Parashiyot Va-yikra (Leviticus 2:1 - 5:26)

by Rabbi Pete Tobias, The Liberal Synagogue Elstree

Summary
This section of the Torah is one of those that reminds us why we are Liberal Jews and why Liberal Judaism insists that the Torah is a product of its time rather than a blueprint for Jews and all of humankind.  The purpose of religion is to encourage us to look for meaning and purpose in our lives and to develop a relationship with our Creator which embodies and expresses that search.  The material we find in Leviticus – particularly this opening section which contains explicit and graphic details of animal sacrifices – gives us an insight into how our biblical ancestors communicated with the God of ancient Israel.  In the first five chapters of this book we find details of how various offerings are to be prepared and brought to this God who, in the opinion of the priests and the people, could be pacified by receiving burnt offerings and who would show favour to the people who made those offerings.

Commentary

The idea that sacrifice is an acceptable and effective way of communicating with the divine has its place in many ancient societies.  As a result of the rabbinic assertion that the Torah was authored by the divine recipient of such offerings, the Judaism that has developed from it regards sacrifice as God’s will rather than humanity’s need for a visual form of communication with God.

So it is, then, that while the rest of human society has, by and large, recognised that the making of animal offerings is a part of human development that has long since been superseded, Orthodox Judaism continues to yearn and pray for its reintroduction.  Three times a day (four times on Shabbat and festivals) in the traditional Orthodox liturgy, prayers for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the reintroduction of sacrificial offerings within it are recited. The following excerpts from my book ‘Liberal Judaism: A Judaism for the 21st Century’ should make clear what is the Liberal Jewish position on such matters:

‘The traditional version of the seventeenth benediction of the Amidah, for example, includes the following request: ‘Accept, O Lord our God, thy people Israel and their prayer; restore the service to the innermost part of thine house; receive in love and favour the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayer; and may the service of thy people Israel be ever acceptable to thee…’

Whether or not those Jews repeating those words genuinely desire that the Temple be rebuilt in order that the smoke from sacrificial offerings can once again fill the air of Jerusalem as it did two thousand and more years ago is for them to say.  As far as Liberal Judaism is concerned, the offering of sacrifice belongs to a different time and place, to a phase of human development that has long since been left behind and to which any reference in prayer is entirely inappropriate.

Accordingly, one of the first – and most important – tasks of Liberal Judaism was to revisit the Jewish liturgy with a view to ensuring that it reflected and expressed the aspirations of modern Liberal Jews rather than those of the ancient Rabbis.  Liberal Judaism accepts, admires and adopts much of Jewish liturgy.  But some of the theological beliefs of the Rabbis and their visions of the ideal Jewish future have no place in a Liberal Jewish view of the world.  Such visions and beliefs have, therefore, been modified or even removed entirely from Liberal Jewish liturgy.’

We read from the book of Leviticus to remind ourselves of the emphasis our ancestors placed on their relationship with God, not because we believe it to be divine instruction as to how that relationship should be conducted and expressed.  It doesn’t make very pleasant reading.  But we read it to remind ourselves of our past, not with a view to recapturing and reintroducing it but to make us realise how much we have developed since those superstitious days.

Rabbi Pete Tobias

The Liberal Synagogue Elstree

You can hear Rabbi Pete on BBC Radio 2 giving a Pause for Thought on Wake up to Wogan on Tuesdays between on March 27th and April 17th 2007 and on Good Morning Sunday with Aled Jones on Sunday 1st April between 7.30 and 8.00 am.