Parashat Vayikra: Lessons From Animal Sacrifices

In the beginning of the parashah, parashat Vayikra, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Am Yisrael, that each one among us to bring an offering to Hashem from within themselves, mikem. And Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says, we need to know why the Torah has to say among you. Well, the verse could have simply said, when a man brings an offering to Hashem. Another question is, why did it put off saying among you until after mentioning what is done by the person that he brings. It would have been more fitting for the verse to first set out the full description of what he's going to do. What's the act? Who it's clearly talking about. When it says a man, meaning that it should have finished the phrase and said, a man among you. And then mention that whatever is being done by the person. Meaning that we see that there's a lot a lot more into this than just a simple meaning. So, the first part, the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says, Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, is that the sages teach us that they interpret the of of you among you, saying that this comes to exclude the renegade Jew from bringing the the korban. meaning the one Hashem says when a man among you brings an offering to me, to Hashem he's not referring to the renegade Jew. Now, this is not every renegade cuz there's a renegade and there's a renegade. What's the difference? Says if the renegade is rebellious against the entire Torah meaning he disregards all of the laws of the Torah or he's rebellious in regards to idol worship which is equivalent to the entire Torah then he cannot bring a sacrifice. The sacrifice is rejected. But if he's a renegade who's not rebellious against the entire Torah then his sacrifice is accepted. So if he habitually disregards the entire Torah or engages in idol worship then he's excluded from bringing a sacrifice. But if he's a Jew that disregards only some of the commandments but obeys others then he's allowed to bring a Kurban. Now it seems that this is deep and sufficient but it only begins this way. So you see the same Torah that's talking about the renegade Jew is also talking about bringing a sacrifice bringing an animal. Or Hayyim says, the Torah is also trying to tell us that even on the good side, not just the rebellious Jews, but even on the good side, there's different levels among the righteous. There's instructions to men of of distinction, to righteous Jews, to do what? To strive to draw the hearts of other members of the Jewish nation nearer to the service of Hashem. This is referred to as bringing an offering to Hashem. For through man's sin, a rift is formed in the attachment between the Jewish people and their father in heaven. Of which it's written in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 4, but you are attached to Hashem your God, you are all life today. That's what Moshe Rabbenu told us. And the Jewish people become separated and distant from the Shekhinah, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu is upset by this matter, and he desires to draw them near him once again. And he therefore instructed the righteous to rebuke, to admonish anyone who is distant from him, and to draw that person's heart near to him. He prescribed a punishment for anyone who turns a blind eye to this matter. And this is your proof of the matter, says Orach Chaim Hakadosh. At the time of the destruction of the first Bet Hamikdash, Hashem instructed the prosecuting angels to begin the punishment with the holy ones. For although they themselves were innocent of wrongdoing, they did not protest against the acts of the sinners, of the renegades. As in the Gemara Maseches Shabbat page 55A. And conversely, Hashem has prescribed a great reward for a person who returns sinners to him and causes them to do good. In accordance with the statement that the Pirkei Avot chapter five, Mishnah number 18 says, "Whoever brings merit to the public will not have a transgression come to his way." This is because Hashem will protect him from his errors and in in reward for bringing others close to him. Now, how is this interpreted into this verse as far as the sacrifice? Says the Orach Chaim, "The Torah is particular to use the term Adam, which is an expression for a man that connotes distinction, somebody significant. Like the Zohar Hakadosh says, when he draws near and whom he draws near, the verse explains by saying of you, meaning that some of the lowly ones that are among you who have rebelled against Hashem and said, 'God, go away from us.' And have distanced themselves from attachment to Hashem, blessed be he. That is who the distinguished man, the Adam, shall draw near. And the verse says, "An offering to Hashem." Meaning that the one who does this, the one that does kiruv, the one that actually helps people do teshuvah, this is considered to be as a korban to Hashem, as an offering to Hashem. For