Adar II 8, 5776/March 18, 2016
It begins with a barely audible voice and then launches into a detailed manual ostensibly relevant only to the Temple priests who will be handed the responsibility for conducting the service being described. What is Sefer Vayikra - the Book of Leviticus - all about, and who is it speaking to?
"Vayikra - and He called - el Moshe - to Moshe" - the opening words of the book of Leviticus, is the heart and soul, the life breath and spirit of the world of the korbanot - the Temple offerings - that Leviticus goes on to describe. The book of Exodus concluded with the establishment of the Tabernacle. G-d's presence - His "glory" as it is called in Exodus - fills the Tabernacle and Moshe cannot enter: Israel has created a sanctified space for G-d in the world, as He commanded them, and now it is G-d's turn to create within this sacred space a place for man to enter. "Vayikra - and He called" - is G-d doing just that. His name is not referred to, signifying a withdrawing of His presence in the Tabernacle - just a bit - to create a space for man, for Moshe. This newly created opening for man to get back in to the Tabernacle is further embellished by the unique way in which the word vayikra is written in the Torah scroll: the final letter of the word -alef - is written smaller than the other letters. The alef, which symbolizes the ani - Hebrew for me - the ego, the I Me Mine of the self, is diminished. G-d is calling to Moshe, saying, "You let Me be in your sacred space, now I will let you be in Mine." And thus the world of the Tabernacle, which would become the Holy Temple, begins. A place for man and G-d .
But it is more than just a space that G-d is creating here. G-d is teaching Moshe, and all humanity who bothers to draw near enough to hear G-d's silent voice, the language of the korbanot, translated simply as 'offerings,' but literally meaning, the 'coming closers.'The description of the korbanot which follows is merely the technical grammar of this new language. The language of the korbanot is wordless, non-verbal. The act of drawing closer to G-d involves a language that cannot be described in words, and that need not be described in words. It is a language of experiencing, an alchemy of being one thing one moment and then something so much finer the next. To be sure, there is much volume to be heard in the Holy Temple. The silent internal choreography of the korbanotis accompanied by a sound track that includes the lowing of the cows, the baaing of the lambs and the bleating of the goats. It is a soundscape that includes the many-pieced orchestral accompaniment of the Levites and their pure song of the holy psalms which can be heard over the roar of the altar fire. But all that is a white noise, a beautiful, holy sound tapestry that blocks out the noise and din of the outside world, enabling the true silent man- G-d dialogue to unfold undisturbed by the ego-dross that mars our daily lives rendering us deaf to G-d's never-ending silent call to draw near to Him.
The silent language of the korbanot, which is spoken via the release and return of the G-d given life force of the offering itself back to its Creator, and via the physical and spiritual preparations made to perform this act and speak this language properly so that it truly is spoken from the heart, is able to express joy and sadness, contrition and repentance, gratitude and thankfulness, humility and surrender, as each type of offering described in Leviticus reveals a different facet in the life experience of man, a different non-verbal means to convey man's desire to be near to G-d for all of life's moments, the highs and the lows, the moments of pain and loss and the moments of sublime grandeur and exaltation.
Today, in lieu of korbanot, we perform a daily service of prayer to HaShem. There is nothing more beautifully expressive of our hopes and fears, our dreams and aspirations, our tireless ability to pick ourselves up and our endless longing for closeness to G-d , than prayer... with the exception of the korbanot, which is what "Vayikra - and G-dcalled" - has come to tell us. When G-d spoke to Israel at Sinai, He needed to shout from the mountaintop, as it were, to make His voice heard. This was man's world, and G-d was still a stranger in the very world He created. But when Israel built the Tabernacle and created a place for G-d's presence to be overwhelmingly manifest in man's world, G-d no longer needed to shout to be heard. Nor does man. The modern day revival of the ancient spoken Hebrew language, the language of the Torah, the language of the prophets, which for long centuries had been confined to scholarly books and weighty tomes, is rightfully considered to be a miraculous expression of the prophetic ingathering of Israel, her return to her land, her liberty and her place in history. The resuscitation of the beyond-verbal and above-audible language of the korbanot - the Divine service of the Holy Temple - will return Israel and all humanity to a place where G-d calls out and man draws near, a "house of prayer for all nations" where each nation speaks the language of korbanot, universally understood by G-d and man.
-The Temple Institute
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