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ב"ה
וְנֶפֶשׁ כִּי תַקְרִיב קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה (ויקרא ב, א)
AND IF ONE OFFERS AN OFFERING OF A MINCHA... (VAYIKRA 2:1)
The Selfless Fuel of Sacrifice
The word mincha means “a grain-offering,” which makes the phrase “korban mincha”— “a grain-offering offering” seem redundant. The Midrash (Toras Kohanim) interprets the additional word korban to allude to another genre of offerings that a person may donate and offer upon the altar; namely, stand-alone offerings of oil, wine, incense or wood, which are typically components of a (larger)korban, but may also be offered individually.
The Midrash’s view that wood is among the components of a sacrifice is puzzling. The purpose of the wood is simply to fuel the altar’s fire. Why does the Midrash regard it as part of the sacrifice?
In a certain sense, however, the wood accompanying the sacrifice represents the underlying theme of all sacrifices, even more than the sacrifices’ other components.
The Ramban (on Vayikra 1:9) explains that the objective of the sacrifices is to arouse the individual to offer himself—his inner qualities and character—to G-d. The animal he burns on the altar substitutes for him physically, but a spiritual offering is still expected of him.
In particular, each sacrifice draws attention to a unique aspect of the person’s character that he must channel in the service of G-d. Common to all sacrifices, however, is the underlying readiness to offer yourself—ultimately, your entire being—to G-d.
This self-sacrifice required for every offering is represented by the one component that all the sacrifices have in common: the wood used to fuel the fire. And for good reason, because the firewood is the epitome of selflessness and abnegation. Unlike the other components of the sacrifice, the firewood is not said to arouse “a pleasing fragrance for G-d” (Vayikra 1:9). Nevertheless, in order to facilitate that arousal of Divine favor (which will ultimately be attributed to “someone else,”) the firewood is entirely burned and consumed.
Thus, it is truly the firewood alone that meets the definition of korban, a sacrifice.
—Likutei Sichos, vol. 22, pp. 7-13
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3/29/17
The Selfless Fuel of Sacrifice
3/28/17
Why Korbanos?
ב"ה
A MAN WHO SHALL BRING FROM YOU AN OFFERING TO G-D...
(VAYIKRA 1:2)
The significance the Torah attributes to animal sacrifice is mystifying. Why would the physical slaughter and burning of an animal be our primary form of divine worship (see Avos 1:2; Yerushalmi, Taanis 4:1)? Would a more spiritual exercise, in which the Jew's attachment to G-d is sensed and experienced, not be more suitable as the focal point of the Temple service?
In truth, the significance of the sacrifices lies precisely in their seeming lack of spiritual experience. The Torah's word for sacrifice is korban, from the word karov, "close," indicating that the purpose of the sacrifices is toarouse and express the Jewish people's inherent"closeness" to G-d—a closeness that even transcends the attachment we develop through observing His commands.
As such, we can understand why the sacrifices atone for transgressions of the Torah: a sacrifice reveals the Jew's essential and unbreakable bond with G-d, thereby repairing any deficiency in their relationship caused by a breach of Torah observance.
This closeness could not be adequately expressed in a service that highlights the Jew's unique spiritual capacities, for this essential bond with G-d is not contingent on the Jew's efforts and experience; it is purely the result of G-d's existential choice of His beloved nation.
The unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and G-d is therefore best expressed through a Jew offering a korban, thespiritualvalue of which is not obvious, save for the fact thatG-d has deemed it desirable for a Jew to offer a sacrifice to Him. —Likutei Sichos, vol. 22, pp. 3-4
The Pure
ב"ה
מפני מה מתחילין לתינוקות בתורת כהנים, ואין מתחילין בבראשית אלא שהתינוקות טהורין והקרבנות טהורין, יבואו טהורין
ויתעסקו בטהורין (ויקרא רבה ז, ג)
WHY DO CHILDREN BEGIN THEIR LEARNING WITH TORAS KOHANIM ( VAYIKRA) AND NOT WITH BEREISHIS? SINCE THE CHILDREN ARE PURE AND THE SACRIFICES ARE PURE, LET THE PURE COME AND DEAL WITH THE PURE. (VAYIKRA RABBAH 7:3)
The Pure
Even before children are old enough to understand what it means to observe the Torah, their first studies of Jewish texts begin with the book of Vayikra. According to the Midrash, this is because Vayikra teaches the laws of sacrifices, and, “Since the children are pure and the sacrifices are pure, let the pure come and deal with the pure.”
Remarkably, the only reference in the Torah to sacrifices being “pure” is with regard to those offered by Noach after the flood: “And Noach built an altar to G-d, and he took of all the pure animals and of all the pure fowl and brought up burnt offerings on the altar” (Bereishis 8:20). The pure animals referred to there are the kosher animals, “Which are destined to be pure for Israel” (Rashi on Bereishis 7:2).
Noach’s sacrifices predated not only G-d’s command to the Jewish people “to distinguish between the impure and the pure” and observe a kosher diet (Vayikra 11:47), but also the patriarchs, of whom our sages say, “They observed the entire Torah even before it was given” (Kiddushin 82a). Thus, by referring to the sacrifices as “the pure,” the Midrash alludes to the potential of the sacrifices to reveal G-d’s essential love for the Jewish people, a bond that “predates” and transcends even the attachment we develop by observing His Torah.
Accordingly, we can understand the tradition to introduce children to Torah study with the book of Vayikra. Children begin their school years long before they are of the age of responsibility to observe the Torah and mitzvos. Moreover, at that age they are too young even to digest the idea of duty and obligation, or to be trained for the duties that they will have upon reaching the age of majority. Their early reading of the Torah therefore symbolizes a Jew’s inherent connection to G-d and His Torah that transcends even the observance and actual study of the Torah and its laws. Since the sacrifices likewise reflect this pure relationship with G-d, it is most appropriate that, “The pure come and deal with the pure.”
—Likutei Sichos, vol. 22, pp.
11/27/16
The Fighter
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