Tzav (parsha)
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Tzav, Tsav, Zav, Sav, or Ṣaw ( —
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
for "command," the sixth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 25th
weekly Torah portion It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion to be read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' ( he, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is p ...
(, ''parashah'') in the annual
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
cycle of
Torah reading Torah reading (; ') is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the a ...
and the second in the
Book of Leviticus The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...
. The parashah teaches how the priests performed the
sacrifices Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...
and describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons. The parashah constitutes . The parashah is made up of 5,096 Hebrew letters, 1,353 Hebrew words, 97 verses, and 170 lines in a Torah scroll (, '' Sefer Torah'').
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s read it the 24th or 25th Sabbath after
Simchat Torah Simchat Torah or Simhat Torah (, lit., "Rejoicing with/of the Torah", Ashkenazi: ''Simchas Torah'') is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simch ...
, generally in the second half of March or the first half of April.


Readings

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , '' aliyot''.


First reading — Leviticus 6:1–11

In the first reading (, ''aliyah''),
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
told Moses to command Aaron and the priests about the rituals of the sacrifices (, ''karbanot''). In verse 6:2 "...''it is that which goeth up on its firewood upon the altar all night unto the morning''," the letter in the word is small. The burnt offering (, ''olah'') was to burn on the
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
until morning, when the priest was to clear the ashes to a place outside the camp. The priests were to keep the
fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
burning, every morning feeding it
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
. The meal offering (, ''minchah'') was to be presented before the altar, a handful of it burned on the altar, and the balance eaten by the priests as unleavened cakes in the Tent of Meeting.


Second reading — Leviticus 6:12–7:10

In the second reading (, ''aliyah''), on the occasion of the High Priest's anointment, the meal offering was to be prepared with oil on a griddle and then entirely burned on the altar. The
sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
offering (, ''chatat'') was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, and the priest who offered it was to eat it in the Tent of Meeting. If the sin offering was cooked in an earthen vessel, that vessel was to be broken afterward. A copper vessel could be rinsed with water and reused. If
blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...
of the sin offering was brought into the Tent of Meeting for expiation, the entire offering was to be burned on the altar. The guilt offering (, ''asham'') was to be slaughtered at the same place as the burnt offering, the priest was to dash its blood on the altar, burn its
fat In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...
, broad tail,
kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
s, and protuberance on the
liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...
on the altar, and the priest who offered it was to eat the balance of its meat in the Tent of Meeting. The priest who offered a burnt offering kept the skin. The priest who offered it was to eat any baked or grilled meal offering, but every other meal offering was to be shared among all the priests.


Third reading — Leviticus 7:11–38

In the third reading (, ''aliyah''), the peace offering (, ''shelamim''), if offered for thanksgiving, was to be offered with unleavened cakes or wafers with oil, which would go to the priest who dashed the blood of the peace offering. All the meat of the peace offering had to be eaten on the day that it was offered. If offered as a votive or a freewill offering, it could be eaten for two days, and what was then left on the third day was to be burned. Meat that touched anything unclean could not be eaten; it had to be burned. And only a person who was unclean could not eat meat from peace offerings, at pain of exile. One could eat no fat or blood, at pain of exile. The person offering the peace offering had to present the offering and its fat himself, the priest would burn the fat on the altar, the breast would go to the priests, and the right thigh would go to the priest who offered the sacrifice.


Fourth reading — Leviticus 8:1–13

In the fourth reading (, ''aliyah''), God instructed Moses to assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for the priests' ordination. Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward, washed them, and dressed Aaron in his vestments. Moses anointed and consecrated the
Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
and all that was in it, and then anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons.


Fifth reading — Leviticus 8:14–21

In the fifth reading (, ''aliyah''), Moses led forward a
bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...
for a sin offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull's head, and it was slaughtered. Moses put the bull's blood on the horns and the base of the altar, burned the fat, the protuberance of the liver, and the kidneys on the altar, and burned the rest of the bull outside the camp. Moses then brought forward a
ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...
for a burnt offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, and it was slaughtered. Moses dashed the blood against the altar and burned all of the ram on the altar.


Sixth reading — Leviticus 8:22–29

In the sixth reading (, ''aliyah''), Moses then brought forward a second ram for ordination, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, and it was slaughtered. Moses put some of its blood on Aaron and his sons, on the ridges of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Moses then burned the animal's fat, broad tail, protuberance of the liver, kidneys, and right thigh on the altar with a cake of unleavened bread, a cake of oil bread, and a wafer as an ordination offering. Moses raised the breast before God and then took it as his portion.


Seventh reading — Leviticus 8:30–36

In the seventh reading (, ''aliyah''), Moses sprinkled oil and blood on Aaron and his sons and their vestments. And Moses told Aaron and his sons to boil the meat at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there, and remain at the Tent of Meeting for seven days to complete their ordination, and they did all the things that God had commanded through Moses.


Readings according to the triennial cycle

Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:


In inner-Biblical interpretation

This parashah and the preceding one ( Vayikra) have parallels or are discussed in these Biblical sources:


Leviticus chapters 1–7

In
Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
God clarifies the purpose of sacrifices. God states that correct sacrifice was not the taking of a bull out of the sacrificer's house, nor the taking of a goat out of the sacrificer's fold, to convey to God, for every animal was already God's possession. The sacrificer was not to think of the sacrifice as food for God, for God neither hungers nor eats. Rather, the worshiper was to offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon God in times of trouble, and thus God would deliver the worshiper and the worshiper would honor God. And enumerates four occasions on which a thank-offering (, ''zivchei todah''), as described in (referring to a , ''zevach todah'') would be appropriate: (1) passage through the desert, (2) release from
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
, (3) recovery from serious
disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
, and (4) surviving a
storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...
at sea. The
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Noah offered burnt-offerings (, ''olot'') of every clean beast and bird on an altar after the waters of the Flood subsided. The story of the
Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac ( he, , ), or simply "The Binding" (, ), is a story from Genesis 22 of the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Moriah. As Abraham begins to comply, having bound Isa ...
includes three references to the burnt offering (, ''olah''). In God told
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
to take
Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...
and offer him as a burnt-offering (, ''olah''). then reports that Abraham rose early in the morning and split the wood for the burnt-offering (, ''olah''). And after the
angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...
of the Lord averted Isaac's sacrifice, reports that Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and Abraham then offered the ram as a burnt-offering (, ''olah'') instead of his son. reports that Moses pressed
Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
for Pharaoh to give the Israelites "sacrifices and burnt-offerings" (, ''zevachim v'olot'') to offer to God. And reports that after Jethro heard all that God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Jethro offered a burnt-offering and sacrifices (, ''olah uzevachim'') to God. While and set out the procedure for the meal-offering (, ''minchah''), before then, in Cain brought an offering (, ''minchah'') of the fruit of the ground. And then reports that God had respect for Abel and his offering (, ''minchato''), but for Cain and his offering (, ''minchato''), God had no respect. And while indicates that one bringing an animal sacrifice needed also to bring a drink-offering (, ''nesech''), before then, in
Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
poured out a drink-offering (, ''nesech'') at Bethel. More generally, the Hebrew Bible addressed "sacrifices" (, ''zevachim'') generically in connection with Jacob and Moses. After Jacob and
Laban Laban is a French language, French surname. It may refer to: Places * Laban-e Olya, a village in Iran * Laban-e Sofla, a village in Iran * Laban, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * 8539 Laban, main-belt asteroid People ...
reconciled, reports that Jacob offered a sacrifice (, ''zevach'') on the mountain and shared a meal with his kinsmen. And after Jacob learned that
Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
was still alive in Egypt, reports that Jacob journeyed to
Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
and offered sacrifices (, ''zevachim'') to the God of his father Isaac. And Moses and Aaron argued repeatedly with Pharaoh over their request to go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice (, ''venizbechah'') to God. The Hebrew Bible also includes several ambiguous reports in which Abraham or Isaac built or returned to an altar and "called upon the name of the Lord." In these cases, the text implies but does not explicitly state that the Patriarch offered a sacrifice. And at God's request, Abraham conducted an unusual sacrifice at the Covenant between the Pieces () in


Leviticus chapter 8

This is the pattern of instruction and construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings: Gordon Wenham noted that the phrase "as the Lord commanded Moses" or a similar phrase "recurs with remarkable frequency" in , appearing in
5




an

The Hebrew Bible refers to the
Urim and Thummim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...
in 1 Samuel ("Thammim") and and and may refer to them in references to "sacred utensils" in and the Ephod in an
19
an

and and The Torah mentions the combination of ear, thumb, and toe in three places. In God instructed Moses how to initiate the priests, telling him to kill a ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and dash the remaining blood against the altar round about. And then reports that Moses followed God's instructions to initiate Aaron and his sons. Then,

an

set forth a similar procedure for the cleansing of a person with skin disease (, '' tzara'at''). In God instructed the priest on the day of the person's cleansing to take some of the blood of a guilt-offering and put it upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed. And then in God instructed the priest to put oil on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed, on top of the blood of the guilt-offering. And finally, in an
28
God instructed the priest to repeat the procedure on the eighth day to complete the person's cleansing.