he hereby brings a Jew who is a shoot of Hashem's holy planting back to its root. Such a person doesn't need a vowed or donated offering. He doesn't need to bring regular korbanot like the rest of the nation, even the righteous ones, but they're not doing kiruv. They still have to bring sacrifices for their unintentional sins, but the one that does kiruv, that brought even a single soul to do teshuvah, he doesn't have to bring any sacrifices because he has achieved the same thing by drawing a distant Jew near to Hashem. And therefore, there's no situation in which he would have to bring a korban chatat or asham, which atones for unintentional sins. Because as the sages taught us, "Whoever brings merit to the public will not have a sin occurred through him." Meaning that Hashem will protect him from sinning even in error. And if someone does not it does not sin unintentionally, then there's no need for them to bring any sacrifice. Here, rabotai kerim, and he continues further, anyone wants to look further into his holy words of the Orach Chaim, it's this week's parashat Vayikra, first chapter, in the second verse. In so many words, the Or HaChaim HaKadosh is saying, "Yes, we have rebels, but there are different levels of rebels. Some of them Some of them are the worst of the worst. Some of them join the church, become the leaders of the church, become leaders in missionizing Jews to try to bring them to idolatry. And unfortunately, the most popular and successful Christian missionaries are halakhically Jewish. Some of the worst heretics that the world has has today are rabbis or people that teach Torah. Whether they tell you one thing or the other, you're not even sure which is true, which is false, unless you're learned in Torah. And unfortunately, many people fell. So, those rebels, those enemies of the Torah, those versions of Esau that are literally trying to brutally destroy the Torah, they cannot bring a sacrifice. They cannot atone for what they did. They simply are enemies. They They have no interest in ever changing. But then there's a different type of rebel. A rebel that is simply ignorant. A rebel that is simply addicted to drugs, addicted to immorality, addicted to money, addicted to all types of other things, and simply ignorant about the consequences of what happens if Hashem punishes him. That rebel Hashem wants him back. Hashem wants him back and is waiting for him or her every single microsecond. When are they going to say Shema Yisrael? When are they going to come to shul? When are they going to learn a little bit of my Torah? When are they going to do another mitzvah? When are they going to say that I am the only God? When are they going to say I love you, Hashem? When are they going to be afraid that I'm going to punish them? When? Every day. For thousands of years, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has been waiting for that soul to come back to him. >> [clears throat] >> Looking for him in every corner, waiting for him in every second. Imagine a father waiting for his long-lost son that he knows is alive. And the only way for him to see him again is if the boy or the girl comes back home. There's no end to the agony of the father. As Yaakov Avinu could not stop crying over Yosef. Hakadosh Baruch Hu waits for every rebellious Jew to come back home, to stop violating Shabbat, to stop being in a corrupt business, to stop being corrupt in every aspect. But he can't force you to come home. But he can send messengers to get you. So, when there's a messenger that goes and makes the sacrifice and makes the effort to go find one of Hashem's children to bring him back home. Imagine the extraordinary nachas that you bring to Hashem that you brought one of his children back or 10 or 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 or more. Imagine the reward that the messenger would get from the king. Even if the king was a flesh and blood king, lowly flesh and blood of today, imagine what he would give a messenger that found his son and brought him home. Needless to say the king of kings, with no limitations, no concept of of of time, no before, during, or after, imagine the reward that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bring and give to that messenger that brought one of his children back. Imagine the punishment and the wrath that the so-called Erev Rav, wicked enemy, that told that person not to do teshuvah, that person not to follow what the Torah says, but rather to follow a different path, a path of heresy, a path a path of addiction, a path of foolishness. When that boy was on the way home, unfortunately there's been a lot of boys on the way home that have been kidnapped by even worse monsters than the ones that originally took them. >> [music] >> That's a fortress I used to go to every morning bend over in the toilet. I don't know if they let you stay in the bathroom or not. I don't know if they let you stay in the bathroom or not. I don't know if they let Amen.