A Moral Ritual - Rabbi Mira Raz

In Parashat Tzav, the Priests (Cohanim) receive the detailed Torah teachings about sacrifice. The opening verse begins: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying…"

This is followed by detailed instructions according to the different categories with an opening that repeats itself: "This is the law of the burnt-offering… And this is the law of the meal-offering… This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to the LORD on the day when he is anointed… This is the law of the sin-offering… And this is the law of the guilt-offering… And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings…" 

As a reminder , this is referring to the slaughtering of animals (kosher, of course), and about a very precise ceremony for burning them.  The Cohanim and the person who brought the sacrifice usually eat a portion of the offering.  The Torah describes in great detail who eats what. There is also a grain offering.

All of this is in order to acknowledge sins as well as to thank God with what is called a "thanksgiving offering". 

And still, our Temple was destroyed not only once but twice.

The prophets predicted the destruction and notified the people in the name of God that the moral corruption, i.e., the non fulfillment of the commandments regarding interpersonal relationships between people will bring destruction despite the fulfillment of the religious rituals, the commandments between people and God.

When people were accustomed to bringing sacrifices, they sometimes brought a sacrifices that did not achieve  its purpose.  When human beings did not get closer to God by bringing sacrifices and were not concerned with social justice and Tikun Olam (repairing the world), it is as if God said: Enough is enough! Enough with the hypocrisy, enough with the game of sacrifices! Now you will have to worship me the way I wanted you to from the beginning:

"To love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 11:13).

The prophet Samuel's words also express this message: 

"And Samuel said: 'Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in hearkening to the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (Samuel1:15:22)

The prophet Hosea also brings God’s request:

"For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings." (Hosea 6:6).

 

And in Psalms (51), the chapter that begins with, "For the Leader. A Psalm of David; When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-Sheba," King David admits to the terrible crime of  killing Uriah the Hittite in order to take his wife, Batsheva, and says:

"3 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your mercy; according to the multitude of Your compassions blot out my transgressions.

4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

5 For I know my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

12 Create me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

13 Cast me not away from Your presence; and take not Your holy spirit from me.

18 For You delight not in sacrifice, else would I give it; You have no pleasure in burnt-offering.

19 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; {N}

a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."

This is why we can not narrow the definition of who is religious to only include those who practice the ritual commandments between man and God. The fulfillment of the ethical commandments, especially with the faith that by doing this we became Gods partners in Tikun Olam, the repairing of God’s and our world-- there is nothing more religious than that.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim from Pshischa (1765-1827) said a wonderful thing about the essence of the "law of the burnt-offering" (Torat Haolah) commandment. He reminds us of Raba’s teaching in the Gemara, Minchot tractate (page 110:61):  “Anybody who learns Torah does not need to bring a burnt offering, or a meal offering, or a sin offering, or a guilt offering.”  He added that the meaning of the words "Command Aaron and his sons saying" is to tell the children of Israel: "This is the law of the burnt-offering"-- it is better to learn the law then to practice it. 

In our contemporary language I would say that spiritual study raises people to such a level of closeness to God that the killing of animals as a form of worshipping God seems to be  Hilul Hashem, a desecration of God. 

With God's help, we will reach a world where there is no bloodshed, not in wars and not in the Temple and not even for food.

Amen, may it be so.

Shabbat Shalom

 

 

THe Amalek Inside Us - Rabbi Ehud Bandel

 

 I heard this story from a Holocaust survivor who works as a guide in the Holocaust Museum of Melbourne in Australia, where I was a community rabbi for the past five years. One day a rough looking group of students came to the museum.  Many of them had dyed hair in a variety of colors, black leather jackets, metal chains, nose rings and piercings all over. ,In short, it was a group of young people that caused the staff of the museum to feel anxious. After participating in the tour, watching the documentary and speaking withthe guide, the students reached the exit and one of them bumped into a big glass jar with hundreds of different buttons in it. It was a 4th grade children's proje  to the museum.  Many of them had dyed hair in a variety of colors, black leather jackets, metal chains, nose rings and piercings all over. ,In short, it was a group of young people that caused the staff of the museum to feel anxious. After participating in the tour, watching the documentary and speaking with the guide, the students reached the exit and one of them bumped into a big glass jar with hundreds of different buttons in it. It was a 4th grade children's project from one of the Jewish schools in the city.  The children wanted to collect as many buttons as possible in order to perpetuate the memory of the one and a half million Jewish children who were murdered in the Holocaust. They chose buttons because they come in different shapes, colors, and sizes, illustrating the uniqueness of each child. One of the roughest looking students asked, "What is this?". After the explanation, he asked for a pair of scissors. With some concern the guide gave him the scissors. The boy took them and proceeded to cut off the buttons from his jacket.  He passed the scissors to his friends and  one after the other they cut off their buttons and gave them to the guide to add to the jar. All the staff were very moved and concluded that no one can be judged based on appearance.

This Shabbat, the Shabbat before Purim, is called "Shabbat Zachor" (remember!) and on it  we read in the Maftir from Deuteronomy, "Remember what Amalek did to you."  We are ordered to blot out the memory of Amalek, the prototype of the anti-Semite who hates the people of Israel and is an ancestor of Haman. Who is Amalek? Where did he come from? According the Biblical genealogy, Amalek was the grandson of Esau, Jacob's brother. In Genesis 36:12 we read about Elipaz, the son of Esau and his mistress Timna, who gave birth to his son Amalek. The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 99:62), in trying to understand how Amalek was born, tells a very touching story. Timna was a princess, a daughter of kings, and she wanted to convert to Judaism.   When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not accept her she became the mistress of Elipaz.  She reasoned: it is preferable to be a mistress to this nation then a lady of another nation. The Talmud asks: why did she give birth to the one who bothered the people of Israel? The answer is that she should not have been turned away.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob should have accepted her. According to this story, by rejecting Timna without really knowing her we brought the Amalek disaster upon ourselves. 

We, of the generation born after the Holocaust, have the burden of the special commandment "Zachor"-- remember! Remember what Amalek and all those who followed in his evil footsteps did to you. Remember and do not forget, so that it will never be repeated.  But the commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek is not directed towards a specific nation or group of people, because according to tradition Sennacherib already mixed all of the nations together. What we are commanded to blot out are the attributes of Amalekite character – the hatred of strangers, racism, extreme separatism and nationalism. Hasidic thought transferred the focus of this commandment to the "Amalek which is inside us". Rabbi Levi Isaac from Berdichev said that every Jew has to blot out the evil part of his heart that is called Amalek.  Amalek is the root of hatred, social alienation and rejection. It’s correction will come only from love and genuine acceptance of all who were created in the image of God.

Shabbat Shalom