PARASHAT VAYIKRA - 1999

This coming week's Parasha is Vayikra, which deals with animal sacrifice. The Torah tells us about sacrificing animals in the Temple. The verses in Leviticus I, tells us that a person can bring an offering, which is a burnt offering without blemish, and bring it to the door of the tent, so that it may be accepted before G-d. The animal is brought and slaughtered. If the animal is too large, and a small animal is brought, it may be a sheep or a lamb, a turtle dove or a pigeon. How is it possible for Judaism to sanction animal sacrifice? It just seems so barbaric.

There are basically two approaches to animal sacrifice in Judaism. Maimonides, in his Guide to the Perplexed, tells us that animal sacrifice was a concession that G-d gave the Jewish people because in ancient times, because the pagans used to sacrifice human beings. By giving us animal sacrifice, G-d tried to wean us away from the sacrifice of human beings. So says Maimonides in his guide: When the Temple is rebuilt, we would basically not have animal sacrifice, because we've been weaned away from human sacrifice.

However, there is another school of thought in Judaism. The ethicist basically argue that every humanbeing (Rabbi, in the spell check it says that human being should be two words, not one) has pent up violence in them.

For instance, the Talmud says that some people are born under the constellation of ma'adim, Mars, and because of that, they're born with this tremendous passion for blood, these are potential murderers. However, people can actually sublimate this passion and use it for a good purpose. So, a person who is born with this surfeit of bloodlust can use it to be a surgeon, or to be a mohel, which expresses the bloodlust in a socially acceptable way. The ethicist's go even further and say that it is necessary for every human being to express this violence, this pent up violence in them. And if we don't, we're going to wind up expressing it in a non-socially acceptable way.

You know that we, in our generation, unfortunately, don't truly appreciate the basic principal of Judaism, which is the sanctity of human life. So, for instance, in 1975, a racehorse named Ruffian, who was one of the greatest racehorses that ever lived, died. The newspaper headlines in New York, and all over the country, reported Ruffian death, that Ruffian was laid to rest, that Ruffian was buried in Belmont Raceway. At the same time as Eastern Boeing 727 crashed at John F. Kennedy, and 123 people died. Not a single person got an obituary like the racehorse Ruffian, even though, some very notable people, were killed in that plane crash. We need to understand that human life is much more sacred than animal life.

No one can really be against animal sacrifice because the truth of the matter is that, with the exception of the burnt offering, every single animal sacrifice was eaten. So, unless you're a vegetarian, if you eat steaks, if you eat lamb chops, if you eat veal, there's nothing really different between an animal sacrifice and eating meat, except that you're treating the animal with a great deal more sanctity.

It is well known that milk farmers will never eat the cow, or slaughter the cow that gave them milk. In other words, the milk farmer will never eat "Elsie," because he had the relationship with her. The person who brought the animal sacrifice, always had a relationship with that animal. And it was a traumatic thing for the farmer to sacrifice that animal. They had watch over it for a year or for two, and they had a personal relationship. In effect, what animal sacrifice does is teach the human being to appreciate animal life, and the trauma of seeing animal sacrifice. I believe, will discourage the eating of meat. Yes, Judaism really discourages the eating of meat. In the Garden of Eden, Utopia, remember that eating meat was forbidden, and only allowed later as a concession to Noah. Before Noah, we were all vegetarian. I believe that that's truly what Judaism advocates. The fact that kosher meat is so expensive, the fact that it's so difficult to prepare kosher meat, it must be rinsed and soaked and salted. You can't have your ice-cream for 5 or 6 hours after you've eaten meat. All this is basically an attempt to discourage the eating of meat. It's also an attempt to make us much more sensitive to animal life.

I believe that if we study these parshiot, we will begin to appreciate what Judaism has to offer. Whether you understand animal sacrifice as a concession to human beings, and that it will no longer be needed in future eras, or you see it as a very important part of the humanizing and civilizing process of the Torah, it's a very, very important study to undertake, so that we can appreciate the truly revolutionary ideas that the Torah expresses to us. I hope that by next week I'll have my voice back, I thank you for listening. May you be blessed.