The majority of Sefer Vayikra discusses
the various halachos of korbanos, sacrifices, that we bring to Hashem. Of all
our customs, animal sacrifice might be one of the least understood since it’s
such a foreign idea to our modern mind. But even from ancient times, the more
we understand about Hashem, the fact that He has no needs, wants, or desires,
seems to back the idea that Korbanos are completely unnecessary. What is the
reason for our korbanos?
There is a famous machlokes between the
Rambam and the Ramban concerning this issue. For the purposes of this Dvar
Torah, I will be addressing it based on the Ramban found in Perek 1 Pasuk 9 in
this week’s parshah.
The Rambam explains that in the times
when Hashem was telling Moshe the laws of korbanos, the nations of the world that
had a connection to Bnei Yisrael worshipped some sort of animal; the Egyptians
worshipped the sheep and the Kasdim, who lived in the Middle East, worshipped
the goat. Additionally, the Indians worshipped the cow (and still do). Therefore,
Hashem commanded Bnei Yisrael to bring these three types of animals as
sacrifices to Him. Since they represented the sin of avoda zara committed by
the nations, Hashem wanted Bnei Yisrael to connect to Him, and have their own
sins forgiven, through the sacrifice of these animals.
The
Ramban asks four questions on this Rambam, we will only bring the first. There
is no mitzvah in the Torah that was given to us just in order to show the goyim
that they were wrong, so why would korbanos be this way? Therefore, the Ramban
explains that Hashem specifically set up
the practice of animal sacrifice in order to help us atone for aveiros, because
it corresponds to the instruments a person uses to sin.
A person sins with his thoughts, words,
and actions. Therefore, a person does an act of Vidui and leans on the
animal in order to atone for his actions. The recitation of Vidui corresponds
to sins with words. And corresponding to sins done through thought, the animal’s
innards are burnt since the stomach and kidneys are considered the organs that
control a person’s thoughts and desires. Finally, the limbs are burnt to
represent the acts done by the person’s limbs, and the blood is thrown on the
sides of the mizbeach to represent a person’s neshama.
The true purpose behind this whole
procedure is to show the person brining the korban that really he should
be up there; but through Hashem’s kindness, instead of death, a person is
allowed to bring an animal to die in his stead.
Today, tefillah has taken the place of
korbanos. And while we cannot know for sure, not having experienced it
ourselves, by looking at the Ramban’s description of how korbanos were used, we
can understand that watching an animal sacrifice could lead us to a stronger
showing of remorse for our sins than how we pray today. Sadly, with the
destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, these ideas are inapplicable. We pray for
the day when the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt and we may once again enjoy the
opportunity to bring korbanos.
Shabbat Shalom!
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