And He called to Moshe

(Leviticus 1:1)

Nisan 4, 5777/March 31, 2017

"Vayikra el Moshe - And He called to Moses" - this is how the book of Leviticus opens. Who called to Moshe, and where? This we learn as the verse continues, "and HaShem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying... " Twice before G-d prefaced His words to Moshe with a call for his attention. Once was at the burning bush, and once was after Israel had encamped at Sinai. Wanting to inform Moshe as to what was about to occur, G-d called him and invited him to ascend the Mount so that he could coordinate with Moshe what would happen next. Each of these three "vayikra" moments preceded what would be life-changing paradigm shifts for Israel and for the world at large. Each time G-d first consulted, one-to-one, with Moshe.

Perhaps the best way to translate "Vayikra - And He called" is, "open your heart in the deepest way." Or perhaps, even more precisely, especially in our case, G-d is calling to Moshe, "Let us both open up our hearts in the deepest way!" When the book of Exodus concluded with the completion of the Tabernacle we are told that "Moshe could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested upon it and the glory of HaShem filled the Mishkan." (Exodus 40:35) And now, as Leviticus begins, G-d is inviting Moshe to join Him in the Tabernacle. So G-d is, in effect, saying to Moshe, "I will make space for you, if you will make space for Me."

G-d's desire, and His reason for creating, was for His presence to be able to dwell within His creation, not as an occupying power and not as a colonial force, but as an invited, welcomed guest among His beloved people. The point of origin for this mutual existence is the Tabernacle/Holy Temple, where He has created, with man's help, a time and a place both vast enough and small enough for finite man to experience a direct and intimate encounter with infinite G-d.

But just how will this interface take place? The answer is in G-d's words to Moshe which follow His "Vayikra - open your heart in the deepest way" introduction: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man from among you brings an offering to HaShem; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall bring your offering." (Leviticus 1:2) We need to understand three Hebrew words which appear in G-d's message to Moshe in order to begin to gain an insight and understanding into how this process works.

Korban, the Hebrew word translated at offering, means literally, to come closer. The entire purpose of the korban offering is to draw closer to G-d. The "man among you" is Adam. Most commonly the Hebrew word ish is used to designate "man," but in this specific case G-d uses the word Adam, a clear reference to Adam, the first man. The third Hebrew word is behemah, which means animal. These are the same behemot (plural form) which G-d paraded before Adam in Eden to distinguish Adam from the animals and to teach Adam that he was created on a higher level than the animals. So how do these three elements all add up a to a process in which man can draw closer to G-d? By offering an animal on G-d's altar, man is immolating his own lower impulses and thereby raising his Divine essence before G-d, enabling him to draw closer to G-d. This is how man fulfills G-d's message to Moshe, "I will make space for you, if you will make space for Me." By ridding himself of those things that can crowd G-d out of his life, man creates a space for G-d to fill. And how does G-d reciprocate?

When Adam denied G-d's will and ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, he was telling G-d, in essence, "You go Your way, and I'll go mine." G-d was left with no choice, as it were, but to expel Adam from Eden, and by doing so, to remove man from the direct and permanent encounter with G-d's presence that Adam had enjoyed up to that point. Man will have his place and G-d will have His.

But G-d was never content with man's "You go Your way, and I'll go mine" proposition. And that is the reason for the Tabernacle and that is the reason for the korbanot offerings. It is hard for us to wrap our heads around this process today. We 'get' the concept of the Tabernacle as a meeting place, but we are challenged to 'get' the process of the korbanot offerings. G-d created a hierarchy of creation and man is at the top. Beneath man are the animals but they are no less essential to creation than man and they have their own unique part to play in the constant completion and perfection of creation that is effected every day in the service of the Holy Temple. Today we must relearn to regard the animals not merely as stunning examples of G-d's creative abilities, or merely as a source of protein for our physical sustenance, but as creatures endowed by G-d with a living energy and purpose of their own which can ultimately be fulfilled in the process of the Temple offerings.

Our sages teach us that when G-d called to Moshe at the beginning of Leviticus He spoke in a whisper that only Moshe could hear. But G-d is really calling on all man to draw near and hearken unto His quiet but enduring message to open our hearts in the deepest way, to venture from the safety of our existential loneliness and to lift ourselves up and closer to His presence, by bringing from the animals an offering to HaShem.

-The Temple Institute