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(א) וַיִּקְרָ֖א אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהֹוָה֙ אֵלָ֔יו מֵאֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ב) דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם אָדָ֗ם כִּֽי־יַקְרִ֥יב מִכֶּ֛ם קׇרְבָּ֖ן לַֽיהֹוָ֑ה מִן־הַבְּהֵמָ֗ה מִן־הַבָּקָר֙ וּמִן־הַצֹּ֔אן תַּקְרִ֖יבוּ אֶת־קׇרְבַּנְכֶֽם׃ (ג) אִם־עֹלָ֤ה קׇרְבָּנוֹ֙ מִן־הַבָּקָ֔ר זָכָ֥ר תָּמִ֖ים יַקְרִיבֶ֑נּוּ אֶל־פֶּ֜תַח אֹ֤הֶל מוֹעֵד֙ יַקְרִ֣יב אֹת֔וֹ לִרְצֹנ֖וֹ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ (ד) וְסָמַ֣ךְ יָד֔וֹ עַ֖ל רֹ֣אשׁ הָעֹלָ֑ה וְנִרְצָ֥ה ל֖וֹ לְכַפֵּ֥ר עָלָֽיו׃ (ה) וְשָׁחַ֛ט אֶת־בֶּ֥ן הַבָּקָ֖ר לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְ֠הִקְרִ֠יבוּ בְּנֵ֨י אַהֲרֹ֤ן הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ אֶת־הַדָּ֔ם וְזָרְק֨וּ אֶת־הַדָּ֤ם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ סָבִ֔יב אֲשֶׁר־פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃ (ו) וְהִפְשִׁ֖יט אֶת־הָעֹלָ֑ה וְנִתַּ֥ח אֹתָ֖הּ לִנְתָחֶֽיהָ׃ (ז) וְ֠נָתְנ֠וּ בְּנֵ֨י אַהֲרֹ֧ן הַכֹּהֵ֛ן אֵ֖שׁ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חַ וְעָרְכ֥וּ עֵצִ֖ים עַל־הָאֵֽשׁ׃ (ח) וְעָרְכ֗וּ בְּנֵ֤י אַהֲרֹן֙ הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים אֵ֚ת הַנְּתָחִ֔ים אֶת־הָרֹ֖אשׁ וְאֶת־הַפָּ֑דֶר עַל־הָעֵצִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־הָאֵ֔שׁ אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ (ט) וְקִרְבּ֥וֹ וּכְרָעָ֖יו יִרְחַ֣ץ בַּמָּ֑יִם וְהִקְטִ֨יר הַכֹּהֵ֤ן אֶת־הַכֹּל֙ הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חָה עֹלָ֛ה אִשֵּׁ֥ה רֵֽיחַ־נִיח֖וֹחַ לַֽיהֹוָֽה׃
(1) יהוה called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them: When any of you presents an offering of cattle to יהוה: You shall choose your offering from the herd or from the flock. (3) If your offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you shall make your offering a male without blemish. You shall bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, for acceptance in your behalf before יהוה. (4) You shall lay a hand upon the head of the burnt offering, that it may be acceptable in your behalf, in expiation for you. (5) The bull shall be slaughtered before יהוה; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (6) The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into sections. (7) The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay out wood upon the fire; (8) and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay out the sections, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar. (9) Its entrails and legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to יהוה. (10)
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
The contents of Leviticus are diverse but unified by the theme of holiness.
The universe is the space God makes for man. The holy is the space man makes for God.
Sinai. In Exodus, the universe—the land, waters, and sky—is in disarray. Following that, Leviticus is concerned with orderliness, arrangement.
Genesis 1 and Leviticus are closely intertwined, since the project of dividing and separating is at least as crucial to the latter as it is to the former. As Robert Alter writes, “There is a single verb that focuses the major themes of Leviticus—‘divide’ (hivdil)” (what I have been rendering, following NJPS, as “separate”)...There seems to be an element of “walking in God’s ways” here: Just as God has separated and ordered, so Israel must engage in separation and ordering.
