Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Q.What exactly is the essence of korbanot?


A. To understand the essence of a korban, looking at the Hebrew translation helps. A korban, sacrifice- is derived from the Hebrew world karov- close. By giving sacrifices to Hashem , through karbanot, Hashem has created a system for building a relationship and getting closer to Him.
Moreover, the idea behind giving korbanot was a means to an end; seeing that through the act of giving the sacrifice, the sinner was meant to discontinue sinning. The sacrifices were meant to give people the opportunity to reunite with Hashem. Unfortunately, many people in the times of the temple, still transgressed against the Torah, thinking they could just repent by making sacrificial offerings to Hashem. However, Hashem is repulsed by sinners who repent and then persist in their sinful ways. This should be a reminder for us if we repent to Hashem for our previous transgressions, we stay true to our word and we will not commit the same transgression again.

Moreover, tehillim- psalms- continues to quote, that the mizbach-the alter that sacrifices are made on- is called the ‘joy of the entire world.’ From giving sacrifices the Jews were capable of experiencing complete euphoria.  Moreover, today we don’t have the ability to make sacrifices to Hashem; however, by doing teshuva with the truest intentions and completely discontinuing one’s transgressions, the opportunity to reunify with Hashem will present itself.

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