Shabbat Vayikra

Written by Rabbi Dr Michael Shire Wednesday, 29 March 2006

Vayikra

Today sacrifice means an act of self-deprivation. We give up something of value for the sake of something greater; we may sacrifice a holiday to save some money, we may sacrifice our free time to work for the shul, we may sacrifice our lives for the security of our country. We regret these sacrifices, though we understand the necessity of them. If we could attain what we want without the sacrifice, we would do so. So we only make sacrifices when we really have to and only then after much consideration.

This is not what the ancient Israelites meant by sacrifice. To them it was a religious rite, most often a joyous one. The offering was the most precious item the offerer could afford. It was a sacrifice to God, not for a particular end. It might be offered in the hope of obtaining a favour, or warding off disaster, or atoning for a sin. But just as often it was an expression of reverence and thanksgiving. The word sacrifice in English comes from the Latin; 'To make something Holy'. Whereas in the Hebrew, KORBAN means 'to bring near' to the altar.

Biblical sacrifices were both communal and individual. The communal sacrifices were at fixed times, morning and evening corresponding to morning and evening prayers that we now observe. The terms for these ceremonies are the same as used in the Temple. Shaharit and Minchah. On Shabbat and holy days there was an additional sacrifice called the Musaf or additional offering. Some of the
individual sacrifices were fixed also, as was the Pascal lamb at Pesach, but many were voluntary and brought to the altar by the people.

Sacrifice was considered proper and necessary in ancient times, though its emphasis on mere ritual was criticised by the prophets. Amos railed against the people for finding absolution in offering sacrifices but with no inner conviction; ‘Though you offer me burnt offerings. I will not accept them, and I will not notice your sacrifices ... but let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.’

Some scholars therefore concluded that the prophets rejected the Temple cult and called for a religion of ethical conduct only. But Jewish tradition understood these utterances of the prophets not to be directed at sacrifice as such but against the substitution of ritual for morality. Therefore tradition has considered sacrifice proper and necessary when performed by sincerity and with proper regard for other requirements of the Torah.

It requires an enormous effort of imagination on our part to understand how untold generations found the sacrificial rites inspiring. We eat much more meat than our biblical ancestors did, but it comes to us neatly prepared and packaged, and many of us do not even see it till it is ready for the table. Ancient life was not so sheltered. There was a familiarity with the slaughtering of animals their preparation for food. When these activities were performed
in a sacred place as part of a solemn ritual, they were found to be meaningful.

In 70 CE the Romans burned the Temple and the sacrificial cult came to an end. In the words of one High Holy Day prayer book;
Were the House still standing
Would we bring live lambs to slaughter
Would we share our surplus as much with priests as with the poor
We were driven from the House too soon to find the answer
History has robbed us of the choice.

Progressive Judaism however renounced the-hope of restoring sacrifice. We eliminated the traditional prayers for the restoration of the Temple and its cult. Yet the memory of sacrifices will not go away. Our services, Shabbat ritual and most of all Yom Kippur remind us continually of them. We cannot pretend that the sacrifices never happened or that they were a compelling aspect of a Jew's encounter with God for a thousand years. Indeed we can deepen our understanding of our present prayers and thus our relationship with God when we try to understand the sacrifices which underlie them.
Let then our offering be from our lips of memories of
sweetness of new wheat
oils pressed from ancient olives
Gifts we would have brought
had we but lived
in offering distance of the sacred House.

Rabbi Dr Michael J Shire