רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat Yayikra
Leviticus 1:1- 5:26
By Adam Ruditsky
The other day I
had the opportunity to catch up with a precious friend who I have not seen in a
couple of years. We were talking about
anything and everything, but when the God topic came up he said to me, “you
know me Adam, I have my struggles with God.”
Of course there was a context to that statement which was birthed out of
what happens when people are faced with a situation like we find ourselves in
right now, seeking something greater than “self” to grasp (or find) even though the
reasons “why” may differ. Regarding my
friends statement, “I have my struggles with God,” well I think that is a
healthy outgrowth of what happens on the spiritual path. We see that with the word ישראל (Yisrael,
a noun but not a proper name) that is based on the word שרה (sarah, a
verb), which means to persist or persevere. In the bigger picture Yisrael (the
people themselves) then and today are a people who are asked to persevere on their journey in life and spirit. In
other words, struggling with God is about persevering on multiple levels. Turning to one of my go-to quotes from Psalm
121:1 we read; אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי, אֶל-הֶהָרִים- מֵאַיִן, יָבֹא עֶזְרִי “I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from
whence shall my help come.” No matter what we are faced with this passage
reminds us that the spiritual
journey is often about looking for what we cannot see physically, just like we
cannot see through the mountain, although we recognize there is another side.
In this case the book of Leviticus as a whole is asking us to contend with what we can’t see by how we act. But Leviticus offers us a picture of how to approach what is spiritually awakened within us. We read later on in this book a better known Torah verse that says,קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, “you are to be holy because God is holy.” That is the central verse to a book that is about being holy but also doing holy things. The word holy is קדוש (kadosh), and regardless of the form it takes, it basically means “sacred” or to “consecrate” (sanctify). In short, being holy is about assigning something as holy (sacred or set apart) just as much as it is about the act of doing holy things (or to consecrate/sanctify them). That is how we need to comprehend the sacrificial system of Vayikra, a parsha connected to our previous parshiyot about the Mishkan. Remember that the Mishkan is a divinely ordained place (both by people and God) where the community and the individual could gather for their spiritual and ritual sacred moments with the Holy. The sacrificial system is a ritual established at the beginning of Leviticus that is about approaching that sense of holiness. Therefore, the word קרבן (korban) comes from Leviticus 1:2 that says, אָדָם כִּי-יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן, לַיהוָה, “When any person brings an offering unto the LORD.” In looking at that sentence the words יקריב (yakreev, brings) and קרבן (korban, offering) come from the same Hebrew word לקרב (l’ka’rayv) that means “to approach” or draw near. We need to understand that the sacrifice (קרבן, korban) is about drawing near, which itself is a holy action (or consecrated act), done for the sake of the Holy other, or in this case God.
In this case the book of Leviticus as a whole is asking us to contend with what we can’t see by how we act. But Leviticus offers us a picture of how to approach what is spiritually awakened within us. We read later on in this book a better known Torah verse that says,קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, “you are to be holy because God is holy.” That is the central verse to a book that is about being holy but also doing holy things. The word holy is קדוש (kadosh), and regardless of the form it takes, it basically means “sacred” or to “consecrate” (sanctify). In short, being holy is about assigning something as holy (sacred or set apart) just as much as it is about the act of doing holy things (or to consecrate/sanctify them). That is how we need to comprehend the sacrificial system of Vayikra, a parsha connected to our previous parshiyot about the Mishkan. Remember that the Mishkan is a divinely ordained place (both by people and God) where the community and the individual could gather for their spiritual and ritual sacred moments with the Holy. The sacrificial system is a ritual established at the beginning of Leviticus that is about approaching that sense of holiness. Therefore, the word קרבן (korban) comes from Leviticus 1:2 that says, אָדָם כִּי-יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן, לַיהוָה, “When any person brings an offering unto the LORD.” In looking at that sentence the words יקריב (yakreev, brings) and קרבן (korban, offering) come from the same Hebrew word לקרב (l’ka’rayv) that means “to approach” or draw near. We need to understand that the sacrifice (קרבן, korban) is about drawing near, which itself is a holy action (or consecrated act), done for the sake of the Holy other, or in this case God.
