This week's reading inaugurates the Book of Leviticus -- a book that is widely misunderstood, and which is often criticized as a symbol of Judaism itself as overly legalistic and concerned with priestly rituals.
In fact, while some details are tough to digest, Leviticus contains some of the most profound meditations on holiness in the Bible. The focus on animal sacrifices reflects the Jewish idea of approaching God through the physical world as well as the spiritual one.
The first portion addresses several different types of sacrifices, brought for different reasons -- a topic of extensive discussion in the Talmud, not just because of interest in the ritual, but because each aspect of the ceremony illuminates a different esoteric insight.
The additional reading, from Isaiah (43:21 - 44:23), mentions the sin of idolatry -- the polar opposite of the holy rituals of Leviticus.
The Talmud -- compiled 1500 years ago, when there were still some pagan societies on earth -- struggles to understand idolatry and what motivated it. In some ways, it is likened to lust -- but worse.
I recently had what felt like an insight. As a creative person, I am constantly coming up with ideas. Sometimes, these ideas seem to take on a life of their own, and become totally compelling.
This can happen even when the ideas themselves are not actually that good. The act of creating them sometimes gives them a sense of inevitability that blinds you to their true nature, or consequences.
I imagine that pagan society must have felt the same about idols. Of course a statue cannot see, hear, or speak, much less create anything in the world, or answer prayers that are addressed to it.
Yet once a human being has created it, an idol may appear to have its own power. It is an illusion: the power is really just the artisan's idea or fantasy. But it can become a compelling, confusing force.
the Bible does not outlaw art or artisanship. But it does try to set some limits, saying that certain things -- like images of God -- should be off limits. Not because anyone would actually intend that such an image or sculpture be a substitute for God, but because once something like that is created, it may acquire its own force, like a fantasy that seems to be real -- until, suddenly, it is not.
The rituals in Leviticus are sacrifices of animals -- living creatures, made by God and not by human hands. They mean to keep us within the bounds of the creative force with which He has endowed us.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2492708&p=complete&jewish=Vayikra#lt=primary
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
