet to perfect in ourselves,
far outweigh any of our positive traits. This is the inner meaning of
the verse, 'to skin the burnt offering'. In Hebrew, the word for burnt
offering is 'olah', which technically means 'that rises' alluding
to arrogance. Read the verse as follows: "to skin (or remove) the
olah"-the false pride-"from yourselves"... so it will not
interfere with your true self assessment...then "cut it into pieces"-check
every body part for flaws, our faults.
Two students of the Maggid of Mezritch (successor to the Baal
Shem Tov), discussed their spiritual status. One said, "Where will
all of our sins get us?" His colleague answered "Don't worry
about sins, for them you can do tshuvah. What the likes of us really have
to worry about are mitzvahs!" Sometimes in our urgency to repair
past mistakes, we overlook the even more important requirement to increase
both the quantity and the quality of our mitzvahs!
Shabbat Shalom!
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