Sefer Vayikra deals with the laws of
korbanos and those who are obligated to bring them. As we don’t have the
Mishkan or the Beis Hamikdash today, these halachos seem irrelevant and
unnecessary for us to study. Why then do we continue to read these parshiyos
and why do so many people spend so much time studying and reviewing these
halachos? Perhaps if we understood better the reason for korbanos we could
understand why these laws are still studied.
The obvious question about korbanos is how
does slaughtering an animal and burning it on the mizbe’ach help us? It’s not
as if Hashem eats it, He doesn’t need food to “survive”. So why do we bring
them? The Rosh explains that this is another example of how Hashem brings the
cure before the disease hits. As it says in Koheles, “אין צדיק בארץ אשר
יעשה טוב ולא יחטא” “There is
no righteous person in the land who does only good and does not sin” (Koheles
7:20). At some point or other in their life, a person will sin. And regardless
of that person’s spiritual standing and the size of the sin they commit, their
soul will be “damaged” in some way. If there were no way of repenting and
erasing the record of that sin, a person would have no reason not to continue
sinning since there would be no way to get back to a higher state.
Hashem gave us this
incredible gift of Teshuvah that allows us to cast off our sins and start again
as if nothing happened. A parable is given that it’s like when a person gets a
stain on their clothing. If there were no way of getting the stain out, the
person would either throw out the garment or continue to get it dirty since it
wouldn’t matter anyway to keep it clean. However, when a person has the ability
to clean the garment, they will continue to watch over it so it does not get
any harder to clean.
This is the purpose of
korbanos. Korbanos are the tool we use to personify our repentance; in place of
sacrificing ourselves for our sins, we use animals instead. The exact reasons
for and the background behind our method of korbanos and why this exact way is
the way we do it is something we will discuss at a different time. (Perhaps onour Nation’s Wisdom blog.) The important thing to know is that we don’t bring
korbanos for Hashem at all! They are for us, acting as our “cure” before the
disease of sin.
Perhaps now we can offer an answer for our
original question, why do we spend so much time studying korbanos, a subject that
is not even applicable today? First off all, it is important to note that any
subject of Torah is important and warrants study in of itself simply because it
comes from Hashem. A thorough study shows how even seemingly the most inapplicable
topics contain knowledge that is important to know and help shape halacha even
in modern times.
The second answer is
that we hope and pray that soon these halachos will be applicable once again.
When Mashiach comes and the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt, we will start bringing
korbanos immediately, and what will we do if no one knows what to do!
Therefore, we study these laws in anticipation of this day when the amazing
opportunities of korbanos are again pertinent.
Shabbat Shalom!
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