The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his parsha shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
As Vayikra is the beginning of the volume of the Torah dealing with sacrifices, Rabbi Frand said an interesting vort about the purpose of sacrifices. He mentioned that the Ramban analyzes the Rambam's discussion about the purpose of sacrifices. The Rambam states in Moreh Nevucim that Hashem gave us the concept of animal sacrifice as a way to separate ourselves from the other nations that worshipped these animals. While certain religions worshipped the cow or sheep, we would sacrifice that animal, thus indicating that it was not our deity.
The Ramban was bothered by this view. He challenged the concept by pointing out that when Noach left the ark, these nations did not yet exist and no one was worshipping animals, yet Noach still was commanded to bring sacrifices. Similarly, Cain and Abel were bringing sacrifices, yet there was no concept of idol worship at that time.
In an effort to answer the Ramban's question, the Meshech Chachma (R' Meir Simcha from Dvinsk) states that the Rambam must have meant that individual sacrifices were intended to make a break from the idol worshipers. Meanwhile, community sacrifices were intended by Hashem as a way to worship Him.
In the sefer Ner Uziel, R' Malefsky analyzes the concept of why people bring sacrifices in the first place. He states that people sense that there is a God and want to draw close to him. They feel that by bringing a sacrifice they can show their devotion by giving up (aka sacrificing) something that is near and dear to them. The Torah shows us the concept of giving something that is important to us to Hashem as a sacrifice as it is written in Vaykira 3:16 - "all the choice parts [of the animal brought as a sacrifice] go to Hashem." We see from this that if a person wants to bring a sacrifice he should give of his very best.
Although we no longer have animal sacrifices due to the destruction of the Temple, we still have a concept of personal sacrifice. R' Frand mentioned a verse in Vayechi (49:15) where it is said about Issachar that "He saw that menucha (rest) was good and the land was pleasant, but he bent his shoulder down to work and became a laborer (in Torah)." Why if someone saw that rest was good, would they then decide to give up this relaxation? Because they saw that they could sacrifice this to Hashem by giving of their time and devoting themselves to Hashem.
I have personally seen this concept in the actions of certain people around me. When R' Frand said this vort, I immediately thought of my shul Rabbi, R' Kelemer. He is constantly running here and there and always on call to help the community in its observance of mitzvot. In fact, when my wife was sitting shiva after the loss of her mother last spring, R' Kelemer drove cross country to pay a shiva call. Could R' Kelemer relax? In theory yes, but he sees that he can sacrifice his valuable free time and this makes him a true role model to us all.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
As Vayikra is the beginning of the volume of the Torah dealing with sacrifices, Rabbi Frand said an interesting vort about the purpose of sacrifices. He mentioned that the Ramban analyzes the Rambam's discussion about the purpose of sacrifices. The Rambam states in Moreh Nevucim that Hashem gave us the concept of animal sacrifice as a way to separate ourselves from the other nations that worshipped these animals. While certain religions worshipped the cow or sheep, we would sacrifice that animal, thus indicating that it was not our deity.
The Ramban was bothered by this view. He challenged the concept by pointing out that when Noach left the ark, these nations did not yet exist and no one was worshipping animals, yet Noach still was commanded to bring sacrifices. Similarly, Cain and Abel were bringing sacrifices, yet there was no concept of idol worship at that time.
In an effort to answer the Ramban's question, the Meshech Chachma (R' Meir Simcha from Dvinsk) states that the Rambam must have meant that individual sacrifices were intended to make a break from the idol worshipers. Meanwhile, community sacrifices were intended by Hashem as a way to worship Him.
In the sefer Ner Uziel, R' Malefsky analyzes the concept of why people bring sacrifices in the first place. He states that people sense that there is a God and want to draw close to him. They feel that by bringing a sacrifice they can show their devotion by giving up (aka sacrificing) something that is near and dear to them. The Torah shows us the concept of giving something that is important to us to Hashem as a sacrifice as it is written in Vaykira 3:16 - "all the choice parts [of the animal brought as a sacrifice] go to Hashem." We see from this that if a person wants to bring a sacrifice he should give of his very best.
Although we no longer have animal sacrifices due to the destruction of the Temple, we still have a concept of personal sacrifice. R' Frand mentioned a verse in Vayechi (49:15) where it is said about Issachar that "He saw that menucha (rest) was good and the land was pleasant, but he bent his shoulder down to work and became a laborer (in Torah)." Why if someone saw that rest was good, would they then decide to give up this relaxation? Because they saw that they could sacrifice this to Hashem by giving of their time and devoting themselves to Hashem.
I have personally seen this concept in the actions of certain people around me. When R' Frand said this vort, I immediately thought of my shul Rabbi, R' Kelemer. He is constantly running here and there and always on call to help the community in its observance of mitzvot. In fact, when my wife was sitting shiva after the loss of her mother last spring, R' Kelemer drove cross country to pay a shiva call. Could R' Kelemer relax? In theory yes, but he sees that he can sacrifice his valuable free time and this makes him a true role model to us all.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
No comments:
Post a Comment