With the book of Leviticus, we return to the heart of the Torah, to remarkable passages that translate the lofty values of Sinai into the concrete practices of everyday life, passages that instruct how to infuse the most mundane of deeds with the glow of sanctity and how to invest every moment of our day with the intimacy of God's presence.
The modern temper tends to discount prescribed ritual in favor of spontaneous religious expression. Yet something in the human soul responds to ritual...There is something comforting about the familiar, the recognizable, the predictable. There is something deeply moving about performing a rite that is older than we are...at crucial times, it is important for us to know that we are 'doing it right.' There is power in the knowledge that we are doing what generations of people before us have done in similar situations, something that other people in other places are doing at the same time and in the same way. And rituals, including prescribed prayers, tell us what to do and say at times when we cannot rely on our own powers of inspirtation to know what to do or say.
When Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, saw that the Jewish people were threatened by tragedy, he would go to a particular place in the forest where he lit a fire, recited a particular prayer, and asked for a miracle to save the Jews from the threat. Because of the Holy Fire and faithfulness of the prayer, the miracle was accomplished, averting the tragedy. Later, when the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, the Maggid of Mezrich, had to intervene with heaven for the same reason, he went to the same place in the forest where he told the Master of the Universe that while he did not know how to light the fire, he could still recite the prayer, and again, the miracle was accomplished. Later still, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov, in turn a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich, went into the forest to save his people. “I do not know how to light the fire,” he pleaded with God, “and I do not know the prayer, but I can find the place and this must be sufficient.” Once again, the miracle was accomplished. When it was the turn of Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn, the great grandson of the Maggid of Mezrichwho, who was named after the Baal Shem Tov, to avert the threat, he sat in his armchair, holding his head in his hands, and said to God: “I am unable to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, and I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is to tell the story. That must be enough.”
Genesis can be read as the descent of the soul...Exodus then shows us the path of liberation, the awakening of the soul to its true essence...through the Mishkan we learn that our Freedom depends on our connection to God and our willingness to make a holy space within us and between us for God to dwell. How can we sustain this connection, this state of holy freedom? This is the question addressed by the book of Leviticus. So often the complications of life seem to draw us away from the perspective of holiness. We become alienated, distracted, complacent, blind to what is essential; deaf to the music at the core of silence; numb to the mystery that dwells at the heart of this life. Our daily struggles often close us off...The blessing of Vayikra is the call to come into harmony, balance, connection and intimacy with the God who has freed us for this love...and not only to return, but to establish for ourselves a system of continual returning.
After the Israelites worshiped the Golden Calf, however, God recognized the inability of people to deal with a totally abstract notion of the divine and at that point ordained the details of the sacrificial system. Just as God does not need our prayers although we need to pray, God does not need our sacrifices although we need to offer them to feel God's nearness.
What constitutes “the right spirit” in which to draw near to God? The rabbis called prayer the service of the heart, and it should come from the heart, from the innermost part of ourselves. Like the offerings made in the Mishkan and the offerings made at the Temple in Jerusalem, it should be a gift to God, given out of a sense of love, of free will, or given as an act of teshuvah, of repentance and returning, turning to God. And it should be the best of ourselves that we can bring.
The priest takes the fire of God, the high drama of sacrificial love, and awe of the Divine Presence – life-changing experiences – and turns them into daily rituals so that they become not rare, exceptional events but routines that shape the character of a nation and transform individual lives. Looked at one way, the priest takes poetry and turns it into prose. Looked at from another perspective, knowing how thin is the veneer of civilisation and how dark the undercurrents of the unconscious mind, the priest takes prose and etches it with poetry. Every day is an encounter with the Divine.
