[The third book in the Torah — familiar to most as “Leviticus” connects it to the Levitical priesthood which is mostly what the content is all about. Expectedly, it has a different title in the Hebrew Bible. There are two spellings that surface: Wayyiqrah and Vayikra; the first is explained as “And He (the Lord) called” while the second is “And he read.”
We Sinaites feel we arrived at where we are today because first, we read, and read, and read, or so we figured, attributing our discovery to our non-stop quest of encompassing a lifetime. However, if you think about it, from scriptural evidence, the God of the universe, Creator, Lord of the Sabbath, Revelator on Sinai—He does call, and call, and call, every man, woman and child ever born on this earth. He most likely calls us by name, we just don’t hear the audible voice but we see and experience the calling in divine providence and sanctified moments when this God YHWH, invisible to the eye, nevertheless makes HImself manifest in some way in the ordinary moments of our lives.
And so, the center book of Wayyiqrah’, boring as it appears to most readers of the Torah, is significant to every human being, Jew and Gentile.
Food for human consumption is explained in Leviticus 10; the feasts of YHWH are explained in Leviticus 23. And the difference between the sacred and the profane, pure and impure, clean and unclean, all come through when we really delve into detail after detail of every chapter in this book and try to understand it, not simply as a boring book of rules and regulations, “not for us” but “for them.” We owe it to ourselves first and foremost, to those around us who benefit from our learning from this book, but most of all to YHWH our God, if He is our Lord and Master of our day-to-day living on His earth. If He bothered to dictate minutiae of every aspect of behavior, surely there must be a point?
Anything to avoid Torah living which goes against most everything we’re used to doing if we follow our own will rather than His, that is the effect on those who are deaf to His call, or if they do hear, do not want to heed. And when they do not want to heed, who is lord of their lives? The I in ‘idolatry’ and not the I in ‘made in the image of the Creator of humankind.’
Legend: AST – ArtScroll Tanach; P&H – Pentateuch & Haftoras, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz. Reformatting and highlights ours.–Admin1.]
AST Introduction
In the lexicon of the Talmudic Sages, the Book of Leviticus is called Toras Kohanim, the Torah of the Kohanim, or priests, because most of the Book deals with the laws of the Temple service and other laws relating to the priests and their responsibilities.
The opening chapters of the Book deal almost exclusively with animal “korbanos” a word that is commonly translated as either sacrifices or offerings, but the truth is that the English language does not have a word that accurately expresses the concept of a korban. The word “sacrifice” implies that the person bringing it expected to deprive himself of something valuable — but it too falls short of the Hebrew korban. Does God require our gifts to appease Him or assuage His anger? And if He did, of what significance is a bull or lamb to Him? “If you have acted righteously, what have you given Him? (Job 35:7); God does not become enriched by man’s largess.
The root of the word korban is to come near. The person bringing an offering comes closer to God; he elevates his level of spirituality. That is the true meaning of the word and the significance of the act. For modern man—who has been weaned on the delusion that anything not measurable or replicable is unworthy of serious consideration, and who, after all, is the product of over 19 centuries without the Temple—the notion of animal offerings seems bizarre, even primitive. However, let us imagine ourselves among our ancestors when the first Kohanim brought their first offerings in their newly-built Tabernacle. There was a palpable recognition of God’s glory resting upon their handiwork, and a miraculous Heavenly fire descending to consume the offerings. Could they have doubted the efficacy of the service? Would we have felt otherwise if we had been there too?
The commentators offer various rational and meta-rational explanations for the offerings. Without attempting to more than barely scratch the surface, we briefly summarize one thought: Wherever the Torah speaks of the offerings, it uses the Four-letter Name of God that signifies His mercy. The offerings are a means He gives us to rejuvenate ourselves, to provide us a means to bring elevation and purity into our lives. It is when man serves God this way that He finds the offering to be “a satisfying aroma,” meaning, as the Sages explain, that God says, as it were, “I have commanded and My will has been done.”
P&H: INTRODUCTION
NAME. The oldest name for the 3rd book of Moses, ‘The Law of the Priests,’ i.e. the Book which describes the functions of the Priesthood and the duties of the priestly Nation. The Jewish name Vayyikra is from its opening Hebrew word. The current title, Leviticus, is derived from the Septuagint.
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS. One half of the Book deals with sacrifice and the laws that safeguard the priestly character of Israel; and the other half with Holiness and the sanctification of human life.
I. Sacrifice. The study of the origins of human worship has shown that animal sacrifice is an immemorial institution among virtually all races of men. It was therefore essential to raise this universal method of worship to a purely spiritual plane (Maimonides). This is done in Leviticus. All magic and incantation are banished from the sacrificial cult, and everything idolatrous or unholy is rigorously proscribed. With very few exceptions (Lev. V, I 20-26), deliberate sins are excluded from the sphere of sacrifice: and in all cases, repentance and restitution of the wrong done must precede the sacrificial act. And thus, while there are resemblances between sacrifice in Israel and sacrifice among other peoples, there are also fundamental differences that transform sacrifice as ordained in the Pentateuch into a vehicle of lofty religious communion and truth.
- The burnt-offering expressed the individual’s self surrender to God’s will;
- the peace-offering, gratitude for His bounties and mercies;
- the sin-offering, sorrow at having erred from the way of God and the firm resolve to be reconciled with Him.
- The congregational offerings, furthermore, taught the vital lesson of the interdependence of all members of the congregation as a sacred Brotherhood, and kept alive within the nation the consciousness of its mission.
II. Holiness. The other fundamental thought of the Book is Holiness, i.e., purity of life, purity of action, purity of thought, befitting a priestly Nation. All the precepts in Leviticus are merely a translation into terms of daily life of the Divine call, Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy (XIX,20). Holiness is an active principle, shaping and regulating every sphere of human life and activity. In Chap. XIX, it is embodied in the dietary laws. The rule of Holiness governs the body as well as the soul, since the body is the instrument through which alone the soul acts. The Holy People of the Holy God was to keep itself free not only from moral transgressions, but also from ceremonial defilement, which would weaken the barriers against the forces of heathenism and animalism that on all sides menaced Israel.
INFLUENCE. In ancient times, the Jewish child began the study of Scripture with Leviticus; ‘because little children are pure and the sacrifices are pure, let those who are pure come and occupy themselves with pure things’ (Midrash). And we may well judge this Book by its influence in the education of Israel. As a result of its stern legislation, Israel’s sons and daughters were freed from the ignoble and the vile—from all brutality and bestiality. As a result of its sanctifying guidance, no people ever attained to a higher conception of God, or a saner appreciation of the vital significance of health and holiness in the life of men and nations.
DIVERSIONS.
Chaps. I-VII define the laws of sacrifice for the individual, for the congregation, an for the priests.
Chaps. VIII-X describe the inauguration of worship in the completed Sanctuary.
Chaps. XI-XVII deal with the laws of clean and unclean, of purity and purification, culminating in the institution of the Day of Atonement.
Chaps. XVIII-XXVI legislate on marriage, personal and social ethics. (Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.), the Sacred Festivals, land tenure, and conclude with the solemn exhortation on the connection between Religion and national welfare.
Chaps. XXVII is a supplementary chapter on vows and tithes.
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