In early nonrabbinic interpretation

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:


Leviticus chapter 8

Reading
Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's de ...
noted that Moses took some blood from the sacrificed ram, holding a vial under it to catch it, and with it he anointed three parts of the body of the initiated priests — the tip of the ear, the extremity of the hand, and the extremity of the foot, all on the right side. Philo taught that this signified that the perfect person must be pure in every word and action, and in all of life. For it is the hearing that judges a person's words, the hand is the symbol of action, and the foot of the way in which a person walks in life. Philo taught that since each of these parts is an extremity of the body, and on the right side, this indicates that improvement in everything is to be arrived at by dexterity, being a portion of felicity, and being the true aim in life, which a person must necessarily labor to attain, and to which a person ought to refer all actions, aiming at them in life as an archer aims at a target.


In classical rabbinic interpretation

The parashah is discussed in these
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
nic sources from the era of the
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...
and the
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
:


Leviticus chapter 6

Tractate
Zevachim Zevachim ( he, זְבָחִים; lit. "Sacrifices") is the first tractate of Seder Kodashim ("Holy Things") of the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Tosefta. This tractate discusses the topics related to the sacrificial system of the Temple in Jerusale ...
in the Mishnah,
Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...
, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the law of animal sacrifices in The Mishnah taught that a sacrifice was slaughtered for the sake of six things: (1) for the sake of the sacrifice for which it was consecrated, (2) for the sake of the offerer, (3) for the sake of the Divine Name, (4) for the sake of the altar fires, (5) for the sake of an aroma, and (6) for the sake of pleasing God, and a sin-offering and a guilt-offering for the sake of sin. Rabbi Jose taught that even if the offerer did not have any of these purposes at heart, the offering was valid, because it was a regulation of the court, since the intention was determined only by the priest who performed the service. The Mishnah taught that the intention of the priest conducting the sacrifice determined whether the offering would prove valid. Rabbi Simeon taught that, generally speaking, the Torah required a burnt offering only as expiation for sinful meditation of the heart. A
Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
taught that if people repent, it is accounted as if they had gone up to
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, built the
Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
and the altars, and offered all the sacrifices ordained in the Torah.
Rabbi Aha Rabbi Aha ( he, רבי אחא, read as ''Rabbi Achah'') was a rabbi of the Land of Israel, of the fourth century (fourth generation of amoraim). Biography He resided at Lod, but later settled in Tiberias where Huna II, Judah ben Pazi, and him ...
said in the name of Rabbi
Hanina ben Pappa Hanina ben Pappa ( he, חנינה בר פפא) was a Jewish Talmudist living in the Land of Israel, halakhist, and aggadist who flourished in the 3rd and 4th centuries (third generation of amoraim). His name is variously written "Ḥanina", " ...
that God accounts studying the sacrifices as equivalent to offering them.
Rav Huna Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist and Exilarch who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; he was born about 216 (212 according to Gratz) and died in 296-297 (608 of ...
taught that God said that engaging in the study of Mishnah is as if one were offering up sacrifices. Samuel taught that God said that engaging in the study of the law is as if one were building the Temple. And the Avot of Rabbi Natan taught that God loves Torah study more than sacrifice.
Rabbi Ammi Rabbi Ammi, Aimi, Immi (Hebrew: רבי אמי) is the name of several Jewish Talmudists, known as amoraim, who lived in the Land of Israel and Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud the first form only is used; in the Jerusalem Talmud all three fo ...
taught that Abraham asked God if Israel would come to sin, would God punish them as God punished the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Tower of Babel. God answered that God would not. Abraham then asked God in “How shall I know?” God replied in “Take Me a heifer of three years old . . .” (indicating that Israel would obtain forgiveness through sacrifices). Abraham then asked God what Israel would do when the Temple would no longer exist. God replied that whenever Jews read the Biblical text dealing with sacrifices, God would reckon it as if they were bringing an offering, and forgive all their iniquities. The Gemara taught that when Rav
Sheshet Rav Sheshet ( he, רב ששת) was a amora of the third generation of the Talmudic academies in Babylonia (then Asoristan, now Lower Mesopotamia, Iraq). His name is sometimes read Shishat or Bar Shishat. Biography He was a colleague of Rav Nach ...
fasted, on concluding his prayer, he added a prayer that God knew that when the Temple still stood, if people sinned, they used to bring sacrifices (pursuant to and ), and though they offered only the animal's fat and blood, atonement was granted. Rav Sheshet continued that he had fasted and his fat and blood had diminished, so he asked that it be God's will to account Rav Sheshet fat and blood that had been diminished as if he had offered them on the Altar. Rabbi Isaac declared that prayer is greater than sacrifice. The Avot of Rabbi Natan taught that as Rabban
Johanan ben Zakai :''See Yohanan for more rabbis by this name''. Yohanan ben Zakkai ( he, יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי, ''Yōḥānān ben Zakkaʾy''; 1st century CE), sometimes abbreviated as Ribaz () for Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was one of the Tan ...
and
Rabbi Joshua Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ ben Ḥánanyāh''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the seventh-most-frequently mentioned sage i ...
were leaving Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua expressed sorrow that the place where the Israelites had atoned for their iniquities had been destroyed. But Rabban Johanan ben Zakai told him not to grieve, for we have in acts of loving-kindness another atonement as effective as sacrifice at the Temple, as says, “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Rabbi Mani of Sheab and Rabbi Joshua of Siknin in the name of Rabbi Levi explained the origin of Moses prayed on Aaron's behalf, noting that the beginning of Leviticus repeatedly referred to Aaron's sons, barely mentioning Aaron himself. Moses asked whether God could love well water but hate the well. Moses noted that God honored the olive tree and the vine for the sake of their offspring, teaching that the priests could use all trees' wood for the altar fire except that of the olive and vine. Moses thus asked God whether God might honor Aaron for the sake of his sons, and God replied that God would reinstate Aaron and honor him above his sons. And thus God said to Moses the words of "Command Aaron and his sons." Rabbi Abin deduced from that burnt offerings were wholly given over to the flames. The School of
Rabbi Ishmael Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Nachmani (Hebrew: רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע), often known as Rabbi Yishmael and sometimes given the title "Ba'al HaBaraita" (Hebrew: בעל הברייתא), was a rabbi of the 1st and 2nd centuries (third gener ...
taught that whenever Scripture uses the word "command" (, ''tzav'') (as does), it denotes exhortation to obedience immediately and for all time. A
Baraita ''Baraita'' ( Aramaic: "external" or "outside"; pl. ''Barayata'' or ''Baraitot''; also Baraitha, Beraita; Ashkenazi: Beraisa) designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. ''Baraita'' thus refers to teachings ...
deduced exhortation to immediate obedience from the use of the word "command" in which says, "charge
Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
, and encourage him, and strengthen him." And the Baraita deduced exhortation to obedience for all time from the use of the word "command" in which says, "even all that the Lord has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord gave the commandment, and onward throughout your generations." Rabbi Joshua of Siknin said in Rabbi Levi's name that the wording of supports the argument of Rabbi
Jose bar Hanina Rabbi Jose bar Hanina ( he, רבי יוסי בר חנינא, read as ''Rabbi Yossi bar Hanina'') was an '' amora'' of the Land of Israel, from the second generation of the Amoraim. Biography He was a disciple of R. Yochanan bar Nafcha, and served ...
(on which he differed with Rabbi Eleazar) that the descendants of Noah offered only burnt-offerings (and not peace-offerings, as before the Revelation at
Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...