The Mishkan does not merely represent forgiveness; it becomes a therapeutic device for healing the national disorder that is called the Golden Calf. Beginning with the inventory for its building, we find the recurrent theme: “Let the gold of the Mishkan atone for the gold they brought toward the making of the Golden Calf.” The work with the materials of the Mishkan homeopathically counteracts that sin. The image becomes medicalized in some texts: Bezalel, for instance, as the chief craftsman, is credited both as a goldsmith and as a divinely inspired medical student who “applies a plaster to the wound.”[4] God, as Bezalel’s teacher, prides Himself on His student’s uncanny knowledge, his da’at: “It was I who created and taught him!”
Rashi reads: “Now, I accede to your prayers not to destroy them. But always, always, when I make an accounting of their sins, then I will bring them to account for a little of this sin, together with their other sins. No punishment ever comes upon Israel that does not contain a little punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf.” This notion, that the effects of the sin, as well as its punishments, will be diffused over many generations, may imply a kind of suspension of the full gravity of the law. Or it may suggest that a residue of that failure will linger forever. It is somehow endemic in human nature, even if only in the quasi-scientific measure of an onki, an alchemically minute quantity of Calf-substance that ferments in all generations...Here, the Golden Calf is no mere episode. Its implications and effects have revealed something about human beings in the world. Rather than excising this pathology with the surgeon’s knife, God offers a possibility of living with it. This will mean bearing the brunt of the challenge it offers to wishful thinking. A sobering truth is also a revelation of a kind.
What happens to a person who has visited the mishkan—and by extension into our own time, who has imaginatively entered the mishkan through close study of Leviticus? Having partaken of, or merely glimpsed, the counterworld that the mishkan represents, a person is changed (at least when the practice “works”). After the glimpse he or she has been afforded, nothing looks quite the same anymore. He or she sees that another reality is possible, that the chaos and suffering he or she observes all around are not ultimately all there is.
2. when any of you presents and offering. The word for 'offering' (korban) comes from the Hebrew root [kaf/resh/bet], meaning 'to bring close' or 'to come close.' When we give a gift to someone we feel close to, we feel even closer after having given the gift. The korban both reflects and reinforces the Israelite's bond to God. The point of the sacrifice is not to feed or to bribe God but to come close to God....3. The olah [burnt offering] is purely a gift to God, with no specific benefit to the donor anticipated, except the satisfaction of having brought the offering to God. Whether brought out of a sense of reverence or out of a sense of guilt, it expresses the idea that everything we have comes from God, given to us only on loan. It is called olah (from the root 'to go up,' as in aliyah), not only because it goes upu in smoke but because it elevates the soul of the person who performs this act of generosity.
In a similar vein, another midrash minimizes the forty days that officially separate the two moments of Revelation and the Golden Calf. A mere forty days becomes in this challenging midrash: “Not even one day were they with God; [after that] they were [already] calculating how to make the Calf!” The inability to be with God is worked out by gradually whittling away at the numbers, from forty to “not even one day.” Like one who departs on a journey and without any delay at all goes off on the wrong track: “R. Meir said: They stood at Sinai and said with their mouth, We shall do and we shall hear, while their hearts were turned, attuned (mechuvan) to idolatry: ‘They seduced Him with their mouth…but their heart was not steadfast (nachon) with Him’ (Ps. 78:36–37).” Focusing on the core utterance of commitment to God, “Na’aseh ve-nishma—We shall do and we shall hear!” R. Meir declares that this was a moment of “seduction”; heart and mouth are at odds, inner experience pulling away from language. Or, more strongly, language being used by the wayward in order to beguile God. ...Effectively, it undermines the one good moment in a history of backslidings and rebellions. In general, midrashic literature builds on this moment to spell out the people’s commitment to doing even before hearing; to fulfilling the commandments even before trying to understand them. “We shall do and we shall hear” has become the blazon of Israel’s true faith. Here, strangely, na’aseh ve-nishma becomes mere lip service. So powerful is the people’s inner resistance to the Revelation that, even as they mouth the words of faith, they are already creating the Golden Calf.
