Parashat Vayikra - What We Learn From Animal Sacrifices

0:03Furthermore, when we go into the Torah, we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us a mussar lesson. A mussar lesson through the korbanot, the sacrifices, where the Torah says in regards to the sacrifices that a... When a man—this is in Chapter One of, which is, Leviticus in English, Chapter One, Verse Number Two—where it talks about, where it says, "When a man among you brings an offering to Hashem, from animals, from the cattle or from the flock shall you bring your offering." So, in the Hebrew word, the word "behemah" is referring to a kosher animal. It's cattle. And bakar is also, in essence, you're seeing here two words that are more or less synonymous, one after the other. So why say behemah, why say bakar? Now, if you say, listen, you need to bring a sacrifice, you know, what kind of sacrifice are you going to bring? Oh, I'm going to bring a cow. Oh, so you're bringing a behemah, okay. Now, if you go to the meat store and you say, listen, I want some meat, you're not going to tell the guy, I want behemah, or I want a cow. You're going to say, I want bakar. Bakar is the meat. more or less synonymous, one after the other. So why say behemah, why say bakar? Now, if you say, listen, you know, you need to bring a sacrifice, you know, what kind of sacrifice are you going to bring? Oh, I'm going to bring a cow. Oh, so you're bringing a behemah, okay. Now, if you go to the meat store and you say, listen, I want some meat, you're not going to tell the guy, I want behemah, or I want a cow. You're going to say, I want bakar. Bakar is the meat.

1:29but obviously, this is it's the same thing. This is a cow; this is a karban, a sacrificial cow. But there are two different words, and they're used one after the other. So, the Ba'al HaMusar teaches here that it's because the first time the word for the animal "behemah" is used, it's not referring to the sacrifice but rather referring to the one that's bringing the sacrifice, the person. The person that brought this sacrifice, this bakar, he is a behemah. Why is he a behemah? Because he made a sin. Now you say, yeah, but he did it unintentionally. If it was intentional, the punishment would be much worse. The fact that he didn't pay attention Two, the reality that Hashem is watching everything, that he has to have fear of Hashem, that he has to be much more careful with his actions, that already puts him in a category where he's acting like a behema. He's acting like an animal. Why? A behema doesn't have rules. It can eat where it wants to eat. It can drink where it wants to drink. If it wants to drink its friend's water, it'll drink its friend's water. If it wants to eat its friend's food, it'll eat its friend's food. It wants to walk, it wants to sleep. It wants to procreate. There's no loyalty among the wives or the husbands in the animal world, with the exception of a couple of exceptional animals like the dove, but the point being is that...

2:50Food – it’ll eat its friend’s food. It wants to walk, it wants to sleep, it wants to procreate. There is no loyalty among the wives or husbands in the animal world, with the exception of a couple of exceptional animals like the dove. But the point is that... If an animal walks around and just decides to eat wherever, drink wherever, or procreate wherever, you're not going to say, "Oh, that's a bad cow." You're simply going to say the cow is being a cow. But if a person, needless to say a Jew, walks around as if there's no God in Heaven actually watching every action and every thought that you do, or does business in a way as if there's no God watching every transaction that you do, that person is acting contrary to the principles of Torah and morality. handles their body or mishandles their body or her body as if there's no God that gave rules for morality, then in essence, that person is acting like a behemah, acting like an animal. So, the Torah tells us this behemah that's bringing a korban, that's bringing a sacrifice — he has rules even for the sacrifice.

4:13you actually made a mistake unintentionally, you still need to bring a Korban Chatat (sin offering). This is because even an unintentional sin requires atonement. We see this in the context of someone eating at the Beit HaMikdash. If a person mistakenly consumes something that isn't permitted, they are still accountable. So, for example, if while eating, you have two pieces of meat in front of you and... Didn't do it accidentally, you'd be much worse than just a bamah, much worse than a bamah. Now, a person says, "Yeah, but sometimes you have to bring this bamah where?" You know, you're not sure if you actually made a sin. How is it so? So Chazal bring an example: if a person was eating at the Beit HaMikdash, he's eating, let's take a break, he's human, he has to eat, and he has two pieces of meat in front of him, and... Now he put one piece of meat, and that meat was the meat that he asked, you know, he wants to eat kosher meat, good meat, everything else. The meat next to it looks the same, but it's actually part of the sacrifice, and he's forbidden from eating it. Now, he eats the meat, and then his friend comes and goes, "Whoa, I think you just ate the wrong meat." How do you know? I'm not sure—maybe I did, maybe I didn't. For that, he has to bring a sacrifice. Now he's gonna say, "Yeah, listen, this possible accident just cost me $25,000 to buy a cow to bring the sacrifice. Maybe I really didn't do it. Maybe it was just a loss of money." So Chazal says no, the fact is

5:30that you weren't paying attention to what you were doing means that you were acting like a beheima anyway, which means that even though you may have not actually eaten the wrong meat, you may have not actually committed the sin. The fact that you're not conscious of your actions already means that you're acting like an animal. So here we see, Rabotai Yekarim, already from the first couple of verses in this parashah, there's an endless amount of lessons for life. If you don't give yourself rules that, to comply with, you're going to be a very, very difficult person to deal with. It's going to be very difficult for you to maintain any relationship with success over the long run. It's going to be very difficult for you to enjoy life. Why? Because rules are necessary. On the other hand, if you give yourself man-made rules, it could even be worse. Why? Because the man-made rules,

6:30They change, they change with the times, they change with the attitudes, they change with the community. They're unfortunately not something that's stable. Today he likes this, the next week he likes that. One day the scientist says this, the next week he says something else. And this is the reason why HaKadosh Baruch Hu is telling us that you have to learn Torah day and night. This is what He tells Yehoshua bin Nun. You have to learn Torah. You have to learn Torah day and night. Why? Because these are the rules of Hashem. Hashem's rules do not change. No matter what the idol-worshipping Christians or the Muslims say, Hashem's rules do not change. He gave us the rules. That's what they are. So what we have here is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is telling us it's not a matter of the Torah being good for you. You need the Torah. It's not a matter of the Torah being good for life. It is life. But unfortunately, a person who does not learn Torah is not going to believe that.

7:33He's not going to believe that the Torah is life. He's not going to believe that he needs Torah. It may be nice, it may be wise, it may be intellectually stimulating, it may even have some good advice. Need it? Ah, come on, now you're exaggerating, Rabbi. And that's why the Torah itself gives us an endless amount of lessons to remind us of the things that we need to know even before we believe them. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, disrespect to the Torah and could lead to chilul Hashem, desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew. that he's a Jew, and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah, and could lead to chillul Hashem, a desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew.