Sacrifices, Holiness and Wars
The Parasha in our everyday life - Vayikra – Shabbat Zachor - 5782
Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Rosh Yeshivat Hesder 'Meir Harel' Modi'in
Days of war are also days of disrupted world orders and question marks. The war and the scenes of destruction and killing undermine the existing order and necessitate a re-examination of fundamental and important assumptions in the ideological, ethical, moral and political spheres. Questions about the very existence of the 'war' phenomenon in which people seek to accomplish by causing destruction and killing others. Questions about the legitimacy of personal and national interests and how much they justify wars that are clearly not defensive wars; about self-interest and human hypocrisy, which leads to standing, in the face of war, looking at the suffering and troubles of others without lending a hand. And more. But they also raise general questions about the principles of morality and the values of humanity.
In Israel, even though we are supposedly outside the circle of war, questions have arisen:
Þ About the way in which the Israeli government should behave in relation to the warring parties.
Þ To what extent should we intervene and take a stand.
Þ And what about the moral consideration and Israel's considerations on political interests.
Þ To what extent should the Israeli Prime Minister be involved in mediation attempts.
Þ Are there political risks to Israel.
Þ And Shabbat?
Þ And what should be the policy towards the refugees.
Þ And is it right to compare the options for non-Jewish refugees and the Jewish refugees.
Naturally they also created disagreements, because beyond examining the specific questions, there are disagreements about the overall moral and ethical approach. Among other things, one could identify the differences and controversy between the conception of 'Western' 'postmodern' 'morality' and the practical conceptions of interests here and now, and between the unique moral standards of Torah and Judaism, which seek to conduct national issues from a sacred perspective which does not contradict the 'natural morality'. Of the spiritual world of holiness that is expressed in life and in life’s sanctity. On the difference between the approaches, the late Rabbi Kook wrote in The "Musar HaKodesh":
המוסר של חול איננו עמוק, ואינו נכנס בפנימיות הנשמה, ואף על פי שהאדם נמשך אחריו לטובה, על ידי שמכיר את היושר שיש בדברי הגיון, אין להדרכה זו תפיסה עומדת בפני ההסתערות של תאוות שונות, כשהן מתעוררות בחזקה. וקל וחומר שאין ביד מוסר רפוי כזה להדריך את הכללות, את הצבור האנושי בעמקו והיקף גדלו, לחדור אל עומק הנשמה, ולהפוך אל האדם הכללי והפרטי לב בשר תחת לב אבן. לא יש עצה אחרת כי אם שיהיה מודרך על פי המוסר האלהי.
"The morality of profane is not deep, and does not enter into the inwardness of the soul, and though man is attracted to it for good, by recognizing the honesty that is in the words of reason, this guidance has no conception of the onslaught of various lusts, when they awaken powerfully. How much more that there is no such loose morality in hand to guide the general, the human public, to get into the depths of the soul, and to turn the general and private person of flesh-heart into a stone heart. There is no other advice if he is guided by divine morality". (Orot HaKodesh 3:2:1).
On Shabbat we begin to read the Book of Vayikra which opens with the Sacrifices. In the days of our Sages, the first Sefer they thought the children was Sefer Vayikra.
מִפְּנֵי מָה מַתְחִילִין לַתִּינוֹקוֹת בְּתוֹרַת כֹּהֲנִים וְאֵין מַתְחִילִין בִּבְרֵאשִׁית, אֶלָּא שֶׁהַתִּינוֹקוֹת טְהוֹרִין וְהַקָּרְבָּנוֹת טְהוֹרִין יָבוֹאוּ טְהוֹרִין וְיִתְעַסְּקוּ בִּטְהוֹרִים.
"Why do infants begin with the Torat Kohanim (Vayikra) and do not begin with Bereshit, because the infants are pure and the sacrifices are pure" (Vayikra Rabbah 7:3).
Sefer Vayikra emphasizes the special holiness of the people of Israel as it is reflected in the sacred worship arrangements in the Temple. So are the victims in our Parasha.
