This is an abridged version of the essayWhy Do We Sacrifice?, written by Rabbi Sacks in 2010.
It has been almost two thousand years since we stopped offering korbanot. But in our prayers and our outlook, we still retain the fundamentals behind Jewish sacrifice.
The essence of sacrifice, said Rabbi Shneur Zalman, is that we offer ourselves. We bring our energies, our thoughts, and our emotions. The physical form of sacrifice – an animal on the altar – expresses an inner act. But what exactly is it that we give God when we offer a sacrifice? The Jewish mystics spoke about two souls within each of us – the animal soul (nefesh habeheimit) and the Godly soul (neshama). On the one hand we are physical beings with physical needs: food, drink, shelter. Our physical selves are born. We live, and then we die. Spiritually, we are brushed by the wings of eternity. We have a Godly soul. The nature of sacrifice, understood psychologically, is thus clear. What we offer God is (not just an animal but) the nefesh habeheimit, the animal soul within us.
How does this work out in detail? A hint is given by the three types of animals mentioned in the verse in the second line of Vayikra: beheimah (animal), bakar (cattle), and tzon (flock). Each represents a separate animal-like feature of the human personality. Beheimah represents the animal instinct itself. Animals spend their time searching for food. Their lives are bound by the struggle to survive. To sacrifice the animal within us is to be moved by something more than survival. Imagine a fly trapped in a glass bottle. It bangs its head against the glass, trying to find a way out. The one thing it fails to do is to look up. The Godly soul within us is the force that makes us look up, beyond the physical world, in search of meaning.
The Hebrew word bakar, cattle, reminds us of the word boker, dawn, literally to “break through,” as the first rays of sunlight break through the darkness of night. Cattle, stampeding, break through barriers. Unless constrained by fences, cattle are no respecters of boundaries. To sacrifice the bakar is to learn to recognise and respect boundaries – between pure and impure, permitted and forbidden. Barriers of the mind can be stronger than walls.
Finally, the word tzon, flocks, represents the herd instinct – the powerful drive to move in a given direction because others are doing likewise. The great figures of Judaism had the ability to stand apart from the herd; to be different, to challenge.
The noun korban, “sacrifice,” and the verb lehakriv, “to offer something as a sacrifice,” actually mean “that which is brought close” and “the act of bringing close.” The key element is not so much giving something up (the usual meaning of sacrifice) but rather bringing something close to God. Lehakriv is to bring the animal element within us to be transformed through the Divine fire that once burned on the altar, and still burns at the heart of prayer if we truly seek closeness to God.
Scientists today may claim that our existence as humans is the result of a random series of genetic mutations. That we just happen to be more adapted to survival than other species. The refutation of this idea lies in the very act of sacrifice itself as the mystics understood it. We can redirect our animal instincts. We can rise above mere survival. We are capable of honouring boundaries. We can step outside our environment. We can transcend the beheimah, the bakar, and the tzon. By bringing that which is animal within us close to God, we allow the material to be suffused with the spiritual and we become something else: no longer slaves of nature but servants of the living God.
Around the Shabbat Table
Questions to Ponder
Which of the three animal tendencies mentioned (base survival instinct, boundary-breaking, or herd mentality) do you find most challenging to overcome in your own life?
How does prayer serve as a form of sacrifice in contemporary Jewish practice?
How might viewing sacrifice as transformation rather than loss change your approach to observance?
On the Parsha
Written by Sara Lamm
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Parsha in a Nutshell
God teaches Moshe the laws of korbanot. Each offering has a different spiritual purpose. The olah (ascending offering) is completely burned on the altar as a gift to God. The minchah (meal offering) uses flour, oil, and frankincense. With the shelamim (peace offering), parts go to God through the altar fire, parts to the kohanim, and the bringer eats the rest. Different chattat (sin offerings) atone for wrongs inadvertently done by individuals or by the entire community. The asham (guilt offering) addresses misuse of sacred property, uncertainty about sins, or betraying God with false oaths that harm others.
Philosophy of Rabbi Sacks
Delving Deeper
Rabbi Shneur Zalman noticed a grammatical detail in the Hebrew text in Vayikra 1:2. We would expect to read adam mikem ki yakriv, “when one of you offers a sacrifice.” Instead, what it says is adam ki yakriv mikem, “when one offers a sacrifice of you” - indicating that the korbanot aren’t just rituals performed in the Temple. They can be seen as symbolic offerings of our inner animal nature to God.
