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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier
רמב”ן, Nachmanides, in his preface to ספר ויקרא, Leviticus, teaches that the main theme of ספר שמות, Exodus, is to relate the development of the Jewish people from being a nation enslaved and assimilated into a people who were gifted with the epitome of successful personal development – realized through the Torah. Though כלל ישראל erroneously constructed the Golden Calf, not only did He forgive us, but more so, He brought His Divine Presence amongst us in the Tabernacle. As a nation, we had attained through Hashem’s benevolence that we mortal beings were so dear and beloved to Hashem, that He made Himself inseparable from us.
ספר ויקרא, Leviticus is primarily a systematic manner of mitzvos that will ensure that this bond with Hashem, this exalted, edifying, ennobling, exhilarating, life-forming bond with the Creator Himself should not in any way be abrogated, forgotten, or diminished.
Being that it is normal for a person to act in a manner disloyal to Hashem’s instructions, to at times disdain unequivocal responsibility, Hashem granted us a gift to “repair the damage”, a sacrifice.
A story: Parents of an only child, in celebration of the child’s graduation from university, decided to take a major share of their life’s savings and purchase an expensive car. They presented it to their child, with unmitigated, sincere love and dedication, with ecstasy and appreciation for all of their child’s accomplishments. One stipulation was given; the child can never drive the car with excessive speed.
A week after celebrating their love and admiration for one another, the inseparable bond that was represented by their extraordinary gift, the parents received a phone call. “Your child is alive, but the car is gone; the driver exceeded the speed limit by fifty miles per hour.”
Devastation! Incredulity! How could our child do this? Where is the appreciation? Does our child really care about us? Our child just destroyed our lives! Our trust in him! Our connection to him is severed. The parents are in a true state of bewilderment, mourning, and demoralization.
Even more so is our relationship with Hashem. He selflessly created us. He gifted us an extraordinary, beautiful, spectacular universe, He lavishes upon us pleasure upon pleasure, He endowed us with the opportunity to emulate Him, in short He heaped upon us infinite “wealth”.
When one disobeys Hashem, one is in effect breaching their bond with Hashem; it’s not only not different from the parents and the child but much worse. Whatever a parent can give a child, whatever a parent can selflessly feel towards a child is incomparable to Hashem’s utterly, selfless connection to every person!
The Torah teaches us an antidote to this severance. Bring Me a קרבן, translated as a sacrifice. Logically it should be impossible to rectify one’s insubordination, one’s rebelling against one’s Benefactor. Hashem says to us, “I care about you, please reconnect to Me. How? Take an animal, bring it to the בית המקדש, the Holy Temple. Yes, you live fifty miles away, it will take much effort! Articulate your regret (וידוי, סמיכה) and slaughter the animal and the כהן, priest will sprinkle its blood on the מזבח, altar. By acting through the animal you are demonstrating that there is only one ”cause” in the world from which all emanates. It is the Almighty. We, humans, have no jurisdiction, no essence other than that Hashem in His eternal love, compassion, and mercy renews our living experience every second. As we articulate, המחדש בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. Therefore one’s animal which represents one’s wealth is really not mine but G-d’s; as is my whole existence. (מהר”ל)
Secondly, by bringing my קרבן (from the root word to being close) I am once again reattaching myself to Hashem. One sincerely expresses their regret, they with labor bring their animal to Hashem and the sprinkling of the blood as a replacement for their lifeblood is a manifestation of their renewed subservience to Hashem. (רמב”ן)
This inseparable bond was realized on Pesach in Egypt. Hashem brought to Egypt His presence that fateful night; the Egyptian firstborn perished for they could not bear the sudden presence of Hashem’s holiness. The Jewish people were lovingly raised to a high level and were bonded to Hashem, which in turn was the foundation for the ultimate bond realized at הר סיני, Sinai, with the bonding of Hashem with His people through the Torah.
