Torah Bites for Your Table: Parshat Vayikra

Shalom Friends

My apologies for the tardy post. I wrote the post on Thursday, but somehow it did not get posted. Now...on to Torah!

I am always fascinated by the way in which the Torah speaks about who provides specific offerings and why in this week's parasha of Vayikra. In particular, the Talmud comments on the fact that when the Torah refers to who must bring a meal offering, it says that each nefesh (soul) provides the offering, as opposed to each ish (man) that provides an offering (Vayikra 2:1). In particular, the Talmud understands this term as being necessarily connected to the types of offerings made by those who are too poor to make a large offering, stating the following:

"Rabbi Isaac said, "In what is a meal offering, that 'nefesh'--'a soul'--should be said in that regard? The Holy One, Blessed be God, said, "The poor person, who generally brings a meal offering (not being able to afford an animal offering) is in My eyes like someone who has offered his or her very soul"" (Babylonian Talmud Menahot 104).

In this case, the Talmud is teaching us more than a simple lesson about the value of giving an offering even when we cannot afford to offer physically or monetarily significant. Rather, the Talmud recognizes that giving what we have to our community, even if what we feel what we have given is not enough, can ultimately be the creative act of bringing our souls into a joint communal experience. No matter what we can, giving something matters.

As we begin to enter the book of Vayikra, and are challenged to think about how the various offerings relate to our experience giving something to the Jewish Community, let us remember than we give an offering that comes from our soul, we do more than make a contribution of physical significance, but of spiritual power.

Shabbat Shalom
Josh

1. Parents: How would you say that you give to your community? Which contributions do you consider most valuable? Why?
2. Children: Can you think of a time when you gave something to someone else who needed it? How did that experience make you feel? What are other times when you can perform the same act?
3. Seekers: How can giving serve as an act that "feeds" the soul? What type of offering would you say is most spiritually significant?