Shuvoo Newsletter
Issue 11 – March 30, 2006
Thoughts on Ancient Times & Current Events by
Ashirah Yosefah
SACRIFICES & THE SANCTUARY OF THE SOUL
The morning sun rises over Har haBeit, The
with the Western Wall and
The Parsha
for this week is Vayikra, the central book of Torah Laws within the
Chumash. The opening Sidra begins with
the offerings that were to be made in the Sanctuary of the Mishkan and the
procedure that surrounded them. For
nearly two thousand years now, the
The Hebrew word for
‘sacrifice’ is ‘korban’, which literally means ‘to draw near’, indicating that
the Temple sacrifices were a primary means by which the Children of Israel were
to draw near to G-d. What can these laws
tell us about drawing near to G-d today when there is no
The Rabbis teach us that, in
the absence of The Temple, the synagogue and the home have become small
sanctuaries in which the Name of Hashem is to be glorified and all aspects of
communal and family life elevated in the service of G-d. Carrying this concept further, the soul
itself is a sanctuary in which man worships G-d.
The following presents a very
meaningful analysis of the dual significance of the sacrificial laws. It comes from the Discourses of Rebbe
Menachem M. Schneerson in Likkutei Sichot, Vol. I. Rebbe Schneerson translates the priestly
procedure into terms of immediate bearing on one’s spiritual life,
demonstrating that the commandments given in this Sidra relating to the
Shabbat Shalom,
Ashirah
Yosefah
From Torah Studies,
Discourses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Vayikra,
pgs. 153-158:
1. “An Offering of You”
At the beginning of the Sidra
of Vayikra (the Sidra about the sacrifices), the Torah says, “If any man
brings an offering of you to the L-rd.”
At first glance we would suppose that the phrase “of you” refers to “any
man”, thus: “If any man of you brings an
offering....” But the order of words in
the Torah rules this out. The Torah is
precise in every detail. An apparently
misplaced word has great significance.
The sentence must read, “If any man brings an offering of you…,” and the
implication is that the sacrifice must be of yourself. What does this mean?
This well-known Chassidic
interpretation understands the phrase to be a commentary on the whole nature of
sacrifice. When G-d commanded the
Israelites to build Him a Sanctuary, He said, “And they shall make Me a
Sanctuary and I will dwell in them.”
It was not simply in it that He would dwell, but in every Jew. Each Jew had, as it were, a Sanctuary within
himself. And every act, every facet of
the physical Sanctuary, had its counterpart in the sanctuary of the soul.
So there is an inward act of
sacrifice in the life of the Jew that precisely mirrors the outward act that
took place in the Sanctuary. Even that
outward act – though it involved the sacrifice of a physical animal – was
essentially a spiritual one. This is why
it needed the participation of the priests (kohanim) and the
accompaniment of the songs of the Levites.
The Zohar (1) says that “the Cohanim in their silent service and their
desire drew (G-d’s Presence) downwards and the Levites in their songs and
praises drew (man’s soul and his sacrifice) upwards.” They physical sacrifice was thus a spiritual
encounter.
So, indeed more so, is the
inward act of sacrifice. And this is the
meaning of “If any man brings an offering of you….” “Offering” in Hebrew means “drawing near.”
(2) And when a Jew wishes to draw near
to G-d he must make a sacrifice to G-d of his very self. The offering must be “of you.” It is the “you” that is the sacrifice.
2. The Animal
The sentence continues “… You
shall bring our offering from the cattle, the herd and the flock.” Thus there are two sacrifices in the
sanctuary of the soul. The first is “of
you”, of yourself, your “G-dly soul.”
The second is “from the cattle,” from the “animal soul” which
constitutes all physical desires, all instincts which a man has in virtue of
having a body and being part of the natural world. It is this second offering which is the
ultimate aim of sacrifice: The
sanctification and redirection of the “animal” in man.
That this is the aim is
suggested in the verse itself, and what follows. The offering “of you” is described as being
made “to the L-rd.” But in the
next verse it says that the offering “of herd” shall be “before the
L-rd,” meaning that it will reach a higher level than “the L-rd,” (3) the four-letter
name of G-d. It is written (4), “There
is much increase by the strength of the ox.”
When the animal in man is harnessed in the service of G-d it has the
power to take him closer to G-d than his G-dly soul alone could reach.”
Bringing the “you,” the G-dly
soul, as a sacrifice brings man only “to the L-rd,” to the level signified by
the four-lettered name. This is in
itself a supernatural experience, but not yet an experience of G-d as He is in
Himself, beyond time and change. Whereas
the sanctification of the “animal soul” brings an experience of G-d in His
absolute transcendence: “When the ‘other
side’ (the natural instincts) is subdued, the glory of the Holy One, blessed be
He, is revealed throughout all the worlds.” (5)
3. The Search
When an animal was to be
sacrificed on the altar, the first thing that had to be done was to see that it
was whole, perfect, without blemish.
