Wednesday, March 21, 2012

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! THAT'S THE WAY TO START!


In this week’s parsha, Vayikra, the Mishkan has been completed and Hashem calls Moshe to meet Him. Moshe however, was hesitant and did not want to cross into the shechina- divine presence- of Hashem. From the entire Exodus story, Moshe has developed such an intimate relationship with Hashem, so why was he now being so distant and refusing to enter the Mishkan?  Time and again, we see this same ‘refusing’ attitude in Moshe.
1.     When Hashem asked Moshe to take the Jews out of Egypt, he refused, saying that there must be someone greater to fulfill the task.
2.     When Hashem told Moshe that he would transmit the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, he only carried them out after Hashem deliberately commanded to go to Pharaoh.
3.     When Bnai Israel was at the Red Sea waiting for a miracle to assist them, Moshe did not want to be chosen for splitting the sea; however, Hashem immediately commanded him to split the sea because Hashem assigned the task to him.
4.     Before Moshe received the Torah, he waited at the bottom of Mount Sinai until Hashem summoned him to go up.
Although the crowds of Jews standing besides the Mishkan were righteous men, Hashem specifically called upon Moshe to enter the Mishkan alongside Him, because Hashem was giving Moshe a special honor. However, Moshe assumed that since Aaron was chosen to be the high priest of the Mishkan, Aaron should be called upon to enter, rather than Moshe. However, Hashem continuously told him that He has commanded Moshe for this task for a reason. Many times we think that the challenges and tasks Hashem brings our way are too out of our reach and that we are not worthy of accomplishing them. However, we must recognize that is was Hashem who gave us our unique challenges and tasks for the purpose of us fulfilling them, and not any one else.

Quotes that matter

King Shlomo taught “There is gold and a multitude of pearls, but lips of knowledge are a precious vessel” (Mishlei 20:15)
With the completed Mishkan, Moshe was saddened by the fact that Hashem excluded him from contributing any donations to the Mishkan. However, Hashem did not allow him to contribute anything because all of Bnai Israel contributed donations to the Mishkan in order to atone for some aspect of the sin of the golden calf. Moreover, had Moshe donated anything to the Mishkan, it would have removed the need from Bnai Israel to provide it, thereby lowering their ability to repent. Hashem told Moshe,
‘I know that you were disturbed at being unable to contribute to the Mishkan like the rest of the Jews. However, know that your task is a different one, greater than theirs. Their work has ended- yours now begins. I am calling you to the Mishkan to give you instructions concerning the korbanot-sacrificial offerings- which you will then teach to the people. Your teaching Torah is dearer to Me than their donations of gold and silver and the jewels donated by the princes!”
From this we can see how much value Hashem places on educating the Jewish nation. Rather than spending one’s life on accumulating ‘gold and a multitude of pearls’ (a.k.a. materialism) one’s life should be aimed at increasing his knowledge of Torah and of Hashem.  In the World of Truth, real value lies in the acquisition of knowledge in Torah and Hashem. When Hashem calls only Moshe up to the Mishkan, it is clear that He values Torah teaching over all the gold and silver offered to Him by Bnai Israel; therefore, Moshe was the only one He called to the Mishkan. In all, this should give us the incentive to reassess what our true motives in life are, attaining continuous Knowledge of Hashem, which will provide us with infinite rewards, versus attaining fleeting riches. The chose is yours, what will it be?

Sacrificial Offerings….What?


           This week’s parsha gives an in depth discussion on the different types of sacrifices Bnai Israel is commanded to make. However, Hashem did not command Bnai Israel to make sacrifices on His behalf, but rather, they were commanded for us to make on behalf of our sake. The sacrificial laws are considered as chokim- laws for which we do not have human comprehension for; however, Ramban explains that when a sinner, who is making a sacrifice for an atonement, by witnessing an animal being slaughtered, butchered, and burned, it would give him the higher consciousness that what was done to the animal could have been done to him for violating Hashem’s commandments.
            Moreover, by examining the animal’s fate, it arouses man to question, what is the difference between man and animal? Indeed both have similar physical functions and both face mortality. What is it that elevates the human being above the animal kingdom? The answer is the Divine soul instilled within each of us from Hashem.  When seeing an living animal being sacrificed, the Jew can question, ‘how is it possible that I could be so foolish to transgress Hashem and give into my lower animal nature?’ Rather, the korbanot-sacrifices- were created to stimulate the sinner to find it within himself to heartfelt teshuva- repentance.

DID YOU KNOW:


Each stage of the sacrificial offerings corresponds to atone for some aspect of that sin. Sins are committed through speaking, thought, and action; therefore, the sacrifices correspond to atone for those areas of sinning:
1.     Semicha/resting his hands on the sacrifice- is atoning for a person misusing his own hand in wrongful deeds.
2.     Vidui/verbal confession- is atoning for a person’s sinful speech.
3.     Hakravas ha’aimrus/the burning of the animal’s internal organs- is atoning for impure thoughts.
4.     Zerika/sprinking the animal’s blood onto the alter- symbolizes that in actuality, the sinners blood should have been shed for his acts of evil; however, the animal’s blood was shed as a substitution.

Torah for your table- Give a profound Dvar Torah and rock the Shabbos table in one minute!