, people were unworthy to consume any part of an animal consecrated to God). Rabbi Joshua of Siknin noted that says, "This is the law of the burnt-offering: that is the burnt-offering," which Rabbi Joshua of Siknin read to mean "that is the burnt-offering" that the Noahides used to offer. But when addresses peace-offerings, it says, "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings," and does not say, "that they offered" (which would indicate that they offered it in the past, before Revelation). Rabbi Joshua of Siknin thus read to teach that they would offer the peace-offering only after the events of Reading the words of "This is the law of the burnt-offering: it is that which goes up on its firewood upon the altar all night to the morning," the Mishnah concluded that the altar sanctified whatever was eligible for it. Rabbi Joshua taught that whatever was eligible for the altar fire did not descend once it had ascended. Thus, just as the burnt-offering, which was eligible for the altar fire, did not descend once it had ascended, so whatever was eligible for the altar fire did not descend once it ascended. The Gemara interpreted the words in "This is the law of the burnt-offering: It is that which goes up on its firewood upon the altar all night into the morning." From the passage, "which goes up on its firewood upon the altar all night," the Rabbis deduced that once a thing had been placed upon the altar, it could not be taken down all night. Rabbi Judah taught that the words "''This'' . . . goes up on . . . the altar all night" exclude three things. According to Rabbi Judah, they exclude (1) an animal slaughtered at night, (2) an animal whose blood was spilled, and (3) an animal whose blood was carried out beyond the curtains. Rabbi Judah taught that if any of these things had been placed on the altar, it was brought down. Rabbi Simeon noted that says "burnt-offering." From this, Rabbi Simeon taught that one can only know that a fit burnt-offering remained on the altar. But Rabbi Simeon taught that the phrase "the law of the burnt-offering" intimates one law for all burnt-offerings, namely, that if they were placed on the altar, they were not removed. Rabbi Simeon taught that this law applied to animals that were slaughtered at night, or whose blood was spilt, or whose blood passed out of the curtains, or whose flesh spent the night away from the altar, or whose flesh went out, or were unclean, or were slaughtered with the intention of burning its flesh after time or out of bounds, or whose blood was received and sprinkled by unfit priests, or whose blood was applied below the scarlet line when it should have been applied above, or whose blood was applied above when it should have been applied below, or whose blood was applied outside when it should have been applied within, or whose blood was applied within when it should have been applied outside, or a Passover-offering or a sin-offering that one slaughtered for a different purpose. Rabbi Simeon suggested that one might think that law would also include an animal used for bestiality, set aside for an idolatrous sacrifice or worshipped, a harlot's hire or the price of a dog (as referred to in ), or a mixed breed, or a ''trefah'' (a torn or otherwise disqualified animal), or an animal calved through a cesarean section. But Rabbi Simeon taught that the word "''This''" serves to exclude these. Rabbi Simeon explained that he included the former in the general rule because their disqualification arose in the sanctuary, while he excluded the latter because their disqualification did not arise in the sanctuary. The Gemara taught that it is from the words of "upon the altar all night into the morning," that the MishnahMishnah Megillah 2:6
in, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation'', translated by Jacob Neusner, page 320
Babylonian Talmud Megillah 20b
in, e.g., ''Koren Talmud Bavli: Taanit • Megillah'', commentary by Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz) (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers, 2014), volume 12, page 327.
concludes that "the whole of the night is proper time for ... burning fat and limbs (on the altar)." And the Mishnah then set forth as a general rule: "Any commandment which is to be performed by night may be performed during the whole of the night." The Rabbis taught a story reflecting the importance of the regular offering required by When the Hasmonean brothers Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus Aristobulus or Aristoboulos may refer to: *Aristobulus I (died 103 BC), king of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty, 104–103 BC *Aristobulus II (died 49 BC), king of Judea from the Hasmonean Dynasty, 67–63 BC *Aristobulus III of Judea (53 BC–36 BC), ...
were contending with one another, and one was within Jerusalem's city wall and the other was outside, those within would let down a basket of money to their besiegers every day, and in return the besiegers would send up kosher animals for the regular sacrifices. But an old man among the besiegers argued that as long as those within were allowed to continue to perform sacrifices, they could not be defeated. So on the next day, when those inside sent down the basket of money, the besiegers sent up a pig. When the pig reached the center of the wall, it stuck its hooves into the wall, and an earthquake shook the entire Land of Israel. On that occasion, the Rabbis proclaimed a curse on those who bred pigs. It was taught in the name of Rabbi Nehemiah that in obedience to the Israelites kept the fire burning in the altar for about 116 years, yet the wood of the altar did not burn, and the brass of the altar did not melt, even though it was taught in the name of Rabbi Hoshaiah that the metal was only as thick as a coin. Rabbi Levi read homiletically to mean: "This is the law regarding a person striving to be high: It is that it goes up on its burning-place." Thus Rabbi Levi read the verse to teach that a person who behaves boastfully should be punished by fire. A Midrash deduced the importance of peace from the way that the listing of the individual sacrifices in concludes with the peace offering. gives "the law of the burnt-offering," gives "the law of the meal-offering," gives "the law of the sin-offering," gives "the law of the guilt-offering," and gives "the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings." Similarly, the Midrash found evidence for the importance of peace in the summary of which concludes with "the sacrifice of the peace-offering." Rabbi Judah the Levite, the son of Rabbi Shalom, taught that God's arrangements are not like those of mortals. For example, the cook of a human master dons fair apparel when going out, but puts on ragged things and an apron when working in the kitchen. Moreover, when sweeping the stove or oven, the cook puts on even worse clothing. But in God's presence, when the priest swept the altar and removed the ashes from it, he donned fine garments, as says: "And the priest shall put on his linen garment," so that "he shall take up the ashes." This is to teach that pride has no place with the Omnipresent. A Baraita interpreted the term "his fitted linen garment" (, ''mido'') in to teach that the each priestly garment in had to be fitted to the particular priest, and had to be neither too short nor too long. The Gemara interpreted the words "upon his body" in to teach that there was to be nothing between the priest's body and his priestly garment. left, 300px, The Tabernacle, with the laver and altar (2009 illustration by Gabriel L. Fink) Elaborating on the procedure in for removing ash from the altar, the Mishnah taught that the priests would get up early and cast lots for the right to remove the ashes. The priest who won the right to clear the ashes would prepare to do so. They warned him to take care not to touch any vessel until he had washed his hands and feet. No one entered with him. He did not carry any light, but proceeded by the light of the altar fire. No one saw him or heard a sound from him until they heard the noise of the wooden wheel that Ben Katin made for the laver. When they told him that the time had come, he washed his hands and feet with water from the laver, took the silver fire-pan, went to the top of the altar, cleared away the cinders on either side, and scooped up the ashes in the center. He then came down, and when he reached the floor, he turned to the north (toward the altar) and went along the east side of the ramp for about ten cubits, and he then piled the cinders on the pavement three handbreadths away from the ramp, in the place where they used to put the crop of the birds, the ashes from the inner altar, and the ash from the menorah. Rabbi Johanan called his garments "my honor." Rabbi Aha bar Abba said in Rabbi Johanan's name that "And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments," teaches that a change of garments is an act of honor in the Torah. And the School of Rabbi Ishmael taught that the Torah teaches us manners: In the garments in which one cooked a dish for one's master, one should not pour a cup of wine for one's master. Rabbi
Hiyya bar Abba Ḥiyya bar Abba (Aramaic: רבי חייא בר אבא), Ḥiyya bar Ba (Aramaic: רבי חייא בר בא), or Ḥiyya bar Wa (Aramaic: רבי חייא בר ווא) was a third generation ''amoraic'' sage of the Land of Israel, of priestly des ...
said in Rabbi Johanan's name that it is a disgrace for a scholar to go out into the marketplace with patched shoes. The Gemara objected that Rabbi Aha bar Hanina went out that way; Rabbi Aha son of
Rav Nachman Rav Nachman bar Yaakov ( he, רב נחמן בר יעקב; died 320) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the third generation. It is generally accepted that references to Rav Nachman in the Talmud refer to Rav Nach ...
clarified that the prohibition is of patches upon patches. Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba also said in Rabbi Johanan's name that any scholar who has a grease stain on a garment is worthy of death, for
Wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowle ...
says in "All they that hate me (, ''mesanne'ai'') love (merit) death," and we should read not , ''mesanne'ai'', but , ''masni'ai'' (that make me hated, that is, despised). Thus a scholar who has no pride in personal appearance brings contempt upon learning. Ravina taught that this was stated about a thick patch (or others say, a bloodstain). The Gemara harmonized the two opinions by teaching that one referred to an outer garment, the other to an undergarment. Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba also said in Rabbi Johanan's name that in "As my servant
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
walked naked and barefoot," "naked" means in worn-out garments, and "barefoot" means in patched shoes. Tractate Menachot in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the law of meal offerings in The Rabbis taught that through the word "this," Aaron became degraded, as it is said in "And Aaron said: ‘. . . I cast it into the fire, and there came out ''this'' calf,'" and through the word "this," Aaron was also elevated, as it is said in "''This'' is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day when he is anointed" to become High Priest. And noting the similarity of language between "This is the sacrifice of Aaron" in and "This is the sacrifice of
Nahshon In the Hebrew Bible, ' ''Nahshon ( he, נַחְשׁוֹן ''Naḥšon'') was a tribal leader of the Judahites during the wilderness wanderings of the Book of Numbers. In the King James Version, the name is spelled Naashon, and is within modern ...
the son of Amminadab" and each of the other princes of the 12 tribes in the Rabbis concluded that Aaron's sacrifice was as beloved to God as the sacrifices of the princes of the 12 tribes. A Midrash noted that the commandment of that Aaron offer sacrifices paralleled
Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
's riddle "out of the eater came forth food", for Aaron was to eat the sacrifices, and by virtue of a sacrifice was to come from him.


