Shabbat Vayikra
Sacrifices or deeds?
Every book of the Torah contains a range of different subjects, ideas and laws. But when we look carefully, we see there are always both obvious and subtle themes.
The Book of Vayikra, which we begin reading this week, appears to be dominated by the themes of temple, priests and sacrifices. That was why the Greeks called it Leviticus, the priestly book. The Tabernacle and then the Temple together with sacrifices, then were the national public way of worshipping and relating to God. In addition, they atoned for crimes and mistakes, whether private or public. Committed by the most important people in the community down to the least. Including the abuse of religious authority. And there were ethical laws concerned with how individuals behave, personally and towards others. But also matters of personal hygiene and health, including what we eat.
Within these broad themes, there are specific examples of themes that are the basis of religious life and how a religious community should function privately.
Nowadays we are without a temple and have been for some 2000 years. The way we engage with God publicly is no longer through the sacrificial system. Instead, it has been substituted by public, communal prayer. Rabbis have argued over the years as to whether this is a temporary situation that will be rectified when the Messiah comes. Or whether it represents another step in the development of Judaism to meet different historical and social circumstances. Prayer similarly subdivides into different areas of focus. Prayer for the nation, the community and for ourselves. Not just petitioning but rather expressing and reinforcing our attachment to God and our religion.
The question of morality also subdivides into that of the community at large, our own personal morality and the extent to which we choose to expand the boundaries of morality or limit them to a minimum. And finally, matters of purity and health also affect the wider community as well as our own personal lives. They influence our ability to relate to God despite being ill or in pain.
As with everything in science, there are superficial appearances. We can look at ourselves as having an outward physical appearance and internal organs. We seem to be solid. And yet, microscopically, when we look deeper, we see that what looks like something solid appears to be made up of lots of different moving parts. Appearances can be deceptive. So, too, can a superficial reading of the Biblical text.
The topics of Vayikra concern our relationship with God, our relationship with our people and our community, and the way we as individuals act towards each other.
We can look at these books and see lots of different ideas and laws that don’t seem to have any connection. They appear to be thrown together quite randomly, even accidentally or compiled without what we would call rational consistency. But consistency isn’t always the right approach to take. Sometimes fluidity, variety, and alternatives are better ways of looking at the world and ourselves. If we take a broad overview of the Torah and of the individual books within it, despite the seeming randomness there is a very clear theme that runs through them. God, People and individuals.
As the Bible says (Kohelet 4:12) “a rope of three strands cannot easily be broken.”
There are different versions in the Talmud and commentaries as to what the three stand for. But my preferred is God, Nation and Individuals. As we come together to celebrate Pesach and we as a community have to face our challenges, both internally as well as externally , this is how we summon our resources to survive and succeed!
Sacrifices are one thing, but actions are more important.