Q. Why does the Torah need to create such an elaborate system for atoning in order to evoke feelings of heartfelt teshuva within a person? Why didn’t the Torah just command that we verbally confess our sins and repent?
A.  Essentially, people could merely say, ‘I did wrong;’ however, just by verbalizing it, it does not evoke the same reaction within. Something visually seen, bringing an animal to the temple, resting one’s hands on it, and being a part of the slaughtering, butchering, and burning, arouses a much larger psychological understanding of committing a transgression against the Torah than does an oral confession. Moreover, from this we can see the source of all the mitzvot we do. For example, on Passover, we do not merely read the Haggadah and remember the matzah and maror, rather we partake in the physical mitzvah with our senses and eat it. Furthermore, on Succot, we fulfill the mitzvah by sitting in a sukkah and picking up the four species. In all, in order to fulfill a mitzvah, we engage our senses in order to fulfill the essence of the mitzvah and have an all-encompassing experience.
Additionally, the Torah furthers this idea when discussing what constitutes a good teacher. A teacher who engages and involves his students is revered, because learning Torah and making it a tangible experience makes a lasting impression on the students, who will then engross themselves completely with Judaism and live a Torah enriched life.

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.

We no longer make sacrifices, NOW WHAT? How do we get close to Hashem?!


 All the sacrifices rooted in the same purpose, to get closer to Hashem. However, today we no longer have a temple, so what are our new means of creating a relationship with Hashem?
1.     Prayer- Through tefillot- prayer- we can replace the daily sacrifices that were done previously in the temple. Each prayer service- total of 3 daily- replace the 3 daily sacrifices that were made during temple times.
2.     Studying the laws of sacrifices- By studying the sacrificial laws, Hashem grants that person with the same merit as He does the person who actually makes the sacrifices (we see the power of in-depth Torah study).
3.     Repentance- By doing sincerely heartfelt teshuva- repentance- the same degree of atonement is made as from the sacrifices that were once given.
4.     Torah study- By devoting yourself to intense Torah study, the spiritual impact of Torah studying is so vast, it is considered as greater than any the sacrifices.

DID YOU KNOW? WE HAVE BEEN ABSOLVED!

The order the Torah gives us when commanding us which animals are kosher for sacrifice are: ox, sheep, and goat. Why does Hashem give over the ox first? Why not the sheep or goat? The reason for this is that Hashem wanted to teach that He did not blame Bnai Israel for the sin of the golden calf. Rather, the airev rav- converted Egyptians- were the ones to blame.  They created the golden calf and proclaimed to Bnai Israel that ‘this is your god!’ Furthermore, in order to avoid the nations of the world sneering at us saying, ‘You made a golden calf!’ Hashem put an ox at the head of the list of korbanot in order to counteract those slanderous statements for people to see that Jews sacrifice oxen, they do not serve them as gods.

DVAR TORAH IN UNDER A MINUTE! THE UNDERDOG STORY- THE JEW


The different types of animals that were commandment for korbanot-sacrifice- were:
1.     The ox
2.     The sheep
3.     The goat
Of the 10 kosher animals, these 3 were chosen because Hashem did not want the Jews to extend extra effort and go hunting in the wilderness to capture animals to sacrifice, rather, He wanted the Jews to have animals that were always accessible to them; hence, these 3 listed animals are all domesticated animals that are raised in one’s stables.
            Interestingly enough, the 3 animals Hashem commanded us to use as sacrifices are animals that are prayed on by other animals: the ox is prayed by the lion, the sheep is prayed by the wolf, and the goat is attacked by the panther. From this, Hashem is portraying that He sides with the underdog, not the attacker.

IT’S A BIRD!


There were also two different type of bird offerings eligible for sacrificing:
1.     Mature turtledoves
2.     Young doves
These two birds are also prayed on by other animals, Hashem is showing us again how He sides and favors the victim and not the attacker.
Moreover, why are only mature turtledoves and young doves permitted for sacrifice?
When a turtle dove matures, and the female mate’s die, she stays loyal to her lost mate and never connects with another bird again. This is parallel to Bnai Israel who stays loyal and committed to Hashem no matter the circumstances. Moreover, mature doves are not kosher sacrifices because they become extremely overprotective of their mates and instigate needless contention.

DID YOU KNOW?


There are only certain animals that are permitted to be given as sacrifices, only certain birds and animals; however, fish are not allowed to be sacrificed, why? Anatomically, birds and mammals resemble humans more than fish do. Fish have an entirely different anatomy; therefore, the same heartfelt emotions are not evoked when sacrificing a fish, so to, it cannot be used.

Who is eligible?

 Who is eligible to make a sacrifice?
1.     Every single Jew is eligible, man or woman.
2.     Jews who are lax on their Torah observances, the idea behind this is that if they come to bring a sacrifice and do teshuva, that will evoke psychological responses in them to want to fix their ways and live a more Torah enriched life.
3.     Someone who desecrates Shabbot publically is not permitted to bring a sacrifice.
4.     A non-Jew may bring a burnt offering. If he brings a sacrifice to Hashem, this may eventually pull him away from his other false beliefs and accept Hashem’s rule; thereby, leading him to fulfill the 7-Noahide laws- the 7 laws mandatory for non-Jews to follow.
Essentially, we can see that no matter the status of the giver, Hashem is open to creating a relationship with whoever sincerely wants one.

QUALITY VS QUANTITY

If a person wants to give a korban, he can give according to his financial circumstances. If he is financially comfortable, he can give any of the animals. However, if he wants to give a korban and giving an animal sacrifice is too much of a financial burden, he is permitted to give a mincha-offering consisting of flour. In Hashem’s eyes, the donation of the poor man is considered just as precious as the rich man’s ox. From this we can see how Hashem appreciates all that we give of our selves to Him, as long as the intention is from our heart, that is all that matters. Hashem derives satisfaction from the offerings we give Him, not based on the quantity, but based on the quality and the motives one has behind it. This should give us all the inspiration to give whatever we can to Hashem, big or small, the intention in our heart is what qualifies the deed as big or small, not the quantity.