Leviticus chapter 7

A Midrash read the words of “Whoso offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me,” to teach that the thanksgiving offerings of honored God more than sin offerings or guilt offerings. Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Aha that taught that one who gave a thanksgiving offering gave God honor upon honor.
Rabbi Berekiah R. Berekiah (or R. Berekhyah; he, רבי ברכיה, read as ''Rabbi Berekhyah'') was an ''Amoraim, Amora'' of the Land of Israel, of the fourth generation of the Amora era. He is known for his work on the Aggadah, and there are many of his statem ...
said in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana that the donor honored God in this world and will honor God in the
World to Come The world to come, age to come, heaven on Earth, and the Kingdom of God are eschatological phrases reflecting the belief that the current world or current age is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world, age, or ...
. And the continuation of “to him who sets right the way,” referred to those who clear stones from roads. Alternatively, the Midrash taught that it refers to teachers of Scripture and the
Oral Law An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted. M ...
who instruct the young with sincerity. Alternatively, Rabbi Jose the son of Rabbi Judah said in the name of Rabbi Menahem the son of Rabbi Jose that it refers to shopkeepers who sell produce that has already been tithed. Alternatively, the Midrash taught that it refers to people who light lamps to provide light for the public. Rabbi Phinehas compared the thanksgiving offerings of to the case of a king whose tenants and intimates came to pay him honor. From his tenants and entourage, the king merely collected their tribute. But when another who was neither a tenant nor a member of the king's entourage came to offer him homage, the king offered him a seat. Thus Rabbi Phinehas read homiletically to mean: "If it be for a thanks giving, He odwill bring him he offerernear
o God Oh God may refer to: * An exclamation; similar to "oh no", "oh yes", "oh my", "aw goodness", "ah gosh", "ah gawd"; see interjection ''Oh, God!'' franchise * ''Oh, God!'' (film) (1977 film) aka "Oh, God! 1" * ''Oh, God! Book II'' (1980 film) aka ...
" Rabbi Phinehas and Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Menahem of Gallia that in the Time to Come, all sacrifices will be annulled, but the thanksgiving sacrifice of will not be annulled, and all prayers will be annulled, but the Thanksgiving (, ''Modim'') prayer will not be annulled. In reading the requirement of for the loaves of the thanksgiving sacrifice, the Mishnah interpreted that if one made them for oneself, then they were exempt from the requirement to separate
challah Challah (, he, חַלָּה or ; plural: or ) is a special bread of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and major Jewish holidays (other than Passover). Ritually acceptable ch ...
, but if one made them to sell in the market, then they were subject to the requirement to separate challah. The Mishnah taught that a vow-offering, as in was when one said, "It is incumbent upon me to bring a burnt-offering" (without specifying a particular animal). And a freewill-offering was when one said, "''This'' animal shall serve as a burnt-offering" (specifying a particular animal). In the case of vow offerings, one was responsible for replacement of the animal if the animal died or was stolen; but in the case of freewill obligations, one was not held responsible for the animal's replacement if the specified animal died or was stolen.
Rabbi Eliezer Eliezer ben Hurcanus or Hyrcanus ( he, אליעזר בן הורקנוס) was one of the most prominent Sages (tannaim) of the 1st and 2nd centuries in Judea, disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai Avot of Rabbi Natan 14:5 and colleague of Gamalie ...
taught that the prohibition of eating the meat of a peace-offering on the third day in also applied to invalidate the sacrifice of one who merely ''intended'' to eat sacrificial meat on the third day. The Sages taught that one may trust butchers to remove
chelev Chelev ( he, חֵלֶב, ''kheylev'' or ''ẖelev''), or what is also known as "suet", is the animal fats that the Torah prohibits Jews and Israelites from eating (). Only the ''chelev'' of animals that are of the sort from which offerings can be ...
, the fat that and forbids. Rabbi Berekiah said in the name of Rabbi Isaac that in the Time to Come, God will make a banquet for God's righteous servants, and whoever had not eaten meat from an animal that died other than through ritual slaughtering (, ''neveilah'', prohibited by ) in this world will have the privilege of enjoying it in the World to Come. This is indicated by which says, "And the fat of that which dies of itself (, ''neveilah'') and the fat of that which is torn by beasts (, ''tereifah''), may be used for any other service, but you shall not eat it," so that one might eat it in the Time to Come. (By one's present self-restraint one might merit to partake of the banquet in the Hereafter.) For this reason Moses admonished the Israelites in "This is the animal that you shall eat." A Baraita explained how the priests performed the waiving. A priest placed the sacrificial portions on the palm of his hand, the breast and thigh on top of the sacrificial portions, and whenever there was a bread offering, the bread on top of the breast and thigh.
Rav Papa Rav Pappa ( he, רַב פַּפָּא) (c. 300 – died 375) was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fifth generation of amoraim. Biography He was a student of Rava and Abaye. After the death of his teachers he founded a school at Naresh, a city near ...
found authority for the Baraita's teaching in which states that they placed the bread on top of the thigh. And the Gemara noted that implies that the breast and thigh were on top of the offerings of fat. But the Gemara noted that says that the priest "shall bring the fat upon the breast."
Abaye Abaye ( he, אַבַּיֵי) was a rabbi of the Jewish Talmud who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the fourth generation. He was born about the close of the third century, and died 337 CE. Biography His father, Kaylil, was the brother ...
reconciled the verses by explaining that refers to the way that the priest brought the parts from the slaughtering place. The priest then turned them over and placed them into the hands of a second priest, who waived them. Noting further that says that "they put the fat upon the breasts," the Gemara deduced that this second priest then handed the parts over to a third priest, who burned them. The Gemara thus concluded that these verses taught that three priests were required for this part of the service, giving effect to the teaching of "In the multitude of people is the king's glory." Rabbi Aha compared the listing of to a ruler who entered a province escorting many bands of robbers as captives. Upon seeing the scene, one citizen expressed his fear of the ruler. A second citizen answered that as long as their conduct was good, they had no reason to fear. Similarly, when the Israelites heard the section of the Torah dealing with sacrifices, they became afraid. But Moses told them not to be afraid; if they occupied themselves with the Torah, they would have no reason to fear.Leviticus Rabbah 9:8, in, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus'', translated by Harry Freedman and Maurice Simon, volume 4, pages 114–15. A Midrash asked why mentions peace-offerings last in its list of sacrifices, and suggested that it was because there are many kinds of peace-offerings. Rabbi Simon said that assorted desserts always come last, because they consist of many kinds of things. Noting that says that "This is the law . . . that the Lord commanded ''Moses'' in mount Sinai," Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra counted among 13 limiting phrases recorded in the Torah to inform us that God spoke not to Aaron but to Moses with instruction that he should tell Aaron. Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra taught that these 13 limiting phrases correspond to and limit 13 Divine communications recorded in the Torah as having been made to both Moses and Aaron.


