{"id":7923,"date":"2018-03-16T12:08:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T16:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/?p=7923"},"modified":"2018-03-16T12:08:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T16:08:35","slug":"message-from-moreh-greg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg","title":{"rendered":"Message from Moreh Greg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah &#8211;\u00a0<em>Sefer Vayikra<\/em>\u00a0(The Book of Leviticus).\u00a0\u00a0Vayikra has very few dramatic narratives of other books of the Torah; it is comprised mostly of laws and regulations, some of which sound arcane and anachronistic to the modern ear.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0However, if we attune ourselves to the underlying messages of the book, we can glean many important spiritual and ethical teachings.\u00a0\u00a0This week, in\u00a0<em>Parshat Vayikra<\/em>, we read of the many offerings Bnai Israel were instructed to bring to God.\u00a0\u00a0The word for offering &#8212;\u00a0<em>korban<\/em>\u00a0&#8212; has the same Hebrew root as the word\u00a0<em>karov<\/em>, which means &#8220;close&#8221; or &#8220;near&#8221;.\u00a0\u00a0The purpose of bringing offerings was to create a closer, more proximal relationship with God.\u00a0\u00a0In ancient times, offerings took the form of food, and very often animal sacrifice.\u00a0\u00a0Jewish tradition, well aware that God does not require food, has provided many explanations for this ancient practice.\u00a0\u00a0The most relevant in my mind is that one creates a relationship by offering one&#8217;s most valuable items.\u00a0\u00a0Food, particularly livestock, was for the Israelite pastoralists their most valuable commodity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Jewish tradition, animal sacrifice has long been replaced by the words of prayer.\u00a0\u00a0Today, we offer words as a way of coming closer and building relationships, not only with God but with each other.\u00a0\u00a0With words we offer others comfort, condolence, praise, and friendship.\u00a0\u00a0The very first verse of\u00a0<em>Parshat Vayikra<\/em>\u00a0reads:\u00a0\u00a0And God called (<em>Vayikra<\/em>) to Moshe and God spoke (<em>vayedaber<\/em>) to him.\u00a0\u00a0We wonder, why are two verbs of communication &#8211; &#8220;calling,&#8221; and &#8220;speaking&#8221; required?\u00a0\u00a0According\u00a0\u00a0to the commentator Rashi, God first &#8220;called&#8221; to Moshe with a word of affection (l<em>ashon hibah<\/em>), and then &#8220;spoke&#8221; to Moshe concerning a series of instructions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From this we can learn that before we use our words to communicate information, we use them to draw closer to others, to build relationships.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we use relationship building language as an &#8220;offering&#8221; our message is more likely to be heard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shabbat Shalom,<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreh Greg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah &#8211;\u00a0Sefer Vayikra\u00a0(The Book of Leviticus).\u00a0\u00a0Vayikra has very few dramatic narratives of other books of the Torah; it is comprised &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9 - 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