Among the sacrifices detailed in this week’s Parsha is the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering: If he offers it [the sacrifice] as a thanksgiving offering, then along with this thanksgiving offering he is to offer unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and loaves of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil. Lev. 7:12 Though we have been…
…tradition chose this as the haftarah for Tzav, thus presenting the paradox in its full force. Tzav emphasises the importance of sacrifice; Jeremiah seems to deny it. There is no attempt to soften the seeming contradiction. One of the classic roles of religion in human history has been to present a simplified view of the world. Not so Judaism. The…
The first words we are taught to say each morning, immediately on waking, are Modeh Ani, “I give thanks.” We thank before we think. Note that the normal word order is inverted: Modeh Ani, not Ani Modeh, so that in Hebrew the “thanks” comes before the “I.” Judaism is “gratitude with attitude.” And this, according to recent scientific research, really…
…sacrifices. The Sages realised that sacrifices were symbolic enactments of processes of mind, heart, and deed that could be expressed in other ways as well. We can encounter the will of God through Torah study, engage in God’s service through prayer, make financial sacrifices through charity, create sacred fellowship through hospitality, and so on. The great question raised by Tzav,…
This sedra, speaking about sacrifices, prohibits the eating of blood: Wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people. Lev. 7:26–27 This is not just one prohibition among others. The ban on eating blood is fundamental to the Torah. For example, it…
Among the sacrifices detailed in this week’s sedra is the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering: “If he offers it [the sacrifice] as a thanksgiving offering, then along with this thanksgiving offering he is to offer unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and loaves of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil.” (Lev. 7:12). Though we have been…
In his final message before stepping down after more than two decades in office, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks recounts his personal journey of discovery and faith. Through a compelling analysis of recent Jewish history, ‘A Judaism Engaged with the World’ warns that a Judaism divorced from society will be a Judaism unable to influence society or inspire young Jews….
The laws of sacrifices that dominate the early chapters of the Book of Leviticus are among the hardest in the Torah to relate to in the present. It has been almost two thousand years since the Temple was destroyed and the sacrificial system came to an end. But Jewish thinkers, especially the more mystical among them, strove to understand the…
Good leaders know their own limits. They do not try to do it all themselves. They build teams. They create space for people who are strong where they are weak. They understand the importance of checks and balances and the separation of powers. They surround themselves with people who are different from them. They understand the danger of concentrating all…
…mend that cerebral lesion, that dissociation of sensibilities, that splits Torah from Chochma, God’s world from the world in which we live. That is Tzav HaSha’a, the imperative of our time, and I say this to you knowing that you start with the greatest advantage anyone could have. Yeshiva University itself. Led and inspired for so many years by the…