Leviticus chapter 8

Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman taught that Moses first incurred his fate to die in the wilderness from his conduct at the
Burning Bush The burning bush (or the unburnt bush) refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah (as also in the biblical Old Testament). It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the ...
, for there God tried for seven days to persuade Moses to go on his errand to Egypt, as says, “And Moses said to the Lord: ‘Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, neither yesterday, nor the day before, nor since you have spoken to your servant’” (which the Midrash interpreted to indicate seven days of conversation). And in the end, Moses told God in “Send, I pray, by the hand of him whom You will send.” God replied that God would keep this in store for Moses. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name and Rabbi Helbo give different answers on when God repaid Moses. One said that all the seven days of the consecration of the priesthood in Moses functioned as High Priest, and he came to think that the office belonged to him. But in the end, God told Moses that the job was not his, but his brother's, as says, “And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron.” The other taught that all the first seven days of Adar of the fortieth year, Moses beseeched God to enter the
Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...
, but in the end, God told him in “You shall not go over this Jordan.”
Rabbi Jose Jose ben Halafta or Yose ben Halafta (or Yose ben Halpetha) (Hebrew: רבי יוסי בן חלפתא; IPA: /ʁa'bi 'josi ben xa'lafta/) was a tanna of the fourth generation (2nd century CE). He is the fifth-most-frequently mentioned sage in the M ...
noted that even though reported that the Tabernacle's courtyard was just 100 cubits by 50 cubits (about 150 feet by 75 feet), a little space held a lot, as implied that the space miraculously held the entire Israelite people. The Tosefta deduced from the congregation's placement in that in a synagogue, as well, the people face toward the sanctuary. The Mishnah taught that the High Priest inquired of the Urim and Thummim noted in only for the king, for the court, or for one whom the community needed.Mishnah Yoma 7:5
in, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation'', translated by Jacob Neusner, page 277
Babylonian Talmud Yoma 71b
in, e.g., ''Koren Talmud Bavli: Yoma'', commentary by Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz) (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers, 2013), volume 9, page 351.
A Baraita explained why the Urim and Thummim noted in were called by those names: The term "Urim" is like the Hebrew word for "lights," and thus it was called "Urim" because it enlightened. The term "Thummim" is like the Hebrew word ''tam'' meaning "to be complete," and thus it was called "Thummim" because its predictions were fulfilled. The Gemara discussed how they used the Urim and Thummim: Rabbi Johanan said that the letters of the stones in the breastplate stood out to spell out the answer. Resh Lakish said that the letters joined each other to spell words. But the Gemara noted that the Hebrew letter , ''
tsade Tsade (also spelled , , , , tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ṣādē , Hebrew ṣādi , Aramaic ṣāḏē , Syriac ṣāḏē ܨ, Ge'ez ṣädäy ጸ, and Arabic . Its oldest phone ...
'', was missing from the list of the 12 tribes of Israel. Rabbi Samuel bar Isaac said that the stones of the breastplate also contained the names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But the Gemara noted that the Hebrew letter , ''
teth Teth, also written as or Tet, is the ninth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Ṭēt , Hebrew Tēt , Aramaic Ṭēth , Syriac Ṭēṯ ܛ, and Arabic . It is the 16th letter of the modern Arabic alphabet. The Persian ṭa ...
'', was also missing. Rav
Aha bar Jacob Rav Aha bar Jacob (or R. Aha bar Ya'akov; he, רבי אחא בר יעקב) was an Babylonian rabbi of the third and fourth generations of Amoraim. He was one of the disciples of Rav Huna. He was also one of the prominent Jewish leaders of Papu ...
said that they also contained the words: "The tribes of Jeshurun." The Gemara taught that although the decree of a
prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
could be revoked, the decree of the Urim and Thummim could not be revoked, as says, "By the judgment of the Urim." The
Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (also Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer; Aramaic: פרקי דרבי אליעזר, or פרקים דרבי אליעזר, Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer; abbreviated PdRE) is an aggadic-midrashic work on the Torah containing exegesis and re ...
taught that when Israel sinned in the matter of the devoted things, as reported in Joshua looked at the 12 stones corresponding to the 12 tribes that were upon the High Priest's breastplate. For every tribe that had sinned, the light of its stone became dim, and Joshua saw that the light of the stone for the
tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
had become dim. So Joshua knew that the tribe of Judah had transgressed in the matter of the devoted things. Similarly, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer taught that
Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...
saw the
Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...
turning against Israel, and he knew that Israel had sinned in the matter of the ban. Saul looked at the 12 stones, and for each tribe that had followed the law, its stone (on the High Priest's breastplate) shined with its light, and for each tribe that had transgressed, the light of its stone was dim. So Saul knew that the
tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the Samaritan Pentate ...
had trespassed in the matter of the ban. The Mishnah reported that with the death of the
former prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...
, the Urim and Thummim ceased. In this connection, the Gemara reported differing views of who the former prophets were.
Rav Huna Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist and Exilarch who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; he was born about 216 (212 according to Gratz) and died in 296-297 (608 of ...
said they were David, Samuel, and Solomon. Rav Nachman said that during the days of David, they were sometimes successful and sometimes not (getting an answer from the Urim and Thummim), for
Zadok Zadok (or Zadok HaKohen, also spelled Ṣadok, Ṣadoc, Zadoq, Tzadok, or Tsadoq; he, צָדוֹק הַכֹּהֵן, meaning "Righteous, Justified") was a Kohen (priest), biblically recorded to be a descendant from Eleazar the son of Aaron (). H ...
consulted it and succeeded, while Abiathar consulted it and was not successful, as reports, "And Abiathar went up." (He retired from the priesthood because the Urim and Thummim gave him no reply.) Rabbah bar Samuel asked whether the report of
2 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...
"And he (King
Uzziah Uzziah (; he, עֻזִּיָּהוּ ''‘Uzzīyyāhū'', meaning "my strength is Yah"; el, Ὀζίας; la, Ozias), also known as Azariah (; he, עֲזַרְיָה ''‘Azaryā''; el, Αζαρίας; la, Azarias), was the tenth king of t ...
of Judah) set himself to seek God all the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God," did not refer to the Urim and Thummim. But the Gemara answered that Uzziah did so through Zechariah's prophecy. A Baraita told that when the first Temple was destroyed, the Urim and Thummim ceased, and explained (reporting events after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity), "And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim," as a reference to the remote future, as when one speaks of the time of the
Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
. Rav Nachman concluded that the term "former prophets" referred to a period before
Haggai Haggai (; he, חַגַּי – ''Ḥaggay''; Koine Greek: Ἀγγαῖος; la, Aggaeus) was a Hebrew prophet during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the author of ...
, Zechariah, and
Malachi Malachi (; ) is the traditional author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Tanakh. According to the 1897 ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name, as it simply mean ...
, who were latter prophets. And the
Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...
taught that the "former prophets" referred to Samuel and David, and thus the Urim and Thummim did not function in the period of the First Temple, either. The Gemara taught that the early scholars were called ''
sofer A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M ( he, סופר סת״ם, "scribe"; plural of is , ; female: ) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot (ST"M, , is an abbreviation of the ...
im'' (related to the original sense of its root ''safar'', "to count") because they used to count all the letters of the Torah (to ensure the correctness of the text). They used to say the '' vav'' () in , ''gachon'' ("belly"), in marks the half-way point of the letters in the Torah. (And in a Torah Scroll, scribes write that ''vav'' () larger than the surrounding letters.) They used to say the words , ''darosh darash'' ("diligently inquired"), in mark the half-way point of the words in the Torah. And they used to say marks the half-way point of the verses in the Torah. Rav Joseph asked whether the ''vav'' () in , ''gachon'' ("belly"), in belonged to the first half or the second half of the Torah. (Rav Joseph presumed that the Torah contains an even number of letters.) The scholars replied that they could bring a Torah Scroll and count, for Rabbah bar bar Hanah said on a similar occasion that they did not stir from where they were until a Torah Scroll was brought and they counted. Rav Joseph replied that they (in Rabbah bar bar Hanah's time) were thoroughly versed in the proper defective and full spellings of words (that could be spelled in variant ways), but they (in Rav Joseph's time) were not. Similarly, Rav Joseph asked whether belongs to the first half or the second half of verses. Abaye replied that for verses, at least, we can bring a Scroll and count them. But Rav Joseph replied that even with verses, they could no longer be certain. For when Rav Aha bar Adda came (from the Land of Israel to Babylon), he said that in the West (in the Land of Israel), they divided into three verses. Nonetheless, the Rabbis taught in a Baraita that there are 5,888 verses in the Torah. (Note that others say the middle letter in our current Torah text is the '' aleph'' () in , ''hu'' ("he") in the middle two words are , ''el yesod'' ("at the base of") in the half-way point of the verses in the Torah is and there are 5,846 verses in the Torah text we have today.) The
Sifra Sifra ( Aramaic: סִפְרָא) is the Halakhic midrash to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud, and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called "Torat Kohanim ...
taught that the words "and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear" in refer to the middle ridge of the ear. And the Sifra taught that the words "and upon the thumb of his right hand" in refer to the middle knuckle. A Master said in a Baraita that the use of the thumb for service in and
17
an

showed that every finger has its own unique purpose. Rabbi Jacob bar Acha taught in the name of Rabbi Zorah that the command to Aaron in "at the door of the tent of meeting shall you abide day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord," served as a source for the law of seven days of mourning for the death of a relative (, '' shivah''). Rabbi Jacob bar Acha interpreted Moses to tell Aaron that just as God observed seven days of mourning for the then-upcoming destruction of the world at the time of the Flood of Noah, so too Aaron would observe seven days of mourning for the upcoming death of his sons
Nadab and Abihu In the biblical books Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Nadab () and Abihu () were the two oldest sons of Aaron. According to Leviticus 10, they offered a sacrifice with "foreign fire" before the , disobeying his instructions, and were immediate ...
. And we know that God observed seven days of mourning for the destruction of the world by the Flood from which says, "And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth." The Gemara asked whether one mourns before a death, as Jacob bar Acha appears to argue happened in these two cases. In reply, the Gemara distinguished between the mourning of God and people: People, who do not know what will happen until it happens, do not mourn until the deceased dies. But God, who knows what will happen in the future, mourned for the world before its destruction. The Gemara noted, however, that there are those who say that the seven days before the Flood were days of mourning for
Methuselah Methuselah () ( he, מְתוּשֶׁלַח ''Məṯūšélaḥ'', in pausa ''Məṯūšālaḥ'', "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of Sword"; gr, Μαθουσάλας ''Mathousalas'') was a biblical patriarch and a f ...
(who died just before the Flood). Similarly, reading in that "it came to pass on the eighth day," a Midrash recounted how Moses told Aaron in "you shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting seven days." The Midrash interpreted this to mean that Moses thereby told Aaron and his sons to observe the laws of mourning for seven days, before those laws would affect them. Moses told them in that they were to "keep the charge of the Lord," for so God had kept seven days of mourning before God brought the Flood, as reports, "And it came to pass after ''the seven days'', that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth." The Midrash deduced that God was mourning by noting that reports, "And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it ''grieved'' Him (, ''vayitatzeiv'') at His heart." And uses the same word to express mourning when it says, "The king ''grieves'' (, ''ne'etzav'') for his son." After God told Moses in "And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and he Tabernacleshall be sanctified by My glory," Moses administered the service for seven days in fear, fearing that God would strike him down. And it was for that reason that Moses told Aaron to observe the laws of mourning. When Aaron asked Moses why, Moses replied (in the words of ) "so I am commanded." Then, as reported in God struck Nadab and Abihu instead. And thus in Moses told Aaron that he finally understood, "This is what the Lord meant when He said: ‘Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people.'"