Without the acute experience of inertia, without the Calf, would the Mishkan ever have been built? Without the experience of “nothing happens,” would the force of God’s desire—“Let them make Me a Mishkan, and I will dwell in their midst”—ever have come alive in the mind and heart? “Sometimes, the annulling of Torah is its fulfillment” (Bitulah shel torah zeh hu kiyumah).[33] Words like “Exodus” and “Revelation” find their proof in the live possibility of God dwelling in one’s midst. Only after the Calf nullifies that aspiration does the desire for it become real.
One has, in a sense, engineered one’s own defeat. Something may soften and open. The Talmudic Sages have a powerful expression for this idea: “One does not understand (lit., stand upon) the words of Torah until one has stumbled over them.” The stumbling, the failure is the process by which Torah becomes real: inherent in the spiritual work of reading, studying, and living Torah is the experience of losing the ground under one’s feet. Remotely related to flinching, the metaphor of stumbling evokes both the burlesque and the tragic. There is the moment when human dignity is upended by the banana peel; there is also the graver moment of ruin, perhaps of irredeemable failure. In a kishalon, a stumble, a slippage, saving oneself in mid-fall is not always possible. The business has failed, bankruptcy is declared. It is from despair that standing, understanding arises. In our narrative of the Golden Calf, then, the disruption is the heart of the story. The Calf does not represent an episode followed by a return to the main plot. Rather, it remains for all generations to confront us with the inertia that was always inherent in the moments of highest aspiration. A slip, a jolt, a shock, a knowledge of failure, of not yet—the Tablets inscribed by the finger of God are shattered. Unthinking compassion is recognized as cruelty; moral stupidity gives birth to a keener vision. One’s neighbor is revealed in all her out-of-joint reality and is to be loved. In this movement, God is implicated: a new intimacy with God and neighbor is revealed. This secondary movement of the soul is the subject of the book of Leviticus. On one level, the original revelation contains the seeds of its own erosion. It is neutralized by the banality of the Calf. Out of this despair, the Mishkan emerges. The work of building the structure, creating the sacred objects, has a therapeutic effect. But only in Leviticus do we read of the crises that accompany the process by which the Mishkan, and therefore the people, deeply encounter the divine. Here, the need to wait, to live a life that is used by time, cannot be evaded. Fear and shame gather around the obsession that is the Golden Calf. These, too, must be lived through. In this book, I read Leviticus through the prism of midrashic narratives that connect the surface with the depths of this text. Following my original intuition that the Golden Calf pervades that space, I find, sometimes to my own surprise, how often the Calf, as the moment of slippage in human life, does make its appearance. As in dreams, the details of law and ritual turn out to be haunted by something repetitious, a sense of nameless loss; and by a secondary revelation of a different kind, which involves time and work and the birth of compassion.
3. without blemish. ...An afflicted broken soul, though, could bring an offering and might even be closer to God for having experienced pain and rejection. 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted' (Ps. 34:19). 'You will not despise / a contrite and crushed heart' (Ps. 51:19, cited in Lev. R. 7:2)
— an odour of ניחוח: one that causes satisfaction to Me by the knowledge that I gave commands and that My will was executed (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 6 10; Zevachim 46b).
(כ) וַיִּ֥בֶן נֹ֛חַ מִזְבֵּ֖חַ לַֽיהֹוָ֑ה וַיִּקַּ֞ח מִכֹּ֣ל ׀ הַבְּהֵמָ֣ה הַטְּהֹרָ֗ה וּמִכֹּל֙ הָע֣וֹף הַטָּה֔וֹר וַיַּ֥עַל עֹלֹ֖ת בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ (כא) וַיָּ֣רַח יְהֹוָה֮ אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹ֒חַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִ֠ף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֛וֹד לְהַכּ֥וֹת אֶת־כׇּל־חַ֖י כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִֽׂיתִי׃
(20) Then Noah built an altar to יהוה and, taking of every pure animal and of every pure bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. (21) יהוה smelled the pleasing odor, and יהוה resolved: “Never again will I doom the earth because of humankind, since the devisings of the human mind are evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.
