This week we begin reading the book of Vayikra (Leviticus), which is largely about the priestly animal sacrifices and worship in the Temple. It is so easy - expected, even - for us to feel like this book of the Torah has so little relevance to our lives. And it’s true, of course. We don’t offer animal sacrifice, we don’t live in a religious system in which the priests control ritual, and our current form of worship barely even resembles anything outlined in this book.
So I try to zoom out in order to find some connection. In reading just the first two verses of Vayikra, I realize that there is an element of what these sacrifices are meant to achieve that perhaps can speak to us.
וַיִּקְרָא, אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֵלָיו, מֵאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֵאמֹר .דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, אָדָם כִּי-יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן לַה' מִן הַבְּהֵמָה, מִן הַבָּקָר וּמִן הַצֹּאן, תַּקְרִיבוּ, אֶת-קָרְבַּנְכֶם. Adonai called to Moshe and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When a person among you brings a sacrifice to Adonai, they should choose their offering from the herd or from the flock to offer the sacrifice. -Vayikra 1:1-2
In the Hebrew, there is a root that appears four times in different forms: yakriv (a verb, ‘s/he offers’), korban (noun, ‘sacrifice/offering’), takrivu (verb, ‘they will offer’), and korbankhem (noun, ‘your sacrifices/offerings’). The root of these words - קרב - indicates closeness, or drawing near. In essence, then, while the action of a sacrifice might look like an animal being burnt on an altar, the spiritual goal is about closeness to God.
The Sefat Emet, a Hasidic commentator, wrote that since the point of sacrifices is coming near and achieving closeness, it’s not about whether someone gives more or less, it’s about whether the gift comes from the heart for the purpose of connection. His teaching is a helpful reminder that spiritual practice is not all or nothing. There is no final destination, there is only movement. That movement, instigated by even the smallest action on our part, can bring us closer to divinity and others.
For me, there is power in thinking about this word in its totality: sacrifice, offering, closeness, connection. If this is all loaded into one root, it begs the question of me: What am I willing to sacrifice, what am I willing to offer of myself, in order to achieve spiritual closeness to God and community? We often conceive of sacrifice as a type of loss, but I think Vayikra reminds us that sacrifice is giving of ourselves so that we gain. Contributing to something bigger because we grow. I hope that we are able to accept the invitation that Vayikra extends, to give of ourselves, and see what we might come close to in the process.