In medieval Jewish interpretation

This and the preceding parashah, Vayikra, are discussed in these
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Jewish sources:


Leviticus chapters 1–7

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...
and Nachmanides differed about the reason for the sacrificial system. Maimonides wrote that the reason for the offerings was because when the Israelites lived in Egypt and Chaldea, the Egyptians worshipped sheep and the Chaldeans worshipped demons in the form of goats. And people in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
never slaughter cattle. Thus God commanded the Israelites to slaughter cattle, sheep, and goats to God, so that worshipers of the other lands would know that God required the very act that they considered to be the utmost sin, and through that act God would forgive Israel's sins. God thus intended to cure the people of the other nations of false beliefs, which Maimonides characterized as diseases of the soul, for diseases are healed by medicines that are antithetical to the diseases. Maimonides taught that God instituted the practice of sacrifices as a transitional step to wean the Israelites off of the worship of the times and move them toward prayer as the primary means of worship. Maimonides noted that in nature, God created animals that develop gradually. For example, when a mammal is born, it is extremely tender, and cannot eat dry food, so God provided breasts that yield
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...
to feed the young animal, until it can eat dry food. Similarly, Maimonides taught, God instituted many laws as temporary measures, as it would have been impossible for the Israelites suddenly to discontinue everything to which they had become accustomed. So God sent Moses to make the Israelites (in the words of ) "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But the general custom of worship in those days was sacrificing animals in temples that contained idols. So God did not command the Israelites to give up those manners of service, but allowed them to continue. God transferred to God's service what had formerly served as a worship of idols, and commanded the Israelites to serve God in the same manner — namely, to build to a Sanctuary (), to erect the altar to God's name (), to offer sacrifices to God (), to bow down to God, and to burn incense before God. God forbad doing any of these things to any other being and selected priests for the service in the temple in By this Divine plan, God blotted out the traces of idolatry, and established the great principle of the Existence and Unity of God. But the sacrificial service, Maimonides taught, was not the primary object of God's commandments about sacrifice; rather, supplications, prayers, and similar kinds of worship are nearer to the primary object. Thus God limited sacrifice to only one temple (see ) and the priesthood to only the members of a particular family. These restrictions, Maimonides taught, served to limit sacrificial worship, and kept it within such bounds that God did not feel it necessary to abolish sacrificial service altogether. But in the Divine plan, prayer and supplication can be offered everywhere and by every person, as can be the wearing of ''tzitzit'' () and ''
tefillin Tefillin (; Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Tefillin are worn by adult Jews durin ...
''
16
and similar kinds of service. Nachmanides noted that mentioned a reason for the offerings — that they are "a fire-offering, of a pleasing odor to the Eternal." Nachmanides rejected the argument that the offerings were meant to eliminate the foreigners' foolish ideas, for the sacrifices would not have that effect, as the foreigners' intention was to worship the constellations of the sheep and the ox, and if Jews slaughtered sheep and oxen to God, it would show respect and honor to those constellations. Nachmanides further noted that when Noah came out of the ark, there were as yet no Chaldeans or Egyptians in the world, yet Noah brought an offering that pleased God so much that reports that on its account God said, "I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake." Similarly, Abel brought of the first-born of his flock and reports that "the Eternal had regard to Abel and to his offering," but there had not yet been a trace of idol worship in the world. In Balaam said, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar," but his intent was not to eradicate evil beliefs from Balak's mind, but rather to approach God so that God's communication would reach Balaam. Nachmanides argued that the reason for the offerings was more likely that since people's deeds are accomplished through thought, speech, and action, therefore God commanded that when people sin and bring an offering, they should lay their hands on it in contrast to the evil deed that they committed. Offerers would confess their sin verbally to contrast with their evil speech. They would burn parts of the animal in fire that were seen as the instruments of thought and desire in human beings. The offerers would burn the legs of the animal because they corresponded to the limbs with which the offerer acted. The offerer sprinkled blood on the altar, which is analogous to the blood in the offerer's body. Nachmanides argued that offerers performed these acts so that the offerers should realize that the offerers had sinned against God with their bodies. And the offerer's soul and blood should have been spilled and the offerer's body burned, were it not for God's loving-kindness in taking a substitute and a ransom — the offering — so that the offering's blood should be in place of the offerer's blood, its life in place of the offerer's life, and that the limbs of the offering in place of the parts of the offerer's body.


Leviticus chapter 8

The '' Zohar'' taught that Aaron had to purge himself during the seven sacred days of and after that by means of the calf that directed. The ''Zohar'' observed that Aaron had to purge himself, for but for him the Golden Calf would not have emerged.


In modern interpretation

The parashah is discussed in these modern sources:


Leviticus chapters 6–7

Professor
James Kugel James L. Kugel (Hebrew: Yaakov Kaduri, יעקב כדורי; born August 22, 1945) is Professor Emeritus in the Bible Department at Bar Ilan University in Israel and the Harry M. Starr Professor Emeritus of Classical and Modern Hebrew Literature at ...
of
Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...
reported that ancient texts offered several explanations for why peoples of the ancient Near East sacrificed animals: to provide the deity food (see ); to offer the life of the slaughtered animal as a substitute for the offerer's; to give a costly possession as a sign of fealty or in the hope of receiving still more generous compensation from the deity. Kugel reported that more recent explanations saw the sacrifice as establishing a tangible connection between the sacrificer and the deity, while others stress the connection of the sacred with violence or see the function of religion as defusing violence that would otherwise be directed at people. Kugel argued that the Israelites conceived of animal sacrifices as the principal channel of communication between the people and God. Professor William Hallo, formerly of
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, described sacrifice as a sacred-making of the human consumption of animal meat that followed. Professor
Jacob Milgrom Jacob Milgrom (February 1, 1923 – June 5, 2010) was a prominent American Jewish Bible scholar and Conservative rabbi. Milgrom's major contribution to biblical research was in the field of cult and worship. Although he accepted the documentar ...
, formerly of the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, read the sacrificial system in the parashah to describe the forces of life and death pitted against each other in a cosmic struggle, set loose by people through their obedience to or defiance of God's commandments. Milgrom taught that Leviticus treats impurity as the opposite of holiness, identifying impurity with death and holiness with life.Jacob Milgrom, ''Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics: A Continental Commentary'', page 12. Milgrom interpreted Leviticus to teach that people could drive God out of the sanctuary by polluting it with their moral and ritual sins. But the priests could periodically purge the sanctuary of its impurities and influence the people to atone. The blood of the purification offerings symbolically purged the sanctuary by symbolically absorbing its impurities, in a victory for life over death. Similarly, Gordon Wenham of
Trinity College, Bristol Trinity College, Bristol is an evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by the University ...
, noted that the sacrificial system regularly associates sacrifices with cleansing and sanctification. Wenham read Leviticus to teach that sacrificial blood was necessary to cleanse and sanctify. Sacrifice could undo the effects of sin and human infirmity. Sin and disease profaned the holy and polluted the clean, whereas sacrifice could reverse this process. Wenham illustrated with the chart at right. Wenham concluded that contact between the holy and the unclean resulted in death. Sacrifice, by cleansing the unclean, made such contact possible. Sacrifice thus allowed the holy God to meet with sinful man. The 20th century British anthropologist Mary Douglas wrote that to find the underlying logic of the first chapters of Leviticus about how to make a sacrifice and how to lay out the animal sections on the altar, one needs to look carefully at what Leviticus says about bodies and parts of bodies, what is inner and outer, and what is on top and underneath. Douglas suggested this alignment of the three levels of Mount Sinai, the animal sacrifice, and the Tabernacle: Douglas argued that the tabernacle ran horizontally toward the most sacred area, Mount Sinai went up vertically to the summit, and the sacrificial pile started with the head underneath and went up to the entrails, and one can interpret each by reference to the others. Douglas noted that in mystical thought, “upper” and “inner” can be equivalent. The pattern is always there throughout creation, with God in the depths or on the heights of everything. Likening the tabernacle to a body, the innards corresponded to the Holy of Holies, for the Bible locates the emotions and thought in the innermost parts of the body; the loins are wrung with remorse or grief; God scrutinizes the innermost part; compassion resides in the bowels. The Tabernacle was associated with creation, and creation with fertility, implying that the innermost part of the Tabernacle was a Divine nuptial chamber, depicting the union between God and Israel. Douglas concluded that the summit of the mountain was the abode of God, below was the cloudy region that only Moses could enter, and the lower slopes were where the priests and congregation waited, and analogously, the order of placing the parts of the animal on the altar marked out three zones on the carcass, the suet set around and below the diaphragm corresponding to the cloud girdling the middle of the mountain. Milgrom noted that sets forth some of the few laws (along with and ) reserved for the Priests alone, while most of Leviticus is addressed to all the Israelite people. The 20th century
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
Rabbi Bernard Bamberger noted that while the Rabbis introduced into the synagogue a number of practices formerly associated with the Temple, they made no provision for "interim” sacrifices, even though they could have found precedents for sacrifice outside Jerusalem. When the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, the Rabbis did not choose to follow those precedents for sacrifice elsewhere, but instead set up a substitute, declaring the study of the sacrificial laws as acceptable to God as sacrifices. Bamberger suggested that some scholars may have felt that the day of sacrifice had passed.