People have both an animal soul focused on physical needs and a Godly neshama reaching for higher meaning. The three types of sacrificial animals represent different human tendencies we can rise above to activate our neshama. This view is especially relevant today when science often reduces us to just “human animals”. Through sacrifice, we show our ability to transform ourselves - controlling our instincts, respecting boundaries, and thinking independently. Unlike animals, we can change our nature through spiritual connection, moving beyond our basic programming to serve a higher purpose.
In what ways can we practice meaningful “sacrifice” in today’s world without a Mishkan or the Beit HaMikdash?
Parsha Activity
No Yes And…
Choose 5 common words like YES, NO, I, THE, TO or AND to ban. Players then have conversations while carefully avoiding these words. When someone slips and uses a forbidden word, they receive a penalty point. The game continues until one player reaches five penalty points. This apparently simple game reveals how deeply ingrained our verbal instincts are, and how difficult they can be to suppress!
A Story for the Ages
A Modern Noah’s Ark
Years ago, in Warsaw, Poland, there lived a kind couple named Jan and Antonina Żabiński who ran the city zoo. It was one of the largest in Europe, which was perfect for Jan and Antonina, who loved animals. They spent their days caring for lions, elephants, and many other wonderful creatures.
Then a difficult time came during World War II when many of the animals had to be moved away from the zoo. The empty zoo became very quiet, but Jan and Antonina had an unusual idea. They decided to help people who needed a safe place to stay. Many Jewish families were in danger, so the zookeepers opened their hearts and their homes to them. And so it came to pass that where animals once lived, people in need now found shelter.
To make the place more like a home, Antonina would play beautiful music on her piano. Some of her pieces had coded meanings too. If visitors were coming by that couldn’t be trusted, she played a tune that warned everyone to be extra quiet. When everything was safe again, she would play upbeat Chopin melodies. Their young son Ryś helped too, delivering food to all the families, and keeping their guests company.
The family’s villa on the zoo grounds became a place of friendship and hope. For over four years, about 300 people found safety with the zookeeper family, and meanwhile, documents were also created to help people escape Poland. Jan and Antonina were very careful, using all their wits, skills, and creativity, and their secret mission to save the Jews was never exposed. After the war ended, the zoo slowly filled with animals again. Many years later, Jan and Antonina were honoured as heroes for their courage and kindness.
How does the Żabińskis’ self-sacrifice reflect Rabbi Zalman’s teaching that true sacrifice means offering something of ourselves (“mikem”)?
On the Haftara
Written by Rabbi Barry Kleinberg
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Haftara reading
in a Nutshell
Isaiah 43:21-44:23 (Ashkenazim and Sephardim) Isaiah 43:21-44:6 (Yemenites)
In this week’s passage from Isaiah, God reminds Israel that, despite their sins and neglect of true worship, He alone is their redeemer. He reproaches them for failing to call on Him and instead burdening Him with their iniquities. Yet, in His mercy, He promises to blot out their transgressions and calls them to remember His power.
In chapter 44, God reaffirms His sovereignty, declaring that He formed Israel and will bless them abundantly. He contrasts His eternal nature with the futility of idol worship, describing how people create idols from wood, yet they fail to see their deception. Finally, God calls Israel to rejoice, for He has redeemed them.
The passage emphasises God’s unmatched authority, His power to forgive, and His call for Israel to trust in Him alone.
Why do you think the people of Israel so often turned to idolatry?
Tanach Connections
Parsha and Haftara Links
Both the Parsha and the Haftara deal with the bringing of sacrifices. The Parsha details the ideal manner in which sacrifices are to be brought, whist the Haftara reports that the people brought sacrifices in the Temple, not for God but for idolatrous purposes (Rashi’s understanding of Isaiah 43:23-24). This is a theme that we have seen before in the Haftarot. Rabbi Sacks explains:
“The people were being criticised not for disobeying God’s law but for obeying it. Sacrifices were commanded. Their offering was a sacred act performed in a holy place. What then aroused the Prophets’ anger and rebuke? … They were not criticising the institution of sacrifices. They were criticising something as real now as it was in their time. What distressed them to the core of their being was the idea that you could serve God and at the same time act disdainfully, cruelly, unjustly, insensitively or callously toward other people. “So long as I am in God’s good graces, that is all that matters.” That is the thought that made the Prophets incandescent with indignation. If you think that, they seem to say, then you haven’t understood either God or Torah.”