Only then could it be offered. So
it is in the “drawing near” of man. The
“animal” within himself must be without blemish before it can be
sacrificed. The first step is
self-examination. He must search the
recesses of his soul for faults – rifts in the unity of his being. And having found them, he must set them
right.
The search must be sincere,
not done out of a mechanical sense of duty.
For his whole spiritual integrity depends on it. Once he realizes what is at stake, he will
not cover his faults in self-deception, or leave them to fester, uncured.
4. The Pressure of the Past
When a man begins this
process of self-searching in earnest, it can often happen that even though he
is not currently guilty of any sin, there rise to the surface of his memory all
the failings and indiscretions of his past, even of his childhood, (6) until he
can say, “My sin is continually before
me.” (7) They persist because they have
not been completely set right.
Had they been rectified by
his subsequent service they would have been effaced, and replaced by great
enthusiasm in Divine Service. For when a
man has been through the “dry land of the shadow of death” which comes upon him
in the moment of separation from G-d through sin, his desire to be reunited
with G-d flares into the fervor of “repentance through great love” which turns
“intentional sins into merits”.(8)
But this self-examination
tells him that it is not so with him.
His sins remain as sins in his memory.
He has not passed through the transforming fire of love. Sin breeds sin in its chain, (9) and even now
he sometimes feels the pressure of wayward desires.
It is not as if his
repentance for the past needs only a final touch to complete it, but rather as
if it never succeeded in breaking down the barrier between himself and G-d (10)
that his past acts had created.
But this may give him
pause. He is coming in front of G-d in
an act of sacrifice, of “drawing near” with all his being, to be drawn into the
Divine fire which is to carry him upwards to the essence of G-d. (11) And he may say: What am I to be worthy of the act? I am imperfect. I am full of faults. The thing is beyond me!
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of
Lubavitch answered: (12) “The sacrifice is not only of “you”; it depends
on “you.” It is within the scope of
every Jew, whatever his present and whatever his past. So that every Jew has the right to ask
himself, (13) “When will my acts be like the acts of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob?”
4. The Fire
Once
the animal has been examined, and found to be without blemish, it must be
killed. That is, one does not destroy
its body, merely takes away its life.
Then it is offered on the altar, where it is consume (in some cases,
only the fat, in others the whole animal) by fire sent from above by G-d.
This
is the procedure for physical sacrifices in the Sanctuary, and it applies also
to the inward sacrifice within the Jewish personality.
After
one has set right the faults or blemishes in one’s way of life, the “animal”
must be killed. The life must be taken
from one’s instinctual, physical drives.
Their energy must be redirected.
The “body”, that is, the physical acts, remain. But their motive is now wholly spiritual, to
give strength to the life of Divine Service.
Thus in the Talmud, (14) Rava said:
“Wine and odorous spices made me wise.”
To do this is to arrive at the stage of “In all your ways, know Him.”
(151) where every act is for the sake of holiness, until every act becomes
itself holy. This is the case, for
example, on Shabbat when eating and drinking are not simply a means to the
sanctification of the day, but are themselves commanded as part of that
sanctity; physical wool in Tzitzit, physical leather in Tefillin; and so can
every act be sanctified to this degree.
Then
comes the moment of “drawing near.” The
body, the “animal soul” are drawn into the fire of the soul, the fire that is
the love of G-d: “Its flames are flames
of fire, the flame of G-d.” (16) The
love that the Rabbis say (17) is like “the fire of heaven” turns the animal
force into molten energy that is reshaped as love of G-d.
“And
you shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart.” The Rabbis asked (18), what is “with all your
heart?” And they answered, “with your
two inclinations.” When the power and
passion of natural man is harnessed to the love of G-d of spiritual man, the
fire within the Jew merges with the answering fire of heaven, and man and G-d
“draw near”.
(Source: Likkutei Sichot, Vol. I pp. 205-208)
_________________________________
Footnotes:
1. Part III, 39a
2. Korban and Kiruv respectively, which
have the same root.
3. Likkutei Torah, Maamar Leva’er … Adam
Ki Yakriv
4. Proverbs 14:4
5. Cf. Tanya, Part I, ch. 27.
6. Poke’ach Ivrim, ch. 21-22. Cf. Shulchan Aruch,
Orach Chaim, end of ch.
343. Sanhedrin, 55b.
7. Psalms 51:5
8. Cf. Tanya, Part I, ch. 7.
9. Pirkei Avot, 4:2.
10. Cf. Tanya, Part I, ch. 17.
11. Cf. Zohar, Part II, 239a; Part III,
26b.
12. Maamar Bati
Leganni 5710, ch. 2.
13. Tana Deve Eliyahu
Rabbah, ch. 25.
14. Yoma, 76b.
15. Cf. Rambam,
Hichot Deot, ch. 3. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, ch. 231.
16. Song of Songs 8:6
17. Yalkut, ad loc.
18. Berachot, 54a