“Whatever crawls on its belly…” (Leviticus 11:42). The word for stomach/belly is gachon. The letter vav in this word is always written enlarged in a Torah scroll. It happens to be the middle letter in the entire Torah, the center point. The meaning of vav in Hebrew is a hook.… Read More »LEVITICUS 11:42 – CAPTURING CONNECTION
“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. Do not extinguish it” (Leviticus 6:5). The final phrase “lo tichbeh” is normally translated as ‘do not extinguish it’. The Maggid of Mezeritch, however, had a creative spin on how to read this phrase. He took it as an… Read More »LEVITICUS 6:5 – KEEP THE FIRE BURNING
“He shall bring an unblemished ram, from the sheep, of the proper value as a guilt offering to the Priest. The Priest will make atonement for him – for the error which he did unintentionally and he did not know, and he will be pardoned.” (Leviticus 5:18) This sacrifice is… Read More »LEVITICUS 5:18 – HE WILL BE PARDONED
“For if a person does not put his trust in G-d, he places his trust in what is other than G-d. (Their doctors, their own cleverness, etc.) And whoever trusts in what is other than G-d, G-d removes His providence from him and leaves him in the hands of whatever… Read More »WHERE IS OUR TRUST?
“…a burnt-offering, a fire-offering, a satisfying aroma to Hashem.” (Lev.1:9) R’ Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenberg explained that a person shouldn’t think that s/he achieves forgiveness with their sacrificial offering. Rather, it is to be an aroma, a scent of the changed life that will now commence. You encounter the smell of… Read More »LEVITICUS 1:9
“A perpetual fire shall be lit on the altar; it may not be extinguished.” (Leviticus 6:6) According to the Talmud (Zevachim 91b) extinguishing even a single coal on the altar is a transgression. When we’re young, we have a healthy, enthusiastic and pure simple faith. We should never become jaded… Read More »LEVITICUS 6:6
Leviticus chapter 4 discusses the Korban Chatat – sacrifice for sin. We learn there that this sacrifice was only brought for unintentional transgressions. (For example, someone who cooked on the Sabbath, but didn’t realize it is forbidden). Rabbi Yitzchak Arama explained that intentional sin involves both our body and our… Read More »LEVITICUS 4 – SACRIFICE FOR SIN
“And He called to Moses, and Hashem spoke to him…” (Leviticus 1:1). Rashi explains that there were pauses between each time God spoke to Moses to give him new instructions in order to allow Moses to pause, reflect on, and digest the content of God’s communication. Sivan Rahav-Meir shares a… Read More »LEVITICUS 1:1- THE IMPORTANCE OF A PAUSE
The laws of the meal offerings required that they be salted, but there could be no leavened dough or honey (Leviticus 2:11-13). Temple offerings were supposed to both impact us spiritually and reflect our own spiritual growth. Leaven causes dough to rise, to puff it up. Honey, as well, artificially… Read More »Leviticus 2:11-13 – REFLECTING ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH
“These are the accounts of the Tabernacle – The tabernacle of Testimony, there were conducted by Moses’ order…” (Exodus 38:21). According to the Midrash, suspicious cynics were circulating rumors that Moses was pocketing some of the funds collected for the building of the Tabernacle, so he ordered a careful accounting… Read More »EXODUS 38:2 – EACH PERSON WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING
