There are many whose response to the realization that the third of the Five Books of Moses, Leviticus (Vayikra, in Hebrew) begins with today’s Torah reading, would be ZZZZZZzzzzzz. Compared to Genesis and Exodus we’re not talking about fun and games unless the details of the sacrificial system keep you up at night from excitement. As a matter of fact, I had heard of one synagogue that skips all but the nineteenth chapter of Vayikra and substitutes it with portions found in Deuteronomy. The reason is that Deuteronomy is so much more interesting, and since summer keeps many away from Shabbat worship (as if Autumn, Winter and Spring don’t), they’ll read Leviticus when everyone’s “down the shore” (as they say in New Jersey; “at the beach” as normal people say).
What makes chapter 19 so special is that it’s called the Holiness Code. It begins, “You shall be holy for I, the Eternal your God, am holy,” and from there the instruction is at the core of social justice. In fact, there are some who say that this is more significant than the Ten Commandments. There is some truth to that.
But that doesn’t mean that the rest of Leviticus is devoid of importance. As I mentioned earlier this week, Sh’mini asks the question “Why would God zap the two young sons of Aaron for offering ‘strange fire’”? One answer was that they were smashed, terribly intoxicated, teaching that one can do weird things when drunk, so don’t get drunk.
In Tazria and then Metzora, two portions that often are joined together, we read about how certain conditions require separation from the community, childbirth for one. There’s a rigid procedure for returning to the camp but return they may once the condition is over (of course if you’ve given birth to a girl you’ve got to stay outside the camp one week longer than had you given birth to a boy).
The same is true for skin conditions, translated as leprosy but probably meaning something far more benign. Not knowing the impact of certain conditions, the ancients felt the best thing was to keep the afflicted away for as long as necessary. While we might believe this is very extreme, just look at what’s happening with Covid-19 and the isolation we place upon ourselves!
Behar teaches that there should be a sabbath not only for humans but for the land as well. Our Torah is very environmentally sensitive; caring for the land by demanding it lay fallow is an example of what the phrase from Psalm 24 means…”The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” The sabbatical and jubilee years are proof positive that we are meant to be “stewards of whatever we possess,” stewards, not landlords.
One of our children wouldn’t watch a movie if it was in black and white. I said, “You know, some of the best ones weren’t in color.” Well, some of the best portions in the Torah aren’t the ones found in Bible Stories for the Jewish Child. They are hidden in the pages of Vayikra! My child still wouldn’t watch a black-and-white movie.
(The rabbi was bedridden in the hospital. The president came to cheer him up. “Rabbi,” he said, “I just want you to know that the Board voted you a speedy recovery 11-7.”)