The sacrifice is merely 'a sweet savour,' a foretaste of [the sinner's] future actions...every 'sweet savour' used in reference to the sacrifices implies that the offering should be for God as a foretaste of the good deeds which the worshipper is destined to perform...Consequently the sacrifice is regarded as a 'sweet savour to the Lord,' as a foretaste of the good deeds to come.
(א) וְנֶ֗פֶשׁ כִּֽי־תַקְרִ֞יב קׇרְבַּ֤ן מִנְחָה֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה סֹ֖לֶת יִהְיֶ֣ה קׇרְבָּנ֑וֹ וְיָצַ֤ק עָלֶ֙יהָ֙ שֶׁ֔מֶן וְנָתַ֥ן עָלֶ֖יהָ לְבֹנָֽה׃ (ב) וֶֽהֱבִיאָ֗הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹן֮ הַכֹּהֲנִים֒ וְקָמַ֨ץ מִשָּׁ֜ם מְלֹ֣א קֻמְצ֗וֹ מִסׇּלְתָּהּ֙ וּמִשַּׁמְנָ֔הּ עַ֖ל כׇּל־לְבֹנָתָ֑הּ וְהִקְטִ֨יר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אֶת־אַזְכָּרָתָהּ֙ הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חָה אִשֵּׁ֛ה רֵ֥יחַ נִיחֹ֖חַ לַיהֹוָֽה׃ (ג) וְהַנּוֹתֶ֙רֶת֙ מִן־הַמִּנְחָ֔ה לְאַהֲרֹ֖ן וּלְבָנָ֑יו קֹ֥דֶשׁ קׇֽדָשִׁ֖ים מֵאִשֵּׁ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ {ס}
(1) When a person [lit: 'soul'] presents an offering of meal to יהוה: The offering shall be of choice flour; the offerer shall pour oil upon it, lay frankincense on it, (2) and present it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priest shall scoop out of it a handful of its choice flour and oil, as well as all of its frankincense; and this token portion he shall turn into smoke on the altar, as an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to יהוה. (3) And the remainder of the meal offering shall be for Aaron and his sons, a most holy portion from יהוה’s offerings by fire.
Rabbi Yitzḥak says: For what reason is the meal offering different from other offerings in that the term “an individual [nefesh]” is stated with regard to it? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Whose practice is it to bring a meal offering? It is that of a poor individual; and I will ascribe him credit as if he offered up his soul [nafsho] in front of Me.
It was stated: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: The practice of praying three times daily is ancient, albeit not in its present form; prayers were instituted by the Patriarchs. However, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that the prayers were instituted based on the daily offerings sacrificed in the Holy Temple, and the prayers parallel the offerings, in terms of both time and characteristics...Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer, as it is stated: “And Isaac went out to converse [lasuaḥ] in the field toward evening” (Genesis 24:63), and conversation means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “A prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint [siḥo] before the Lord” (Psalms 102:1). Obviously, Isaac was the first to pray as evening approached, at the time of the afternoon prayer.
(א) וְאִם־זֶ֥בַח שְׁלָמִ֖ים קׇרְבָּנ֑וֹ אִ֤ם מִן־הַבָּקָר֙ ה֣וּא מַקְרִ֔יב אִם־זָכָר֙ אִם־נְקֵבָ֔ה תָּמִ֥ים יַקְרִיבֶ֖נּוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ (ב) וְסָמַ֤ךְ יָדוֹ֙ עַל־רֹ֣אשׁ קׇרְבָּנ֔וֹ וּשְׁחָט֕וֹ פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וְזָרְק֡וּ בְּנֵי֩ אַהֲרֹ֨ן הַכֹּהֲנִ֧ים אֶת־הַדָּ֛ם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ סָבִֽיב׃ (ג) וְהִקְרִיב֙ מִזֶּ֣בַח הַשְּׁלָמִ֔ים אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהֹוָ֑ה אֶת־הַחֵ֙לֶב֙ הַֽמְכַסֶּ֣ה אֶת־הַקֶּ֔רֶב וְאֵת֙ כׇּל־הַחֵ֔לֶב אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַקֶּֽרֶב׃ (ד) וְאֵת֙ שְׁתֵּ֣י הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת וְאֶת־הַחֵ֙לֶב֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עֲלֵהֶ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַכְּסָלִ֑ים וְאֶת־הַיֹּתֶ֙רֶת֙ עַל־הַכָּבֵ֔ד עַל־הַכְּלָי֖וֹת יְסִירֶֽנָּה׃ (ה) וְהִקְטִ֨ירוּ אֹת֤וֹ בְנֵֽי־אַהֲרֹן֙ הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חָה עַל־הָ֣עֹלָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עַל־הָעֵצִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־הָאֵ֑שׁ אִשֵּׁ֛ה רֵ֥יחַ נִיחֹ֖חַ לַֽיהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}
(1) If your offering is a sacrifice of well-being —If you offer of the herd, whether a male or a female, you shall bring before יהוה one without blemish. (2) You shall lay a hand upon the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash the blood against all sides of the altar. (3) Then present from the sacrifice of well-being, as an offering by fire to יהוה, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is about the entrails; (4) the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, that is at the loins; and the protuberance on the liver, which you shall remove with the kidneys. (5) Aaron’s sons shall turn these into smoke on the altar, with the burnt offering which is upon the wood that is on the fire, as an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to יהוה.
This category of offering was brought by a person who had something to celebrate...zevah sh'lamim is always an individual, never a communal, offering because the feelings of gratitude and well-being from which it flows are very personal. It is called sh'lamim (from shalem, 'whole,' and shalom, 'harmony'), because it is motivated not by guilt or obligation but by a sense of wholeness in the donor's life, a sense of being at peace with one's family, the priests of the Temple, and with God.
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (ב) דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ לֵאמֹר֒ נֶ֗פֶשׁ כִּֽי־תֶחֱטָ֤א בִשְׁגָגָה֙ מִכֹּל֙ מִצְוֺ֣ת יְהֹוָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֣א תֵעָשֶׂ֑ינָה וְעָשָׂ֕ה מֵאַחַ֖ת מֵהֵֽנָּה׃ (ג) אִ֣ם הַכֹּהֵ֧ן הַמָּשִׁ֛יחַ יֶחֱטָ֖א לְאַשְׁמַ֣ת הָעָ֑ם וְהִקְרִ֡יב עַ֣ל חַטָּאתוֹ֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר חָטָ֜א פַּ֣ר בֶּן־בָּקָ֥ר תָּמִ֛ים לַיהֹוָ֖ה לְחַטָּֽאת׃
(1) יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelite people thus: When a person unwittingly incurs guilt in regard to any of יהוה’s commandments about things not to be done, and does one of them— (3) If it is the anointed priest who has incurred guilt, so that blame falls upon the people, he shall offer for the sin of which he is guilty a bull of the herd without blemish as a sin offering to יהוה.
The hattat is brought for unintentional violations. Why must we atone for inadvertent sins? Perhaps because we were insufficiently attentive to what we were doing (Hirsch). Carelessness is no excuse for violating God's commandments. Inadvertent sins may reflect a lowering of our guard against temptation. There is a part of us that is inclined to be selfish, to take advantage of others. We must constantly be vigilant against such inclinations. Perhaps we must atone for inadvertent sins because the misdeed, though inadvertent, weighs on our conscience until we do something to atone for it. Because verbal regrets do not strike us as adequate, we must give up something to show our remorse.
