Parashat Vayikra (5760)

With God's help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath of Parashat Vayikra, 5760

On the Meaning of the Sacrifices

Our portion opens the book of Leviticus, which deals primarily with sacrifices. There are different kinds of sacrifices,

offered under different circumstances, yet the book opens specifically with voluntary offerings: “When a person from among you brings

an offering to the Lord—from animals, from the herd and from the flock—you shall bring your offering” (Leviticus 1:2). And Rashi ad locum explained:

“‘When a person from among you brings’ means: when he brings; the passage is speaking of voluntary offerings.” There are those who explain

that the Torah opens the sections on sacrifices specifically with voluntary offerings in order to emphasize the element of intention

and inward feeling in offering the sacrifice, and to teach us that this is not merely a technical act; there are also

other explanations. I would like to offer an explanation of my own here, and as our teachers have taught us, the gates of

interpretation have not been closed.

Maimonides, in Part III of his Moreh Nevukhim (Guide of the Perplexed), chapters 32 and 46, offers an interpretation

that is revolutionary and, at first glance, puzzling, for the entire section of sacrifices in the Torah. Maimonides writes there that the commandment of

sacrifices was intended to uproot the idolatrous practices prevalent at that time. By means of this

Maimonides there explains the prophets' rebukes to the people of Israel, who abandoned the commandments of the Lord and were careful only

about burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Jeremiah, for example, speaks in extremely sharp terms and says to the people: “For I did not

speak to your fathers, nor did I command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices,

but this is what I commanded them, saying: Obey My voice, and I will be your God…” (Jeremiah 7:22–23). Maimonides

is troubled by these words, for many explicit commandments in the Torah deal with sacrifices; how then

could Jeremiah deny this? Maimonides' explanation is that in their time this served a significant need, namely

to draw people away from idolatry; but the Israelites nullified the purpose of the sacrifices and kept the commandments

themselves as merely technical acts.

To be sure, many objections have already been raised against Maimonides from several sources showing that sacrifices are an end

in themselves (including things he himself wrote, especially in his legal work Yad HaChazakah). The attitude

toward sacrifices is generally that they are of the highest order. In Pirkei Avot we learned: “The world stands on three things:

on Torah, on divine service, and on acts of kindness” (Avot 1:2). Here ‘service’ does not mean manual labor

(as some tend to explain) but the sacrificial service. From his words above it would seem, at first glance, that Maimonides

reduced the significance of sacrificial worship to an act of secondary meaning, not something intrinsically necessary

for the service of God.

It may be that the explanation of Maimonides' position is somewhat different. The practice of offering sacrifices to the gods of pagan

worship also stems from a correct underlying intuition. A person senses that there is a reality above him and tries

to create a connection with it by bringing it sacrifices. More than that, the idolaters themselves,

as Maimonides describes in his laws of idolatry, derived this from the service of God that preceded them

(from Adam and Noah).

Some will interpret this as an “opium for the masses,” that is, as an attempt to cling to an imaginary being

imagined, Heaven forbid, that will give security to those who worship it. In truth, there is here an attempt to form a connection

with something utterly real, which exists high above us. True, idolaters do not

understand how far above us this reality is, and they try to depict it in earthly

and physical terms. Yet at bottom their intuition is correct. There is such a reality, and it is far higher

than they imagine. It cannot at all be pictured or imagined in earthly terms.

The purpose of sacrifices is to satisfy this need for a connection with the transcendent (= that which is higher and abstract).

The feeling that such a reality exists, and that one should create a connection with it by means of sacrifices, is a correct feeling,

except that the image of that reality in the eyes of idolaters must be corrected. It does not

have any form whatsoever; it is wholly abstract. But at one point they are right: the connection with it is indeed

created by means of sacrifices.

It may be that Maimonides did not mean to say that the entire purpose of sacrifices is merely to prevent idolatry, as a kind of

concession to circumstance. On the contrary: the purpose is to answer the need for a connection to what is higher than us, and to do so

in the proper ways and toward the proper reality. According to this view, this is not a concession at all, but

quite the opposite: this is indeed the purpose for which man was created in the world of the Holy One, blessed be He—to form a connection with Him and to serve Him

through sacrifices. The ancient idolaters did this in a distorted way, and it is upon us

to correct this situation and restore it to its original form.

Perhaps this is the intent of the verse with which we began: “When a person from among you brings…” (Leviticus 1:2), that is, if one wishes to create

a connection with God, the Torah spells out here how he is to do so. In the terms of analytic philosophy,

one may say that sacrifices are not a system of commands instituted by the Torah; rather, they are

a system that the Torah comes to guide. Sacrifices constitute a path of connection with God, and the Torah merely

specifies how this should and ought to be done.

As for Maimonides himself, it is doubtful whether this is what he intended, but it is a deeper layer that accords to a considerable degree with his words.

Every human feeling, tendency, capacity, or action that is widespread among large numbers of people—even if it

appears mistaken—has real causes. Therefore, it cannot be rejected out of hand and in an

all-embracing way. Our task is not to abolish such things entirely, but only to channel them in a more proper direction.

This is the Sages' exposition of “to serve Him with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 11:13): with both your inclinations (the good inclination and the evil inclination). Service of God

is carried out through all human capacities; one need only find the good in each of them and channel it

in the proper direction.

Have a peaceful Sabbath

This may be deposited for respectful storage in any synagogue or house of study. Comments and responses will be gladly received.

In closing: I would like to wish the devoted and successful editor of ‘Atid,’ Avi Malka, congratulations and blessings

on his marriage to Limor. May you rise and succeed in all your endeavors, and may your home be a gathering place

for sages, an everlasting edifice; and may it be God's will that you enjoy abundant happiness and contentment in your shared life, and that you merit

to continue bestowing these as well upon the public on whose behalf both of you labor.

In marriage, sacrifices are sometimes required from each of the spouses, and sometimes from both together,

yet sacrifices, when they are required, are a means of creating a better and more proper bond, not only between a person

and his Creator, but also between husband and wife. Sometimes sacrifices are also required in order to build a structure

within which the Divine Presence dwells, as we find in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. May it be God's will that the Divine Presence dwell also

in your dwelling. Congratulations.

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