The equivalent in the Oral Torah to the 'Torah of the Sacrifices' in the written Torah is the 'Seder Kodashim' in the Mishnah. The order of the Tractates in the Mishnah is also the same as their order in the Torah:
אחר כן חלק המאמר בענין קדשים והחל בקרבנות הכהנים שהם מסכת זבחים. ואחר זבחים מנחות כפי סדורם בתורה
"And afterwards, the divided the material regarding Holy Things, and he began with sacrifices of the priests, which [comprise] Tractate Zevachim (Slaughterings)
And after Zevachim is Menachot (Meal Offerings), as is their order in the Torah". (Rambam Introduction to the Mishnah 15:72-73)
To some extent a special connection can be seen between the 'standard sin-offering' קָּרְבַּן חַטָּאת and the 'guilt offering' קָרְבַּן אָשָׁם associated with the moral world, because they are meant to atone for sins:
נֶ֗פֶשׁ כִּֽי־תֶחֱטָ֤א בִשְׁגָגָה֙ מִכֹּל֙ מִצְוֺ֣ת ה' אֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֣א תֵעָשֶׂ֑ינָה וְעָשָׂ֕ה מֵאַחַ֖ת מֵהֵֽנָּה׃
"When a person unwittingly incurs guilt in regard to any of Hashem’s commandments about things not to be done, and does one of them" (Vayikra 4:2)
The late Rabbi Kook connects the world of holiness, faith and Mitzvot to the world of morality, 'Divine morality to natural morality':
מי שתקן מדותיו בטבע ונעשו תכונותיו ישרות, הוא יכיר בהכרה פנימית את גנות הרע ויקרת הטוב, וימשך אחרי דרכי התורה באהבה ונדיבת נפש. א"כ המדה התכליתית בקרבן היא שיהיה מקרה החטא אפשרי רק במקרה. א"כ צריך שיבא האדם לתכונה כזאת, שידע בהכרה פנימית שהאסור הוא רע ומגונה, וע"ז הוא מביא קרבן אמנם הכסילים, שאינם מכירים בהכרה פנימית מהי רעה ומהי טובה, וכ"כ הם רחוקים מטבע הטוב והישר עד שיוכלו לצייר בעצמם כי האסור הוא טוב, אלא שהם כפופים לזה רק מצד גזירת התורה, א"כ מדותיהם הקבועות מיוסדות על אדני החטא. ע"כ אמר הקב"ה: בין טוב לרע אין מבחינים, ואינם משערים בהכרה פנימית על מה הקרבן בא, על הטובה או על הרעה, שאצלם יוכל להצטייר שהחטא והתאוה הוא טוב, א"כ מה בצע בקרבנם, ואינם משיגים ממנו התכלית המכוונת
“He who has corrected his natural teachings and his qualities have become righteous, will recognize in inner consciousness the condemnations of evil and the preciousness of good, and will follow the ways of the Torah with love and generosity of soul. Thus, the purpose in the sacrifice is that the sin will be possible only by chance. Otherwise, the person should come to such a trait, that he knew in an inner recognition that the forbidden is bad and obscene, and so he brings a sacrifice. Although the fools, who do not have inner recognition of what is bad and what is good, and are far from the nature of good and honesty can convince themselves that what is forbidden is good, but they are subject to it only by the decree of the Torah. And so, their teachings are founded on the foundations of sin. G-d said: There is no distinction between good and evil, and it does not assume inward recognition of what the sacrifice is for, for good or for evil, for some it can be seen that sin and lust are good, so what is the sacrifice for, since it does not achieve the intended purpose" (Eyn Ayah Brachot 3:45)
This Shabbat is also 'Shabbat Zachor'. And on this Shabbat, we observe the moral commandment for generations of ‘remembering Amalek’, and his war against us upon our departure from Egypt on our way to our land. The war that had no other reason than hatred and opposition to the people of Israel and the sanctity we claim to represent in the world. We Remember and learn lessons for the future.