…of God invariably used in connection with the sacrifices is Hashem, God in his aspect of love and compassion, never Elokim, God as justice and distance. The word Elokim occurs only five times in the whole of the book of Vayikra, and always in the context of other nations. The word Hashem appears 209 times. And as we saw last…
…And let me share, therefore, with you, the following preparatory questions. Number one, what actually is Succot? Right? There is only one point in the whole of the Torah – you see it there in source one [Vayikra 23:42-43] – which actually tells you what Succot is all about, right? Ba-succot tayshvu – Can you see it? – shivat yamim……
…word of today’s parsha, that gives its name to the entire book: Vayikra, “He called.” Look carefully at the verse and you will see that its construction is odd. Literally translated it reads: “He called to Moses, and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying …” The first phrase seems to be redundant. If we are told…
…the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord. (Vayikra 26:44–45) This is a turning point in the history of the human spirit. It is the birth of hope: not hope as a dream, a wish, a desire, but hope as the very shape of history itself, “the arc of the moral universe,” as…
Sacrifices, the subject of this week’s parsha, were central to the religious life of biblical Israel. We see this not only by the sheer space devoted to them in the Torah, but also by the fact that they occupy its central book, Vayikra. We have not had the sacrificial service since the destruction of the second Temple almost 2000 years…
…Vayikra. What is special about the way Vayikra is written in the Torah, anyone know? What is it? Yeah? Audience member: A small aleph. And what does Rashi say about the small aleph? [inaudible answer] Yeah, sort off, yes, very good. (Applause) Because it says, to Hashem it says, exactly sorry, you can be Chief Rabbi, we’ll keep the seat…
…hyssop” (Vayikra 14:4). Later on, after the water is sprinkled seven times on the metzora for purification, one living bird is set free and sent away from the house. If this bird then returned to the same house that day, the cured metzora could see this as a warning that they would contract tzara’at again. (Targum Yonatan on Vayikra 14:7.)…
…of 1500 Torah riddles, available worldwide on Amazon. For the answer, please head to the Education Companion section (directly below, in grey). Educational Companion Torah Trivia: this week’s answer The four instances are: The mekalel – “the blasphemer” (Vayikra 24:10) The Pesach Sheini (Bamidbar 9:1) The Mekoshesh – the woodchopper who broke Shabbat (Bamidbar 15:32) The laws of inheritance, as…
…week’s parsha, Bechukotai, is the last in the book of Vayikra. Bechukotai outlines the rewards for following God’s commandments and the punishments for disregarding them. The parsha also details different offerings to the Temple and the animal tithe. The first half of the parsha discusses the blessings the Israelites are promised, such as abundant food, timely rain, and security if…
…book of Torah [we started reading last Shabbat] – Vayikra. When you look in a Torah you will notice the word is written with a very small Aleph at the end. Commenting on this, Rashi draws a distinction between the phrases Vayikra el Moshe, “And He [Hashem] called to Moses” and Vayikar el Bilam “And He [Hashem] appeared to Bilam”….