...when a man sins, he cannot cleanse his heart merely by uttering, between himself and the wall, 'I have sinned and will never repeat it.' Only by doing an overt act to atone for his sin...only then, will he impress upon his soul, the extent of the evil of his sin, and will take measures to avoid it in the future.
The Sages taught: The verse states concerning a king: “When [asher] a king sins” (Leviticus 4:22). Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said: Happy [ashrei] is the generation whose king feels the need to bring an offering for his unwitting transgression. If the generation’s king brings an offering, you must say all the more so what a commoner will do to atone for his sin, i.e., he will certainly bring an offering. And if the king brings an offering for his unwitting transgression, you must say all the more so what he will do to atone for his intentional transgression, i.e., he will certainly repent.
(א) וְנֶ֣פֶשׁ כִּֽי־תֶחֱטָ֗א וְשָֽׁמְעָה֙ ק֣וֹל אָלָ֔ה וְה֣וּא עֵ֔ד א֥וֹ רָאָ֖ה א֣וֹ יָדָ֑ע אִם־ל֥וֹא יַגִּ֖יד וְנָשָׂ֥א עֲוֺנֽוֹ׃
(1) If a person incurs guilt—When one has heard a public imprecation but (although able to testify as having either seen or learned of the matter) has not given information and thus is subject to punishment;
We are held responsible not only for the wrong things we do but for the things we should do but do not do.
(7) But if one’s means do not suffice for a sheep, that person shall bring to יהוה, as the penalty for that of which one is guilty, two turtledoves or two pigeons—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering...(11) And if one’s means do not suffice for two turtledoves or two pigeons, that person shall bring as an offering for that of which one is guilty a tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering;
17. any of the Lord's commandments about things. not to be done. Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev read this text literally: 'one of the Lord's commandments which should not be done.' Based on this reading, he taught, 'sometimes it is possible to perform a mitzvah in such an improper manner that it would have been better not to do it at all.'
And Rabbi Levi says: Robbing an ordinary person is more severe than robbing the Most High, i.e., taking consecrated property. As with regard to this regular robber, the verse states “sin” before “me’ila”: “If any one sin, and commit a trespass [me’ila] against the Lord, and deal falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of pledge, or of robbery, or have oppressed his neighbor” (Leviticus 5:21).
Akiva taught that whenever two people enter an agreement, each is relying on the divine dimension of the other, the part of a person that is the image of God and knows what is right and what is wrong, making God a witness to every transaction. To betray that trust is to deny the divine image in ourselves, and to deny God's participation in our activities.
That comes from Sheba,
Or fragrant cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.
Obedience to God, rather than burnt offerings.
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obedience to the LORD’s command?
Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,
Compliance than the fat of rams.
I am not appeased by your solemn assemblies. (22) If you offer Me burnt offerings—or your meal offerings—
I will not accept them;
I will pay no heed
To your gifts of fatlings. (23) Spare Me the sound of your hymns,
And let Me not hear the music of your lutes. (24) But let justice well up like water,
Righteousness like an unfailing stream.
Do homage to God on high?
Shall I approach Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old? (7) Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
With myriads of streams of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for my sins?
(8) “He has told you, O man, what is good,
And what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk modestly with your God;-c
Says the LORD.
“I am sated with burnt offerings of rams,
And suet of fatlings,
And blood of bulls;
And I have no delight
In lambs and he-goats. (12) That you come to appear before Me—
Who asked that of you?
Trample My courts (13) no more;
Bringing oblations is futile,-c
Incense is offensive to Me.
New moon and sabbath,
Proclaiming of solemnities,
Assemblies with iniquity,-d
I cannot abide. (14) Your new moons and fixed seasons
Fill Me with loathing;
They are become a burden to Me,
I cannot endure them.