Rashi reflects on the doing of the
sacrifices as being voluntary (נדבה, n’davah,
free-will donation) given that they are birthed from each person’s self-motivated choice (also
see Lev. 7:16). We can look to Mussar
Rabbi David Jaffee who to me rightly juxtaposes a person’s choice to offer a
sacrifice of נדבה (n’davah, free-will donation) with the middah
(or character trait) of נדיבות (n’divut),
or generosity. The word נדיבות (n’divut) is the same middah attached to the
generosity of the people who gave for the building of the Mishkan in Exodos 25
because it represented a higher value that they deemed as קדוש (kadosh),
or set apart. R’Jaffee teaches that the
word for free-will offering
and the place of generosity come from the same root (נ.ד.ב., inf. לקרב, l’ka’rayv), because in order to “draw close” to offer a
sacrifice it cannot come from a “sense of obligation,” ultimately coming from an individual that without
coercion or mandate generously gives freely. However,
like the difference between ברית מילה (b’rit milah; physical circumcision) and של הלב ברית מילה (b’rit milah shel
halayv; or the circumcision of heart), we learn that while you can mandate
a physical rite such as physical circumcision you cannot legislate internal motivations that are based on the circumcision of heart. Although another topic,
that is the reason why physical
circumcision is one of the 613 commandments and circumcision of heart
is not, but either is קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, “you are to be holy because God is holy.” Being holy and doing holy go
together, but “being” cannot be legislated since it is a personal
choice.
The late Rabbi Harold Schulweis, z”l, said “people might not want to make religion their home but they do not want to be homeless spiritually.” I think those words have everything to do with the relationship between spiritually and religion, which I also feel is embedded in this parsha, reminding the reader that they cannot have one without the other. With that, it says in the Midrash from Genesis Rabbah 44:1 that “the precepts were given only that a person might be refined by them.” The precepts, or chukkat (divine degrees), which the sacrifices were, are the “religion” that gives voice to help refine the middot of Israel spiritually. Looking at it that way we can learn that the ritual sacrifices find their value is what they became more so than what they were. In this case the idea of sacrifices already existed in Egypt and other like cultures to appease their gods until Israel redeemed them as a ritual for giving thanks to the God that brought them out of slavery, or their sense of what is Holy. Judaism gives us rituals that allow us to exercise our own spirituality, thus those who do not want to be spirituality homeless can chose to redeem Judaism, or religion, so it can become a valuable home. But the bigger message is as follows. We must let our internal sense of holiness be foundational for the holy acts we consecrate as important so that they may be redemptive for us and our world.
The late Rabbi Harold Schulweis, z”l, said “people might not want to make religion their home but they do not want to be homeless spiritually.” I think those words have everything to do with the relationship between spiritually and religion, which I also feel is embedded in this parsha, reminding the reader that they cannot have one without the other. With that, it says in the Midrash from Genesis Rabbah 44:1 that “the precepts were given only that a person might be refined by them.” The precepts, or chukkat (divine degrees), which the sacrifices were, are the “religion” that gives voice to help refine the middot of Israel spiritually. Looking at it that way we can learn that the ritual sacrifices find their value is what they became more so than what they were. In this case the idea of sacrifices already existed in Egypt and other like cultures to appease their gods until Israel redeemed them as a ritual for giving thanks to the God that brought them out of slavery, or their sense of what is Holy. Judaism gives us rituals that allow us to exercise our own spirituality, thus those who do not want to be spirituality homeless can chose to redeem Judaism, or religion, so it can become a valuable home. But the bigger message is as follows. We must let our internal sense of holiness be foundational for the holy acts we consecrate as important so that they may be redemptive for us and our world.
Shabbat Shalom!
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