Leviticus is tough. Some don’t like it at all. Why do we bother to read it? Why did the Israelites offer sacrifices? Why did much of it address the priests, the cohanim? What does it have to do with us? Who cares?  

One of the simple answers is hidden in the text tells us, G-d spoke to Moses saying. So if G-d said so, it must be important. Sort of like when a kid asks her  mother why do I have to and the mom answers, “Because I said so.” But that isn’t satisfactory to the child and isn’t to us. 

There are several words for sacrifice. Korban comes from the root, “To draw close.” How do we draw close to G-d today? We recite prayers, we light candles, we bake challah, we perform rituals, we sing, we meditate. We open our hearts. And sometimes we have a flash of insight, we sense that G-d is close. But those moments seem fleeting. The rituals are designed to allow us to more consistently experience the Divine. 

The translation in Etz Hayyim say that “this is the ritual of the sacrifice of well-being. The word is actually Torat zevah shlomim.” But here the word Torah doesn’t mean Torah scroll. Rather it comes from the same root that means to aim, direct, to cast,, shoot, which becomes to show the way, to instruct. So these are the rituals. A way to draw close to G-d.

Another word is avodah. Avodah comes from the root that means sacrifice, service, work. We are told in Pirke Avot that the world is sustained by three things: Al shlosha devarim. Al HaTorah, Al ha’avodah, Al gemilut chasadim. On Torah, On sacrifice, On acts of lovingkindness. What can we offer G-d? What does G-d need from us? Maybe the better question is what can we offer each other? 

One more term for today: zevach shlomim. According to Etz Hayim it is an offering of well-being. Shlomim comes from the same root as shalom, which we know means hello, good bye and peace but comes from a sense of wholeness, completeness. It is like when we offer the mi sheberach prayer and wish someone a refua shlema, a full, complete healing.  

The Oxford online Dictionary defines well-being as the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy. “an improvement in the patient’s well-being” 

So a zevah shlomim offers us an opportunity to feel that sense of happiness, contentment, fullness.  

The next phrase in our text is zevach todah, an offering of thanksgiving. We know the word todah from modern Hebrew. Todah means thanks. These offerings give us an opportunity to feel gratitude, to say thank you. To G-d, to our fellows, to the word at large. Because we know from modern research that gratitude leads to that sense of wholeness, of fullness, of drawing close to G-d.  

Rabbi Jennifer Singer reminded me that what Leviticus is begging us to do is to draw close to G-d, to think beyond ourselves with acts of lovingkindness,, to live every day fully, completely. She says, “And we live every day as if it matters. Because it does. My little corner of the world feels safe and calm, but there are people and events swirling around us that are roiling the seas and sending tidal waves of fear and grief. Even here, I feel it. Tendrils of hatred filter into my world and as much as I would like to withdraw, I cannot. We cannot.”  

Then she adds one of my favorite stories from the Talmud.  “Yohanan ben Zakkai, once said: “If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone tells you, ‘Come quickly, the Messiah is here!’ first finish planting the tree and then go to greet the Messiah.” 

Come draw close to G-d. Come do acts of lovingkindness. Come plant a sapling. Come help bring the Messiah. This weekend and every weekend.