Parashat Vayikra - Saturday, March 9, 2013

Parashat Vayikra:  Vayikra meaning “and He called” refers to God’s call to Moses.  The Latin name “Leviticus” is derived from “Levitikon” the Greek word for the Levitical Book or Book of the Levites.  It has also been referred to as “Torat Kohanim”; containing explicit directions for the priests.

Leviticus interrupts the narrative flow of Genesis and Exodus, resuming in the Book of Numbers.  The key theme in Leviticus is the attainment of ethical and spiritual holiness..

Leviticus contains some of the loftiest and most inspiring passages in the Torah.  It also contains the most complete biblical account of the Holy Days (see Parashat Emor), the laws of Kashrut and the Sabbatical and Jubilee years are also mentioned here first.  Leviticus also contains most of the 613 Mitzvot and so much of the Talmud is based upon the Book of Leviticus.  In many Jewish days schools and yeshivot students begin their bible studies with the Book of Leviticus then go back to Genesis.

Specific to this week’s parasha, we begin to explore the details of the sacrifices (sacrifice derived from the two Latin words “sacra” and “fice” meaning “setting aside as holy”).  The offerings that the people of Israel are to make as they pertain to certain circumstances; such as sin, thanksgiving etc.  The people would bring their offerings to the priests and the priests would dispatch the offerings (whether killing an animal and examining its organs etc for defects or laying out the grain in appropriate fashion).  Once performed the people return to their homes having fulfilled their sacred responsibilities to God and the people.  This section deals with 5 types of offerings; the first 3 which are voluntary and not brought for atonement and the next 2 types that are obligatory upon guilty individuals.

What is of importance here is that there are now prescribed and measured responses to life’s transgressions or demands in order to establish and maintain and order within the fledgling  identity of the people among other people in the region.  We see that the priests act as proxies on behalf of the individual to make perform the sacrifices in a uniform fashion according the laws established by God and transmitted by Moses.  The priests (as intermediaries) have a responsibility to provide religious continuity which was essential in keeping everyone moving in the same direction morally, spiritually and ethically. 

Two examples:

Chatat: referring to sins of intention like; failure to testify, touching an unclean animal, contact with human uncleanness and failure to fulfill an oath. This chatat offering was to be brought by an individual or community  which unintentionally commits a sin regarding any commandments.  Specific offering to be determined by economic conditions.

Asham: was to be brought by an individual who had sinned by committing robbery or fraud.  The penalty for this is to restore to the owner(s) the item stolen plus an additional one fifth of its value.

Could we consider these offering a way of attempting to bribe God for favor?  Does it give the offending person the idea that if an offence is committed one only needs to offer a sacrifice and all is forgiven?  These kinds of questions will be pursued as we move forward into the Book of Leviticus.

We did not delve into our Haftarah at our study session but rather explored the recent article by Professor S. David Sperling in Reform Judaism magazine entitled “Were the Jews Slaves in Egypt?”  As with every opinion article we explore great care needs to be taken to derive context and understanding of the intention of the author.  This requires reading the thesis in its original form which, in this case, can be found in his 1998 publication entitled “The Original Truth: The Political Intent of the Bible’s Writers.”  The sidebar article with this larger piece is titled “Torah is not History” by Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and was adapted with permission from a piece that first appeared on belief.net.  I encourage everyone interested in digging deeper into the intentionality of these articles by looking at the source work.  We will undoubtedly discuss these two articles through our Passover season.

Next week we will study Parashat Tzav, Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36.

Cantor Eichaker

Vayakheil Pekudei - March 9, 2013

This past week we worked on the very beginning of the double parasha Vayakheil / Pekudei.  This section was from Exodus 35:1 through 40:38 beginning on page 191 in the JPS TANACH.

By the very beginning I mean the “very” beginning with the first word “Vayakheil”  Va-and, ya-God, k’heil-assembled.  The people were assembled to hear understand the connection between the Tabernacle and Shabbat.  Interesting though is the statement of assemblage because the last assemblage of this kind was to create a “golden calf.”  So in order to move forward in the Torah we actually moved all the way back to page 183 and Exodus 32:1 where this word (in variant form) was used.  The key here is that that first use of the word which included the root “khl” started a narrative and the next word which contained the root “khl” ended the narrative.  So there lies a story within the story.

The people were told to bring their riches to the construction of the Tabernacle with the same verve as they did when bringing their gold for the shaping of the calf – idol.  However, they were told to do so if their heart so moved to do so.  The thought being that out of guilt from the golden calf the people would move to compensate for their past action.  Well it worked. Notice that in no way was this deemed a punishment though the opportunity to make amends certainly has to be recognized and the people did oblige.  In Parashat Pekudei, Rashi points out that the need to make a full and accurate accounting of the riches brought for the Tabernacle was not so much for demographic purposes but as a response to the murmurings of the people as they assumed that Moses was deriving benefit from such a vast amount of acquired wealth.  And so the first transparency laws began to emerge, hence Moses called for the full accounting.

In the recent issue of Reform Judaism magazine several participants in our Torah study sessions asked me to respond to two articles.  The first is found on page 56 of the magazine entitled “Were the Jews Slaves in Egypt?” and the second found on page 57 is a sidebar article entitled “Torah is Not History.”  I started to address these two articles and their messages however time called us to the Main Sanctuary for services.  I told everyone to please read those two articles and there would be time available for next week to review as well.  The session will begin with a broad response to these articles but cannot delve too deeply with our time constraints.

We will be studying Parashat Vayikra – Leviticus 1:1 through 5:26 found on page 207 in the JPS TANACH.  We will only have the one hour to take in a great deal.  Please come early, have some breakfast, take a deep breath and let’s have some fun!

Cantor Eichaker