๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ช – This week we read: โWhen one among you offers a sacrifice to G-dโฆโ. Immediately, we ask, what sort of sacrifice? Why? and how? King David writes in Psalms, โFor You [G-d] do not desire sacrifices; else I would give it: You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.โ
Animal sacrifices were a way for ancient Jews to elevate themselves spiritually, but the sacrifices would have been meaningless if they werenโt done with true intention andย a full heart to heal oneself andย the harms one has done. King David writes that God will not despise a โbroken spiritโ, because true remorse makes a person feel broken, & true repentance comes from the desire to be connected to Hashem again, in order to be whole. In order to achieve this level of return/teshuva, we were commanded to bring a sacrifice in the time of the Temple, just as we are now commanded to pray, in the absence it.
The Hebrew word for sacrifice is korban which comes from the word karov or lekarev meaning โcloseโ or โto bring closerโ. Itโs written in the pasuk, ืึดืึถึผื, which means yourself, implying the one who is offering the korban, is sacrificing themself. I love how Rabbi Sacks puts it: ย Itโs about being human, sinning, falling short, always conscious of our fragile hold on life, yet seeking to come close to God andย โ what is sometimes harder โ allowing Him to come close to us.
The sacrifices were a beautiful andย spiritual ritual โ picture the elements surrounding the sacrifice, with the presence of the kohanim accompanied by the chanting of the Levites. The Zohar teaches that the service of the kohanim was in silence, with the devotion of the heart, signifying drawing forth, from Above, while the service of the Levites was with music, signifying sublimation; elevating from below upwards.
This is mirrored in how we tend to the sanctuaries within our own souls, the inner acts of sacrifice we practice each day, the desire we have to bring holiness down from above, and the artfulness we use to draw our spirits andย surroundings upward.
Thanks for listening/reading!
Much love & Shabbat Shalom!
– Erez // @erezsafar
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