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