Parshat Vayikra; Leviticus 1:1-5:26 By: Rabbi Denise L.Eger
We begin this week with the opening chapters of the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Bible. The narrative of the Exodus from Egypt is interrupted to discuss the many kinds of sacrifices that the Children of Israel were to offer in their new Mishkan, their tabernacle. The outlines of various sacrifices are detailed in this week’s portion, Vaykira.
The sacrifices helped the individual draw close to God and holiness. The word for sacrifice in Hebrew contains the root k.r.v, from the word korban. It does mean offering but these sacrifices, of cattle, sheep or goats, grain or wine helped to bring the individual nearer to God and to holiness. The opening chapters talk about offerings/sacrifices in a general way and are described simply an olah. But our portion also outlines specific offerings including the zevach shlemim, the chatat, and the asham: the offering of well-being or wholeness, the sin offering and the guilt offering.
The offering of well-being sometimes called a peace offering is described in chapter 3 of Leviticus. However it is not clear exactly what it is for. Scholars speculate that this offering might be to restore peace or well-being between individuals. Others speculate that it might be offered to restore the relationship between an individual and God. While yet others teach that it was offered as a repayment of a vow.
The Chatat and Asham offerings, Sin and Guilt offerings are described in chapters 4 and 5 of Leviticus. These offering were for atonement of accidental or unintentional sins or penalty offerings. Sometimes they would be offered together. Sometimes the asham offering would be for those who misappropriate or steal property. These offerings are brought forward for the individual expiation of sins. Thus the individuals could once again be in communion with God and God’s holiness and be rid of their guilt, shame and offense. These offerings to God allowed people to move on in their lives from their sins and rebalance the holiness equations of their lives.
Is there a modern equivalent of these kinds of sacrifices? In Jewish tradition with the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 and the birth of Rabbinic Judaism we have substituted prayer for actual physical sacrifices. Many of the prayers of our daily worship correspond to the ancient sacrificial service. Even our afternoon prayers, Mincha is named after the daily grain offering. Certainly too, sometimes our use of tzedakah, charity is a kind of sacrifice. We are taught that one antidote to violations of certain mitzvot like lashon ha-rah, gossip, is to give charity to try to help make a tikkun, a healing or repair in the fabric of the universe.
As it is taught in the Talmud Sukkah 49b: Rabbi Eleazar stated: Greater is one who performs tzedakah than one who offers all the sacrifices, for it is said, “To do Tzedakah and justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21, 3)
And as Rabbi Eliezer ben Avraham of Smyrna writes in the 17th century,. “when a person gives tzedakah, this tzedkah has the power to forgive him or her for all their sins… Even when a person has many sins, when one gives tzedakah properly they are forgiven. (Sefer Meil Tzedakah 1271).
In the world today we might also understand carbon offsets as a modern kind of sacrifice. One that draws us nearer to God and holiness as we fulfill the mitzvah outlined in the book of Genesis to avodah v’shomrah, to tend and guard our planet. While we must be ever vigilant in our own lives to reduce our own carbon footprints by recycling, energy and water saving reductions in our homes and workplaces, driving less, and perhaps changing our light bulbs to CFLs, buying carbon offset certificates from one of the many non-profit companies asks us to sacrifice dollars that in turn would help reduce or offset or mitigate our own carbon footprints.
Estimates are that the average American produces 50,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year! By offsetting your own footprint through the purchase of carbon certificates (which takes the money and reinvests in renewable energy sources, reducing carbon output or reforestation to name a few kinds of projects) you sacrifice your money to help restore the delicate balance of our planet and reduce the effects of global warming. In truth one must be careful in the purchase of carbon offset certificates because there are unscrupulous dealers but there are several organizations that have a reliable track record in reinvesting the money raised through the purchase of carbon offset certificates in legitimate energy saving, carbon reducing projects.
Carbon offset certificates do not substitute for changing our lifestyles so as to consider the effects of our day to day lives on our planet . But they do help to create more opportunities to switch our society from the carbon dioxide producing lives we live that have created the increase in global warming toward the goal of carbon free or carbon neutral living.
The realities of Global warming are not a joke. Nor is it pseudo – science. Global warming and the harsh realities of its effects are increasingly apparent in our world as weather patterns change, oceans are dying, forests are clear cut, and the ice caps melt at more frequent rate. Our guilt and shame offerings for how we have treated our planet must be more than words on a page. We must take some action. Perhaps buying carbon offset certificates might be one way we do so. For more information on carbon offset certificates you might check out www.carbonfund.org. or www.rainforest2reef.org or www.liveneutral.org .
Posted by Aaron at March 9, 2008 11:11 AM
