Summarized by David Navon. Translated by David Strauss
The book of Vayikra begins in the middle of a sentence:
And the Lord called to Moshe, and spoke to him out of the Tent of Meeting, saying. (Vayikra 1:1)
This call to Moshe is a continuation of the end of the book of Shemot, which describes the resting of the Shekhina (Divine Presence) in the Mishkan:
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan. And Moshe was not able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud abode on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.(Shemot 40:34-35)
There is a certain redundancy here. It is clear that the first verse focuses on the very resting of the Shekhina in the place, whereas the second verse focuses on Moshe, who because of the Shekhina cannot enter into the Tent of Meeting. The problem is resolved at the beginning of our book, when God calls to Moshe and makes room for him for listening and speaking from the Tent of Meeting. The speech to Moshe throughout the book will be from the Tent of Meeting, "from above the ark-cover, from between the two keruvim which are upon the ark of the testimony" (Shemot 25:22). God, as it were, vacates His place, thereby enabling man's encounter with the Shekhina.
Sacrifice [Korban] and Drawing Near [Hitkarvut]
In the parashiyot dealing with the Mishkan in the book of Shemot, the sacrifices brought in the Mishkan are not emphasized, and in fact are hardly mentioned at all. But at the beginning of the book of Vayikra great emphasis is placed on them. At the beginning of the book we read:
When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd or of the flock. (Vayikra 1:2)
Man does not only hear the word of God from the Mishkan, but also acts to draw closer to Him, and this is done through the sacrifices – which, as their name indicates, create closeness. As the Ramban says in his explanation of the reason for the sacrifices:
Since man's deeds are accomplished through thought, speech, and action, therefore God commanded that when man sins and brings an offering, he should lay his hands upon it in contrast to the [evil] deed [committed]. He should confess his sin verbally in contrast to his [evil] speech, and he should burn the innards and the kidneys [of the offering] in fire because they are the instruments of thought and desire in the human being. He should burn the legs [of the offering] since they correspond to the hands and feet of a person, which do all his work. He should sprinkle the blood upon the altar, which is analogous to the blood in his body. All these acts are performed in order that when they are done, a person should realize that he has sinned against his God with his body and his soul, and that "his" blood should really be spilled and "his" body burned, were it not for the lovingkindness of the Creator, who took from him a substitute and a ransom, namely this offering, so that its blood should be in place of his blood, its life in place of his life, and that the chief limbs of the offering should be in place of the chief parts of his body. The portions [given from the sin-offering to the priests], are in order to support the teachers of the Torah, so that they pray on his behalf. The reason for the daily public offering is that it is impossible for the public [as a whole] to continually avoid sin. Now these are words which are worthy to be accepted, appealing to the heart as do words of Aggada. (Ramban, Vayikra 1:9)
Beyond these Aggadic teachings, which portray a person's offering as though he were offering himself, the Ramban further highlights the element of genuine closeness inherent in bringing a sacrifice directly to God: "Similarly, all terms related to korban (offering) [from the root karav, "to draw near"] are expressions of approach and unity."
Thus we see that in the Mishkan, there is a mutual movement of closeness and sacrifice – God restricts His presence and turns to man, and man sacrifices on the altar in order to draw closer to Him. On the three Pilgrimage Festivals, both movements find expression:
Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose; on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Sukkot; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. (Devarim 16:16-17)
"All your males shall appear" - just as he comes to see, so he comes to be seen. (Sifrei Devarim 143)
A person comes to the Temple and brings an olat re'iya, a pilgrimage burnt-offering, with a request to draw near; and God is there, watching over, "seeing" as it were, those who come.
The Sacrificial Service Forever
At the beginning of II Divrei ha-Yamim, we read that Shlomo defines the purpose of the Temple as follows:
Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the Shabbatot, and on the new moons, and on the appointed seasons of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel. (II Divrei Ha-Yamim 2:3)
The Gemara in Menachot (110a) explains the meaning of the words, "This is an ordinance forever to Israel," offering a number of explanations. One of them is:
Rav Giddal said in the name of Rav: This refers to the altar built [in heaven], where Michael, the great Prince, stands and offers up on it an offering.
This explanation may be related to the question raised by the commentators regarding how to punctuate the Avoda blessing (Retzei) in the Shemoneh Esreh prayer. We say: "May the Lord, our God, be pleased with Your people, Israel, and their prayer; and restore the service to the inner chamber in Your abode, and the fire-offerings of Israel, and their prayer accept in love with favor." The commentators disagree about how to punctuate this sentence: Is there a request to restore the offerings of Israel, the sacrificial system that enables man to draw near – "and restore the service to the inner chamber in Your abode and the fire-offerings of Israel" – followed by another request – "and their prayer accept in love with favor"? Or is the request that the offerings of Israel, which are also being offered now, together with the prayers of Israel, be accepted in love and with favor? As the Tosafot put it:
Where Michael, the great Prince, stands and offers up on it an offering – The Midrashim are divided: Some say [that the offering is] the souls of the righteous, and some say lambs of fire. And this is what we say in the Amida prayer, in the Avoda blessing: "And the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayer speedily accept in love with favor." And some say that it refers to what precedes it, "And restore the service to the inner chamber in Your abode, and the fire-offerings of Israel."
The expression, "the souls of the righteous," refers to souls of the righteous and holy on high who are sacrificed on the supernal altar; it also refers to the martyrs, the souls of the righteous in whose presence no one can stand. So many of them were recently sacrificed before Him – pure and righteous sacrifices, perfect offerings.
We seek to replace these sacrifices with the lambs of fire, and pray to the One who sits in the heavens, that He will shine His face upon us and bring us close to Him with great favor and mercy – "And may You, in Your abundant mercy, desire us and accept us, and may our eyes behold Your return to Zion with mercy."
[This sicha was delivered by Harav Baruch Gigi on Shabbat Parashat Vayikra 5784,.]
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