Leviticus chapter 8

Reading Milgrom noted that abundant attestation exists of ritual daubing in the ancient Near East. The incantations recited during the ritual smearing of persons, gods' statues, and buildings testify to a purificatory and apotropaic purpose — to wipe off and ward off menacing demonic forces. These ancient Near East applications always smear the vulnerable parts of bodies (extremities) and structures (corners, entrances) with magical substances. Milgrom concluded that the blood daubing of the altar's extremities — its horns — closely resembles the blood daubing of the extremities of the priests in Milgrom also noted the correspondence of the dedicatory rite of Ezekiel's altar to the daubing of the priests, for in the purificatory blood is daubed not only on the altar's horns but also on the corners of its two gutters, located at its middle and bottom. Milgrom argued that these points correspond to a person's earlobe, thumb, and big toe. Milgrom concluded that these two rites shared the same purpose, which in the case of Ezekiel's altar made explicit: "And you shall decontaminate it and thus purge it." Similarly, says that through it "they shall purge the altar and thus purify it." Therefore, Milgrom concluded that the daubing of the priest at points of his body and the daubing of comparable points on the altar possessed a similar goal of purging.


In critical analysis

Scholars who follow the Documentary Hypothesis attribute the parashah to the Priestly source who wrote in the 6th or 5th century BCE.


Commandments

According to the
Sefer ha-Chinuch ''Sefer ha-Chinuch'' ( he, ספר החינוך, "Book of Education") is a Jewish rabbinic text which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th-century Spain. History The work's enumeration of ...
, there are 9 positive and 9 negative commandments in the parashah: *To remove the ashes from the altar every day *To light a fire on the altar every day *Not to extinguish this fire *The priests must eat the remains of the meal offerings. *Not to bake a meal offering as leavened bread *The High Priest must bring a meal offering every day. *Not to eat the meal offering of the High Priest *To carry out the procedure of the sin offering *Not to eat the meat of the inner sin offering *To carry out the procedure of the guilt offering *To follow the procedure of the peace offering *Not to allow any of the thanksgiving offering to remain until the morning *To burn the leftover ''korbanot'' *Not to eat from ''korbanot'' offered with improper intentions *Not to eat from ''korbanot'' that became impure *To burn all impure ''korbanot'' *Not to eat fat that can be used for ''korbanot'', (
chelev Chelev ( he, חֵלֶב, ''kheylev'' or ''ẖelev''), or what is also known as "suet", is the animal fats that the Torah prohibits Jews and Israelites from eating (). Only the ''chelev'' of animals that are of the sort from which offerings can be ...
) *Not to eat blood


In the liturgy

Many Jews read excerpts from and allusions to the instructions in the parashah as part of the readings on the offerings after the Sabbath morning blessings. Specifically, Jews read the instructions for the taking of the ashes in read the instructions for the offerings in and allude to the thanksgiving offerings of The prohibition in of eating of sacrificial meat by anyone ritually contaminated provides an application of the eighth of the Thirteen Rules for interpreting the Torah in the
Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael The Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael ( he, ברייתא דרבי ישמעאל) is a baraita which explains the 13 rules of Rabbi Ishmael, and their application, by means of illustrations from the Torah. The name is inaccurately given also to the first p ...
that many Jews read as part of the readings before the Pesukei d'Zimrah prayer service. The rule provides that an item included in a generalization that is then singled out to teach something is singled out not to teach only about that particular item but about the generalization in its entirety. prohibits the eating of sacrificial meat by anyone ritually contaminated, and then singles out the peace offering and states that a contaminated person who eats the peace offering is subject to excision (, ''kareit''). Applying the eighth rule teaches that the punishment of excision applies to a contaminated person who eats any of the offerings. The role of Moses as a priest in is reflected in which is in turn one of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service.


Haftarah


Generally

The
haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pro ...
for the parashah is and


Connection to the Parashah

Both the parashah and the haftarah refer to the burnt offering (, ''olah'') and sacrifice (, ''zevach''). In the haftarah, Jeremiah spoke of the priority of obedience to God's law over ritual sacrifice alone.


On Shabbat HaGadol

When the parashah coincides with
Shabbat HaGadol Special Shabbatot are Jewish Shabbat days on which special events are commemorated. Variations in the liturgy and special customs differentiate them from the regular Sabbaths and each one is referred to by a special name; many communities also ad ...
(the special Sabbath immediately before
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...
— as it does in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025, 2026, 2028, and 2029), the haftarah is Shabbat HaGadol means "the Great Sabbath," and the haftarah for the special Sabbath refers to a great day that God is preparing.


On Shabbat Parah

When the parashah coincides with Shabbat Parah (the special Sabbath preceding Shabbat HaChodesh — as it does in 2024, 2027, and 2030), the haftarah is


On Shabbat Zachor

When the parashah coincides with Shabbat Zachor (the special Sabbath immediately preceding
Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...
— as it did in 2014), the haftarah is: *for
Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
: *for
Sephardi Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
:


Connection to the Special Sabbath

On Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath just before Purim, Jews read which instructs Jews: "Remember (''zachor'') what Amalek did" in attacking the Israelites. The haftarah for Shabbat Zachor, o
1–34
describes Saul's encounter with Amalek and Saul's and Samuel's treatment of the Amalekite king
Agag Agag (; he, אֲגַג ''ʾĂgāg'') is a Northwest Semitic name or title applied to a biblical king. It has been suggested that "Agag" was a dynastic name of the kings of Amalek, just as Pharaoh was used as a dynastic name for the ancient Egyp ...
. Purim, in turn, commemorates the story of
Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
and the Jewish people's victory over Haman's plan to kill the Jews, told in the Book of Esther. identifies Haman as an Agagite, and thus a descendant of Amalek. identifies the Agagites with the Amalekites. Alternatively, a
Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
tells the story that between King Agag's capture by Saul and his killing by Samuel, Agag fathered a child, from whom Haman in turn descended. Seder Eliyahu Rabbah, chapter 19 (21) (10th century), in, e.g., ''Tanna Debe Eliyyahu: The Lore of the School of Elijah'', translated by William G. Braude and Israel J. Kapstein (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1981), pages 254–55; Targum Sheni to Esther 4:13.


Notes


Further reading

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:


Biblical

* (right ear, thumb of right hand, and great toe of right foot). * (preferring obedience to sacrifices). * (the offering of our lips instead of bulls). * (burnt offerings); (washing before the altar); (sacrifices); (sacrifices of thanksgiving); (sacrifices); (burnt offerings); (God's holy place); (sacrifices of thanksgiving); (sacrifices of thanksgiving); (anointing Aaron).


Early nonrabbinic

*
Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's de ...

''Allegorical Interpretation''
3:45:129, 46:133, 50:147

12:67

36:174

2:29:150

1:41:225, 43:240, 46:254, 52:285. Alexandria, Egypt, early 1st Century C.E. In, e.g., ''The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition''. Translated by Charles Duke Yonge, pages 65, 67, 259, 290, 504, 555, 557–58, 561. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993. . *
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, '' Antiquities of the Jews'' 3:9:1–4, 11:2; 4:8:9, 11:1; 8:8:4. Circa 93–94. In, e.g., ''The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition''. Translated by
William Whiston William Whiston (9 December 166722 August 1752) was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to inst ...
, pages 94–95. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987. .


