Getting it "Right"

Vayikra

Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26

Précis: The title of the third Book of the Torah, Vayikra (“And He called”) is usually translated as “Leviticus” in English, from its Septuagint (Greek) name, which in turn is based on the fact that much of the Book concerns ritual sacrifices performed under the auspices of the Levites. Many traditional commentators note that the Book is found in the center of the first Five Books, and intuit from its positioning the “centrality” of its teachings to Jewish tradition. 

            As mentioned in the introduction to this Book in the Plaut Commentary, much of this Book focus on “holiness” which in turn is expressed in terms of rituals (which ceased to exist with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.). The word generally used in English for the ritual offerings in the Temple is “sacrifice,” but there is a deeper meaning to be found in the Hebrew word, korban, from a root meaning “to draw closer.” The system of “sacrifices” (“korbanot”) was designed to allow the Israelites to “draw closer” to the Ineffable.

Lev. 1:1 “Adonai called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying...”

            This Book and this parasha are all about ritual. Why is ritual important to us today? JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen has said (JTS Torah Commentary, (3/24/07) that there is an important reason to treasure ritual:

             “It is perhaps hard to grasp until one has lived long enough to fail more than once at something truly important (the) immense advantage that rituals have over life: if we work hard enough, we can get them right. Master the technique of that Bach invention on the piano, learn the lines of that Ibsen play, fill their performance with genuine and proper emotion, and you have a chance of getting them right, really right… Focus on Kiddush for the sixty seconds it takes to recite the blessing Friday night, pay attention to the meaning of what you are about and the sense of rightness is yours.”

            This is a deeply important explanation of why ritual is so important in our lives. I have learned from Hazzan Ed Gerber of Ohr Kodesh Congregation that the rituals of prayer are like an orchestral score: we only succeed through much practice, and we hope that on a rare occasion, we will achieve the “rightness” of the experience, which we call “kavanah.”

            For many of us today, the study of the various Temple rituals seems pointless at first blush. On the other hand, such study can serve to remind us that ritual provides the road to a close encounter with the Divine, to a deeper understanding of ourselves, and of our place in the Universe.