Korbanot can’t simply be offered by rote. Serving God, as Rabbi Sacks teaches us, should have a profound impact on us. It should make us better people.
Points to Ponder
Why is giving charity so central to the monotheistic faiths?
Who benefits from the act of giving charity, and who benefits from receiving it? (Hint: think as broadly as possible)
Putting the Haftara into Context
On the Book of Isaiah
Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein notes that the prophet not only speaks about redemption but also about repentance. “Owing to the relationship between God and His people and servants, He will pour a spirit upon them from up high and redeem them: ‘For I will pour water upon the thirsty land, and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring’ (Isaiah 44:3). This will lead to the formation of a relationship of identification and dedication on the part of the people: ‘One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Yaakov; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel’ (Isaiah 44:5).
“This idea is summed up in the verse appearing at the end of the Haftara: ‘I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sin: return to Me, for I have redeemed you’ (Isaiah 44:22). The call and the hope is for a redemption accompanied by repentance that will come in the wake of God’s blotting out of Israel’s sins, and not for a redemption in which the Jewish people are redeemed despite the fact that they have not repented.”
Like Jeremiah, who Rabbi Sacks called the prophet of hope, Isaiah is reminding the people that where teshuvah is possible we can always be forgiven and redeemed.
Quote of the Week
“Charity and kindness are our substitutes for sacrifice and, like the sin offering of old, they help mend what is broken in the world and in our soul.”
The Dimensions of Sin,Vayikra, Covenant & Conversation
Further Ponderings
Is it possible to forgive someone if they haven’t apologised to you for their actions?
Written as an accompaniment to Rabbi Sacks’ weekly Covenant & Conversation essay, the
Family Edition
is aimed at connecting teenagers with his ideas and thoughts on the parsha.
With thanks to the Schimmel Family for their generous sponsorship of Covenant &
Conversation, dedicated in loving memory of Harry (Chaim) Schimmel.
“I have loved the Torah of R’ Chaim Schimmel ever since I first encountered it. It
strives to be not just about truth on the surface but also its connection to a
deeper truth beneath. Together with Anna, his remarkable wife of 60 years, they
built a life dedicated to love of family, community, and Torah. An extraordinary
couple who have moved me beyond measure by the example of their lives.” — Rabbi
Sacks
When we see a wrong to be righted, a sickness to be healed, a need to be met, and we feel it speaking to us, that is when we come as close as we can to...
Why Do We Sacrifice?
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Vayikra
Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
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Why Do We Sacrifice?
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The Summary
This is an abridged version of the essay Why Do We Sacrifice?, written by Rabbi Sacks in 2010.
It has been almost two thousand years since we stopped offering korbanot. But in our prayers and our outlook, we still retain the fundamentals behind Jewish sacrifice.
The essence of sacrifice, said Rabbi Shneur Zalman, is that we offer ourselves. We bring our energies, our thoughts, and our emotions. The physical form of sacrifice – an animal on the altar – expresses an inner act. But what exactly is it that we give God when we offer a sacrifice? The Jewish mystics spoke about two souls within each of us – the animal soul (nefesh habeheimit) and the Godly soul (neshama). On the one hand we are physical beings with physical needs: food, drink, shelter. Our physical selves are born. We live, and then we die. Spiritually, we are brushed by the wings of eternity. We have a Godly soul. The nature of sacrifice, understood psychologically, is thus clear. What we offer God is (not just an animal but) the nefesh habeheimit, the animal soul within us.
How does this work out in detail? A hint is given by the three types of animals mentioned in the verse in the second line of Vayikra: beheimah (animal), bakar (cattle), and tzon (flock). Each represents a separate animal-like feature of the human personality. Beheimah represents the animal instinct itself. Animals spend their time searching for food. Their lives are bound by the struggle to survive. To sacrifice the animal within us is to be moved by something more than survival. Imagine a fly trapped in a glass bottle. It bangs its head against the glass, trying to find a way out. The one thing it fails to do is to look up. The Godly soul within us is the force that makes us look up, beyond the physical world, in search of meaning.
