Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayikra/0/en
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Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayikra
Prayer or Sacrifice?
Set up a debate at your Shabbat table regarding the ideal form of worship. Is prayer or sacrifice a better model?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system?
- How would your repentance be different if, instead of confessing sins with your heart and mouth, you also had to bring a sin-offering? How might giving a tangible object, rather than merely speaking words, affect your relationship with Hashem?1
- For elaboration, see Purpose of the Sacrifices with specific attention to how Rambam and Ramban each view the relative value of prayer and sacrifice.
Atoning For Sin
R"Y Bekhor Shor claims that it is crucial that there be some sore of atonement process by which people can cleanse themselves from sin. Otherwise, people would be less likely to be wary of future sins, thinking that they were dirty regardless. Knowing that one's slate has been wiped clean provides an incentive to stay pure from sin.
- Do you agree, or does knowing that such an atonement process exists make it easier to sin, as one knows that there is a safety net to rely upon?
- R"Y Bekhor Shor does not say why the atonement process had to be accomplished specifically through animal sacrifice. Ramban suggests that in watching the animal slaughtered, a person is forced to recognize that it should have been his blood which was spilled had it not been for Hashem's mercy. This knowledge should prevent him from sinning further. What other advantages does the sacrificial procedure provide?
- See Purpose of the Sacrifices.
Purpose of Mitzvot
In debating the role and value of sacrifices, commentators display their differing attitudes towards the purpose and nature of mitzvot as a whole. Some of the questions they touch upon include:
- Is it problematic to propose a practical or utilitarian purpose for a commandment, or to suggest that it is a concession to human foibles? In other words, must the Torah's laws represent an ideal and be inherently valuable, or might they simply be addressing human needs and nature?
- Are all of the Torah's laws equally relevant and useful to all generations, or is it possible that some were meant mainly for a particular time period?
- How does looking into the reasoning behind a particular commandment make it more meaningful? What are the dangers of doing so?
- For several (of many) topics where these issues are discussed Purpose of the Mishkan and Purpose of the Sacrifices, Purpose of the Pesach (and Ibn Kaspi there), Half Shekels – For Census or Tabernacle?, Tzaraat, and Purpose of the Captive Woman Protocol.
