March 27th: Vayikra
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Most years, there is less than a lot of excitement as we start Leviticus, the book of the Torah that has very little narrative and lots and lots of ritual instructions. This is the book where the many rules for the Levitical Priesthood are recorded—so much so that some scholars think that it was originally a handbook for the priests and not intended for a general readership. Then, when the Temple was destroyed (70 CE) and the priesthood stopped functioning, it became increasingly irrelevant except on the metaphorical level—where generations of Sages looked in its ritual instructions for images and principles that they could apply to their lives.
The strange thing is that, in this year of our own particular challenges, there is a kind of ironic convergence of Jewish themes. Due to the current need for social distancing, we have to adapt our sense of communal Judaism, doing things virtually. Back in the days of the Second Temple (500 BCE – 70 CE), there was also a move to virtual worship, and it was called the synagogue.
We start with the sacrificial service as described in Leviticus: “When any of you bring an offering to the Lord…from the herd, you shall bring a young bull without blemish to the door of the tent of meeting that it may be accepted before the Lord…You shall kill it before the Lord, and Aaron’s songs, the priests, shall present the blood, and dash the blood round about against the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. And you shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar and lay wood upon the fire. And Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces and the head and the suet upon the altar…” (Leviticus 1.2-8)
We do not know why the ancient thought that God wanted sacrifices of meat—and grain, oil, and wine, but a clue comes in the story of Noah and the Flood. When Noah leaves the Ark, he offered animals to God: “And Noah built an altar to the Lord and took one of each of the clean beasts and clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled the sweet savour…” (Genesis7.20-21). God apparently likes the smell of roasting meat. (For more on this ancient belief, look up the story of Utnapishtim in the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, where the gods actually get sustenance from the smoke of roasting meat.)
As I understand it, the ancients thought that cooking the meat would attract God—Who would then be present for prayer. In other words, the sacrificial meal was not the prayer; it set up the context for the prayer. It was also a way of honoring God and celebrating along with God and the God’s priests (who got some of the meat for their own sustenance).
There seems to have been a time when people had sacrificial meals in their own areas or in places other than the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. However, there was a drive for centralizing worship in the Temple—mentioned in many of the Prophets, and this centralization seems to have been the case in the Second Temple Period (500 BCE - 70 CE). Jerusalem’s Temple was the only place sacrificial worship could be conducted. The tradition was for everyone to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year—for Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot—and worship at the Temple.
The problem was that some people in the outlying parts of the Land of Israel wanted to worship on a more regular basis—daily or weekly. It was part of their piety and devotion to God. However, since sacrificial worship was only allowed in Jerusalem, an institution developed to for worship in the hinterland. We do not know the exact origins, but by around 200 BCE, there were houses of study and worship—called synagogues— in many villages where worship services were conducted at the same time as the Temple sacrifices. These dawn and afternoon worship services were structured similarly to the Temple worship except for the actual offering of animals. Psalms were recited to get worshippers in a spiritual mood. The main attributes of God were recited (God as Creator, Revealer of Wisdom, and Savior). The distant sacrifice in Jerusalem was acknowledged. And, more psalms and prayers were recited to complete the worship experience. It was, to use modern language, a virtual sacrificial worship experience.
The local synagogues were the central institutions of the newly forming Pharisaic/Rabbinic Judaism, and they turned out to be lifesaving for Judaism when the Romans destroyed the Temple, Jerusalem, and the Priesthood in 70 CE. The rules about not sacrificing anywhere other than the Temple were so emphatic, and there was no possibility of rebuilding the Temple. So, what was Judaism to do? The Rabbis consulted the Bible and noted a number of passages in which both Prophet and Psalmist dismiss the necessity for animal sacrifices. They were not necessarily arguing against the sacrificial system but rather speaking of its goal: piety and morality before God. God does not need the meat or the blood or even the smoke. What God needs is sincerity and piety and morality and attention. And, since those could be achieved in the synagogue environment, the Rabbis decided that, until the Temple and the sacrificial system could be re-established, the synagogue service would be the temporary substitution.
And so it has been for close to 2000 years. Our service replicates the service in the ancient Temple. Psalms and other prayers set the spiritual mood. We declare our belief in God (the Shema) and describe the essential characteristics in our relationship with God (Creator, Revealer of Wisdom, and Savior). We have an extended prayer that takes the place of the sacrifice (Amidah). And, we conclude our worship with more prayers and songs. Of course, over the years, new prayers have been added, but the essential structure is there—and it all comes from the Rabbis’ desire to participate virtually in Temple service.
We’ll be having Virtual Shabbat again this Friday at 7:00 PM. Just go to our congregational website: britshalomstatecollege.org. At the bottom right of the home page, there is a box to click for Virtual Shabbat. You’ll also notice a place to get our prayer booklet in PDF form—either to print or to read from a tablet/computer.
Last week, over fifty people worshipped together. We hope you will join us for both holiness and health!