The Hebrew word bakar, cattle, reminds us of the word boker, dawn, literally to “break through,” as the first rays of sunlight break through the darkness of night. Cattle, stampeding, break through barriers. Unless constrained by fences, cattle are no respecters of boundaries. To sacrifice the bakar is to learn to recognise and respect boundaries – between pure and impure, permitted and forbidden. Barriers of the mind can be stronger than walls.
Finally, the word tzon, flocks, represents the herd instinct – the powerful drive to move in a given direction because others are doing likewise. The great figures of Judaism had the ability to stand apart from the herd; to be different, to challenge.
The noun korban, “sacrifice,” and the verb lehakriv, “to offer something as a sacrifice,” actually mean “that which is brought close” and “the act of bringing close.” The key element is not so much giving something up (the usual meaning of sacrifice) but rather bringing something close to God. Lehakriv is to bring the animal element within us to be transformed through the Divine fire that once burned on the altar, and still burns at the heart of prayer if we truly seek closeness to God.
Scientists today may claim that our existence as humans is the result of a random series of genetic mutations. That we just happen to be more adapted to survival than other species. The refutation of this idea lies in the very act of sacrifice itself as the mystics understood it. We can redirect our animal instincts. We can rise above mere survival. We are capable of honouring boundaries. We can step outside our environment. We can transcend the beheimah, the bakar, and the tzon. By bringing that which is animal within us close to God, we allow the material to be suffused with the spiritual and we become something else: no longer slaves of nature but servants of the living God.
Around the Shabbat Table
Questions to Ponder
On the Parsha
Written by Sara Lamm
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Parsha in a Nutshell
God teaches Moshe the laws of korbanot. Each offering has a different spiritual purpose. The olah (ascending offering) is completely burned on the altar as a gift to God. The minchah (meal offering) uses flour, oil, and frankincense. With the shelamim (peace offering), parts go to God through the altar fire, parts to the kohanim, and the bringer eats the rest. Different chattat (sin offerings) atone for wrongs inadvertently done by individuals or by the entire community. The asham (guilt offering) addresses misuse of sacred property, uncertainty about sins, or betraying God with false oaths that harm others.
Philosophy of Rabbi Sacks
Delving Deeper
Rabbi Shneur Zalman noticed a grammatical detail in the Hebrew text in Vayikra 1:2. We would expect to read adam mikem ki yakriv, “when one of you offers a sacrifice.” Instead, what it says is adam ki yakriv mikem, “when one offers a sacrifice of you” - indicating that the korbanot aren’t just rituals performed in the Temple. They can be seen as symbolic offerings of our inner animal nature to God.
People have both an animal soul focused on physical needs and a Godly neshama reaching for higher meaning. The three types of sacrificial animals represent different human tendencies we can rise above to activate our neshama. This view is especially relevant today when science often reduces us to just “human animals”. Through sacrifice, we show our ability to transform ourselves - controlling our instincts, respecting boundaries, and thinking independently. Unlike animals, we can change our nature through spiritual connection, moving beyond our basic programming to serve a higher purpose.
Parsha Activity
No Yes And…
Choose 5 common words like YES, NO, I, THE, TO or AND to ban. Players then have conversations while carefully avoiding these words. When someone slips and uses a forbidden word, they receive a penalty point. The game continues until one player reaches five penalty points. This apparently simple game reveals how deeply ingrained our verbal instincts are, and how difficult they can be to suppress!
A Story for the Ages
A Modern Noah’s Ark
Years ago, in Warsaw, Poland, there lived a kind couple named Jan and Antonina Żabiński who ran the city zoo. It was one of the largest in Europe, which was perfect for Jan and Antonina, who loved animals. They spent their days caring for lions, elephants, and many other wonderful creatures.
Then a difficult time came during World War II when many of the animals had to be moved away from the zoo. The empty zoo became very quiet, but Jan and Antonina had an unusual idea. They decided to help people who needed a safe place to stay. Many Jewish families were in danger, so the zookeepers opened their hearts and their homes to them. And so it came to pass that where animals once lived, people in need now found shelter.
To make the place more like a home, Antonina would play beautiful music on her piano. Some of her pieces had coded meanings too. If visitors were coming by that couldn’t be trusted, she played a tune that warned everyone to be extra quiet. When everything was safe again, she would play upbeat Chopin melodies. Their young son Ryś helped too, delivering food to all the families, and keeping their guests company.
The family’s villa on the zoo grounds became a place of friendship and hope. For over four years, about 300 people found safety with the zookeeper family, and meanwhile, documents were also created to help people escape Poland. Jan and Antonina were very careful, using all their wits, skills, and creativity, and their secret mission to save the Jews was never exposed. After the war ended, the zoo slowly filled with animals again. Many years later, Jan and Antonina were honoured as heroes for their courage and kindness.
On the Haftara
Written by Rabbi Barry Kleinberg
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Haftara reading
in a Nutshell
Isaiah 43:21-44:23 (Ashkenazim and Sephardim)
Isaiah 43:21-44:6 (Yemenites)
In this week’s passage from Isaiah, God reminds Israel that, despite their sins and neglect of true worship, He alone is their redeemer. He reproaches them for failing to call on Him and instead burdening Him with their iniquities. Yet, in His mercy, He promises to blot out their transgressions and calls them to remember His power.
In chapter 44, God reaffirms His sovereignty, declaring that He formed Israel and will bless them abundantly. He contrasts His eternal nature with the futility of idol worship, describing how people create idols from wood, yet they fail to see their deception. Finally, God calls Israel to rejoice, for He has redeemed them.
The passage emphasises God’s unmatched authority, His power to forgive, and His call for Israel to trust in Him alone.
Tanach Connections
Parsha and Haftara Links
Both the Parsha and the Haftara deal with the bringing of sacrifices. The Parsha details the ideal manner in which sacrifices are to be brought, whist the Haftara reports that the people brought sacrifices in the Temple, not for God but for idolatrous purposes (Rashi’s understanding of Isaiah 43:23-24). This is a theme that we have seen before in the Haftarot. Rabbi Sacks explains:
“The people were being criticised not for disobeying God’s law but for obeying it. Sacrifices were commanded. Their offering was a sacred act performed in a holy place. What then aroused the Prophets’ anger and rebuke? … They were not criticising the institution of sacrifices. They were criticising something as real now as it was in their time. What distressed them to the core of their being was the idea that you could serve God and at the same time act disdainfully, cruelly, unjustly, insensitively or callously toward other people. “So long as I am in God’s good graces, that is all that matters.” That is the thought that made the Prophets incandescent with indignation. If you think that, they seem to say, then you haven’t understood either God or Torah.”
Korbanot can’t simply be offered by rote. Serving God, as Rabbi Sacks teaches us, should have a profound impact on us. It should make us better people.
Points to Ponder
Putting the Haftara into Context
On the Book of Isaiah
Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein notes that the prophet not only speaks about redemption but also about repentance. “Owing to the relationship between God and His people and servants, He will pour a spirit upon them from up high and redeem them: ‘For I will pour water upon the thirsty land, and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring’ (Isaiah 44:3). This will lead to the formation of a relationship of identification and dedication on the part of the people: ‘One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Yaakov; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel’ (Isaiah 44:5).
“This idea is summed up in the verse appearing at the end of the Haftara: ‘I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sin: return to Me, for I have redeemed you’ (Isaiah 44:22). The call and the hope is for a redemption accompanied by repentance that will come in the wake of God’s blotting out of Israel’s sins, and not for a redemption in which the Jewish people are redeemed despite the fact that they have not repented.”
Like Jeremiah, who Rabbi Sacks called the prophet of hope, Isaiah is reminding the people that where teshuvah is possible we can always be forgiven and redeemed.
Quote of the Week
“Charity and kindness are our substitutes for sacrifice and, like the sin offering of old, they help mend what is broken in the world and in our soul.”
The Dimensions of Sin, Vayikra, Covenant & Conversation
Further Ponderings
Is it possible to forgive someone if they haven’t apologised to you for their actions?
Written as an accompaniment to Rabbi Sacks’ weekly Covenant & Conversation essay, the Family Edition is aimed at connecting teenagers with his ideas and thoughts on the parsha.
With thanks to the Schimmel Family for their generous sponsorship of Covenant & Conversation, dedicated in loving memory of Harry (Chaim) Schimmel.
Encampments & Journeys
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More on Vayikra
The Dimensions of Sin
The Pursuit of Meaning
The Prophetic View of Sacrifice
Where God wants us to be