Temple Shalom Shabbat Morning Torah Study ?Parashat Tzav: What’s So Special About Sacrifices ְיַד ֵ֥בְּר יָ֖הוֶה אֹל־מ ֵֶ֥שׁ ה April 4, 2020 לּ ֹֹֽאמר: ַ֤צו ֶֹֽאַת־אֲהֹר֙ן ְוֶא ת־בָּ֣ניו ל ֹֹ֔אמרֵ֥זֹא ת ַָ֖תֹּורת הֹע ָ֑לה ... Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering … The entire Pentateuch (the five Mosaic books) forms a chiasmus. From the perspective of the Israelites in the wilderness, Bereshit (Genesis) looks back to the pre-history of Israel, while Devarim (Deuteronomy) turns to the future, as Moses’ prophetic vision scans the far horizons of hope and expectation. Shemot (Exodus) and Bamidbar (Numbers) are a matched pair, telling the story of the present – Israel’s journey from Egypt into the desert and to the brink of the promised land. This leaves Vayikra (Leviticus) as the central and therefore the most important book (not by accident was it the Jewish custom for many centuries to begin teaching Torah to children by starting with Vayikra). At the centre of Vayikra itself is the so-called “holiness code”, chapter 19, with its great injunction, “Be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy.” Vayikra is largely about sacrifices and the service of the priests. Hence its ancient name, Torat Kohanim, “the law of the priests,” from which we get the Latin- English word Leviticus (“of priestly matters”). - Jonathan Sacks • The book of Leviticus reflects the perception that God’s created world is fundamentally harmonious, good and orderly. • Leviticus understands that boundaries may be wrongfully crossed. It therefore specifies what to do when things become disorderly. • The sacrificial system (the sacrifices and the rituals associated with the sacrifices) were created to restore the balance of the universe. They are designed to cancel or neutralize the damage done when order was disrupted. • In Leviticus, the human body, the sanctuary and the community are all see as microcosm of the universe. The laws associated with purity and impurity are created to maintain or restore holiness in these spaces. • Anyone who breaks the harmony of the universe (the order) can – and must – repair it. The first seven chapters of this book outline the complex system of sacrifices offered by the Israelite priesthood. We find descriptions not only about different types of offerings but also different ‘grades’ of offerings so that no one is excluded from participating in the ancient rites of sacrifices. Yet the Torah says little about what these rites looked like or what happened when an individual brought an offering. In addition we don’t know what was said during the ritual and if anything was said at all. The sacrificial rite is also a theological statement about our ancestors’ conception of God. Writing about the sacrificial offerings Professor Nahum Sarna states: “God desires sacrifices not out of the need for sustenance but out of a longing for the devotion and fellowship of worshippers.” It is this insight that helps us understand the connection between sacrifice and prayer. Both are forms of Avodah, service of God. - Mark Greenspan Outline for Vayikra (And God called): Procedures for Three Types of Basic Offerings (1:1 – 3:17) Burnt offering – olah (1:1 – 1:17) Meal offering – mincha (2:1 – 2:16) Well-being offering – sh’lamim (3:1 – 3:17) Procedures for Offerings to Restore Order (4:1 – 5:26) Purgation offering – chatat (4:1 – 5:13) Reparation offering – asham (5:15 – 5:26) Outline for Tzav (Issue a Command): Supplemental Instructions to the Priests Regarding Sacrifices (6:1 – 7:38) Instructions for the burnt offering (6:1 – 6:6) Instructions for the meal offering (6:7 – 6:16) Instructions for the purgation offering (6:17 – 6:23) Instructions for the reparation offering (7:1 – 7:6) Concluding instructions for the preceding offerings (7:7 – 7:10) Instructions for the well-being sacrifice (7:11 – 7:21) Prohibitions regarding the fat and the blood (7:22 – 7:27) Further details regarding the well-being sacrifice (7:28 – 7:36) Affirmation of the Sinaitic origin of the sacrificial practices (7:37 – 7:38) The Ordination of the Priests (8:1-36) Mincha: Food and Drink Offering A meal offering (minchah) represented the devotion of the fruits of our work to God, Olah: Burnt Offering because it was not a natural product, but something created through human effort. A Perhaps the best-known class of offerings is the burnt representative piece of the offering was burnt on the fire of the altar, but the rest was offering. It was the oldest and commonest sacrifice and eaten by the kohanim. represented submission to God's will. The Hebrew word for burnt offering is olah meaning ascension. An Zevah Sh’lamim: Well-being Offering olah is completely burnt on the outer altar; no part of it A peace offering is an offering expressing thanks or gratitude to is eaten by anyone. Because the offering represents God.. The Hebrew term for this type of offering is zevach complete submission to God's will, the entire offering is sh'lamim (or sometimes just sh'lamim), which is related to the given to God (i.e., it cannot be used after it is burnt). It word shalom, meaning "peace" or "whole." A representative expresses a desire to commune with God and expiates Types of portion of the offering is burnt on the altar, a portion is given to sins incidentally in the process (because how can you the kohanim, and the rest is eaten by the offerer and his family; commune with God if you are tainted with sins?). An Korbanot thus, everyone gets a part of this offering. This category of olah could be made from cattle, sheep, goats, or even offerings includes thanksgiving-offerings, free will-offerings, and birds, depending on the offerer's means. offerings made after fulfillment of a vow. Note that this class of (Sacrifices) offerings has nothing to do with sin; in fact, the Talmud states that in the age of the messiah (when there is no more sin), this Asham: Guilt Offering will be the only class of offering that is brought to the Temple. A guilt offering is an offering to atone for sins of stealing things from the altar, for when you are not sure whether you have committed a sin or what sin you Chatat: Sin Offering have committed, or for breach of trust. The Hebrew A sin offering is an offering to atone for and purge a sin. It is an expression of word for a guilt offering is asham. When there was sorrow for the error and a desire to be reconciled with God. The Hebrew term for doubt as to whether a person committed a sin, the this type of offering is chatat, from the word chayt, meaning "missing the mark." A person would make an asham, rather than a chatat, chatat could only be offered for unintentional sins committed through because bringing a chatat would constitute admission carelessness, not for intentional, malicious sins. The size of the offering varied of the sin, and the person would have to be punished according to the nature of the sin and the financial means of the sinner. Some for it. If a person brought an asham and later chatatot are individual and some are communal. Communal offerings represent the discovered that he had in fact committed the sin, he interdependence of the community, and the fact that we are all responsible for would have to bring a chatat at that time. An asham each others' sins. A few special chatatot could not be eaten, but for the most part, was eaten by the kohanim. for the average person's personal sin, the chatat was eaten by the kohanim. Chapter 6 1. Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Command Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it. 3. The priest shall dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. 4. He shall then take off his vestments and put on other vestments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 5. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out: every morning the priest shall feed wood to it, lay out the burnt offering on it, and turn into smoke the fat parts of the offerings of well-being. 6. A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out. 7. And this is the ritual of the meal offering: Aaron’s sons shall present it before Adonai, in front of the altar. 8. A handful of the choice flour and oil of the meal offering shall be taken from it, with all the frankincense that is on the meal offering, and this token portion shall be turned into smoke on the altar as a pleasing odor to Adonai. 9. What is left of it shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened cakes, in the sacred precinct; they shall eat it in the enclosure of the Tent of Meeting. 10. It shall not be baked with leaven; I have given it as their portion from my offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.