Thursday, March 19, 2015
Parshas Vayikra: Sacrifices brings us closer to G-d
11:30 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"And the L-rd called to Moshe and spoke to him out of the Tent of Meeting saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'If any man of you bring an offering tot he L-rd, of the cattle shall you bring your offering, of the herd and of the flock. (Leviticus 1: 1-2).
When we read the book of Leviticus, the first thing that people have difficulty is the vast amount of verses that speak about the sacrifices and what has to be brought for what...How do we relate to this today? Do we really believe that when the Temple is built, we will go back to the sacrificial system?
The word sacrifice in Hebrew "korban" comes from the root which means to draw close. The purpose of the sacrifices were to draw a person close to G-d. When the Temple existed this was an easier thing to understand because we witnessed this with our very own eyes.
A person would bring the animal and the kohen would sacrifice it for them. It could be that the whole animal was sacrificed or part of it was and the rest went to the person that brought it but the experience was impossible to describe.
One of the things the Vilna Gaon said he wanted to see was what someone looked like before they brought the sacrifice and what they looked like afterwards! The experience had to be incredible!
When I was in South America a number of years ago, I helped out in the ritual slaughter of cows. When one of the cows was killed, I tried to imagine that I was bringing this animal as a sacrifice so I followed the whole process from beginning to end.
When I realized the magnitude of what was being done, it had a profound effect on me. No, it didn't make me want to be a vegetarian (even though I thought I would never eat meat again) but it gave me a higher awareness of what was transpiring (or potentially transpiring).
If that cow had been brought for a sin offering, then that cow was killed when really I should been the one to be killed. This idea can have a tremendous influence if we take this simple idea and apply to our lives.
Yes we are far removed from sacrifices today and for some it would seem archaic to bring back but in a spiritual world where fire comes down from heaven and consumes the animal or parts of it before our very eyes, we are not the same people as we were before we brought the animal! The animal has the power to make a tremendous sanctification of G-d's name through its sacrifice.
When the Messiah comes and rebuilds the Temple and brings back sacrificial worship, we will witness unbelievable things. It will give us a higher awareness of the world and how it is supposed to function which will bring us closer to G-d which is the point of all this!
Prayer has taken the place of sacrifices today and when sacrifices return, prayer won't cease and will continue. At the same time, it will help elevate ourselves with the sacrifices themselves.
May we merit to see the Temple rebuilt speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom
When we read the book of Leviticus, the first thing that people have difficulty is the vast amount of verses that speak about the sacrifices and what has to be brought for what...How do we relate to this today? Do we really believe that when the Temple is built, we will go back to the sacrificial system?
The word sacrifice in Hebrew "korban" comes from the root which means to draw close. The purpose of the sacrifices were to draw a person close to G-d. When the Temple existed this was an easier thing to understand because we witnessed this with our very own eyes.
A person would bring the animal and the kohen would sacrifice it for them. It could be that the whole animal was sacrificed or part of it was and the rest went to the person that brought it but the experience was impossible to describe.
One of the things the Vilna Gaon said he wanted to see was what someone looked like before they brought the sacrifice and what they looked like afterwards! The experience had to be incredible!
When I was in South America a number of years ago, I helped out in the ritual slaughter of cows. When one of the cows was killed, I tried to imagine that I was bringing this animal as a sacrifice so I followed the whole process from beginning to end.
When I realized the magnitude of what was being done, it had a profound effect on me. No, it didn't make me want to be a vegetarian (even though I thought I would never eat meat again) but it gave me a higher awareness of what was transpiring (or potentially transpiring).
If that cow had been brought for a sin offering, then that cow was killed when really I should been the one to be killed. This idea can have a tremendous influence if we take this simple idea and apply to our lives.
Yes we are far removed from sacrifices today and for some it would seem archaic to bring back but in a spiritual world where fire comes down from heaven and consumes the animal or parts of it before our very eyes, we are not the same people as we were before we brought the animal! The animal has the power to make a tremendous sanctification of G-d's name through its sacrifice.
When the Messiah comes and rebuilds the Temple and brings back sacrificial worship, we will witness unbelievable things. It will give us a higher awareness of the world and how it is supposed to function which will bring us closer to G-d which is the point of all this!
Prayer has taken the place of sacrifices today and when sacrifices return, prayer won't cease and will continue. At the same time, it will help elevate ourselves with the sacrifices themselves.
May we merit to see the Temple rebuilt speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom
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