Classical rabbinic

*
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

Challah 1:6Orlah 2:16–17Bikkurim 2:7–10Shekalim 1:47:6Yoma 7:5Megillah 2:6Sotah 9:12Zevachim 1:1–14:10Menachot 1:1–13:11Chullin 7:110:1Keritot 1:1Tamid 1:242:3Kinnim 1:1.
Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. In, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation''. Translated by
Jacob Neusner Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books. Life and career Neusner was born in Hartfor ...
, pages 149, 164, 171, 252, 263, 277, 320, 464, 699–765, 779, 784, 836, 863–65. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. . *
Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...
: Demai 2:7–8; Challah 2:7–8; Pisha (Pesachim) 8:9; Megillah 3:21; Sotah 13:7; Bava Kamma 10:13; Shevuot 2:10; 3:1, 6; Zevachim 1:1–13:20; Menachot 1:1–13:23; Oktzin 3:3. Land of Israel, circa 250 C.E. In, e.g., ''The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, volume 1, pages 85–86, 339, 511, 650, 886; volume 2, pages 1012, 1227, 1229, 1231, 1307–70, 1407–68, 1925. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002. . *
Sifra Sifra ( Aramaic: סִפְרָא) is the Halakhic midrash to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud, and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called "Torat Kohanim ...
br>70:1–98:9.
Land of Israel, 4th Century C.E. In, e.g., ''Sifra: An Analytical Translation''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, volume 2, pages 1–119. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. . *
Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...
: Orlah 33b, 34b; Bikkurim 12b, 25a; Shabbat 18b; Pesachim 13a–14a, 36b–37a, 44a, 56b–57a, 63b, 64b, 78a; Yoma 1a, 2a, 3a–b, 6a, 11a–b, 12a, 21b, 30b–31a, 32a, 39a, 49b; Sukkah 14a; Megillah 16a–b, 18b, 26a; Moed Katan 17a; Chagigah 23a; Yevamot 1a, 48b, 49b; Nazir 26b; Sotah 14b, 18b–19a, 24b, 26a, 39a, 42b.
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
, Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. In, e.g., ''Talmud Yerushalmi''. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, volumes 12–13, 18–19, 21–22, 26–30, 35–37. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2007–2017. And in, e.g., ''The Jerusalem Talmud: A Translation and Commentary''. Edited by Jacob Neusner and translated by Jacob Neusner, Tzvee Zahavy, B. Barry Levy, and Edward Goldman. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009. . *
Leviticus Rabbah Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus (''Vayikrah'' in Hebrew). It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel (c. 1035–1106) in his ''Arukh'' as well as by Rashi (1040–1105) ...
7:1–10:9. Land of Israel, 5th Century. In, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus''. Translated by
Harry Freedman Harry Freedman (''Henryk Frydmann''), (April 5, 1922 – September 16, 2005) was a Canadians, Canadian composer, English hornist, and music educator of Polish birth. He wrote a significant amount of symphony, symphonic works, including the scores ...
and Maurice Simon, volume 4, pages 89–134. London: Soncino Press, 1939. . *Babylonian
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

Shabbat 111aPesachim 3a16a–b19a23a–24b26a27b35a37a38b43b45a58a–59b63b65b71b79a82a–83a95b–96aYoma 2a–b4a5a–b7a12b20a21a23b–24a25a28a33a–34a45a–b46b–47a59b–60a74a–bSukkah 43a47b55b–56aBeitzah 19b21aRosh Hashanah 5b–6aTaanit 11bMegillah 9b20b23bMoed Katan 9a15bChagigah 7b10b24a26bKiddushin 29a30a36b51a53a55bMakkot 13a14b17a–b18bShevuot 6b–7a11a15a–b29a38aZevachim 2a–120bMenachot 2a–110aChullin 22a23b36b–37a39a45a74b–75a81b99a101a117a–b120a130a131b132b–33b134bBekhorot 15a30b33b39aArakhin 3b–4aTemurah 14a18a–b23a32bKeritot 2a4a–b5a–6a20b–21b22b23b27aMeilah 2a5a–6b9a10a11b–12aTamid 28a–29a30a
Babylonia, 6th Century. In, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 volumes. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.


Medieval

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Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
. ''Commentary''
Leviticus 6–8.
Troyes, France, late 11th Century. In, e.g., Rashi. ''The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated''. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, volume 3, pages 59–92. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1994. . *
Rashbam Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi". Biography He was born in the vicinity of Tro ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Troyes, early 12th century. In, e.g., ''Rashbam's Commentary on Leviticus and Numbers: An Annotated Translation''. Edited and translated by Martin I. Lockshin, pages 35–46. Providence: Brown Judaic Studies, 2001. . *
Judah Halevi Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; he, יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi ; ar, يهوذا اللاوي ''Yahuḏa al-Lāwī''; 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, ...
. ''
Kuzari The ''Kuzari'', full title ''Book of Refutation and Proof on Behalf of the Despised Religion'' ( ar, كتاب الحجة والدليل في نصرة الدين الذليل: ''Kitâb al-ḥujja wa'l-dalîl fi naṣr al-dîn al-dhalîl''), also k ...
''
2:80.
Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. In, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. ''Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel.'' Introduction by Henry Slonimsky, page 133. New York: Schocken, 1964. . * Abraham ibn Ezra. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Mid-12th century. In, e.g., ''Ibn Ezra's Commentary on the Pentateuch: Leviticus (Va-yikra)''. Translated and annotated by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver, volume 3, pages 29–55. New York: Menorah Publishing Company, 2004. . *
Hezekiah ben Manoah Hezekiah ben Manoah, or Hezekiah bar Manoah, was a French rabbi and Bible commentator of the 13th century. He is generally known by the title of his commentary, Chizkuni ( he, חזקוני). In memory of his father, who lost his right hand through ...
. ''Hizkuni''. France, circa 1240. In, e.g., Chizkiyahu ben Manoach. ''Chizkuni: Torah Commentary''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 679–93. Jerusalem: Ktav Publishers, 2013. . * Nachmanides. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Jerusalem, circa 1270. In, e.g., ''Ramban (Nachmanides): Commentary on the Torah.'' Translated by Charles B. Chavel, volume 3, pages 59–101. New York: Shilo Publishing House, 1974. . * Zohar 2:236b, 238b; 3:27a–35b, 37a, 87a, 107b, 213a. Spain, late 13th Century. In, e.g., ''The Zohar''. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 volumes. London: Soncino Press, 1934. *
Bahya ben Asher Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (, 1255–1340) was a rabbi and scholar of Judaism, best known as a commentator on the Hebrew Bible. He is one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda. Biogra ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Spain, early 14th century. In, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbeinu Bachya: Torah Commentary by Rabbi Bachya ben Asher''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 5, pages 1528–72. Jerusalem: Lambda Publishers, 2003. . *
Jacob ben Asher Jacob ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Rabbi Yaakov ben Raash (Rabbeinu Asher), was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Master of the Columns"), after ...
(Baal Ha-Turim). ''Rimze Ba'al ha-Turim''. Early 14th century. In, e.g., ''Baal Haturim Chumash: Vayikra/Leviticus''. Translated by Eliyahu Touger, edited, elucidated, and annotated by Avie Gold, volume 3, pages 1055–77. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2000. . *Jacob ben Asher. ''Perush Al ha-Torah''. Early 14th century. In, e.g., Yaakov ben Asher. ''Tur on the Torah''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 806–26. Jerusalem: Lambda Publishers, 2005. . * Isaac ben Moses Arama. ''Akedat Yizhak (The Binding of Isaac)''. Late 15th century. In, e.g., Yitzchak Arama. ''Akeydat Yitzchak: Commentary of Rabbi Yitzchak Arama on the Torah''. Translated and condensed by Eliyahu Munk, volume 2, pages 558–67. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2001. .


Modern

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Isaac Abravanel Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel ( he, יצחק בן יהודה אברבנאל;‎ 1437–1508), commonly referred to as Abarbanel (), also spelled Abravanel, Avravanel, or Abrabanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Italy, between 1492 and 1509. In, e.g., ''Abarbanel: Selected Commentaries on the Torah: Volume 3: Vayikra/Leviticus''. Translated and annotated by Israel Lazar, pages 59–80. Brooklyn: CreateSpace, 2015. . Excerpted in, e.g., ''Abarbanel on the Torah: Selected Themes''. Translated by Avner Tomaschoff, pages 360–81. Jerusalem:
Jewish Agency for Israel The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...
, 2007. . *
Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno (Obadja Sforno, Hebrew: עובדיה ספורנו) was an Italian rabbi, Biblical commentator, philosopher and physician. A member of the Sforno family, he was born in Cesena about 1475 and died in Bologna in 1550. Bio ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Venice, 1567. In, e.g., ''Sforno: Commentary on the Torah''. Translation and explanatory notes by Raphael Pelcovitz, pages 514–25. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. . *
Moshe Alshich Moshe Alshich he, משה אלשיך, also spelled Alshech, (1508–1593), known as the ''Alshich Hakadosh (the Holy)'', was a prominent rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The Alshich was born ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Safed, circa 1593. In, e.g., Moshe Alshich. ''Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Alshich on the Torah''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 2, pages 634–43. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2000. . *Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. ''Commentaries on the Torah''. Cracow, Poland, mid 17th century. Compiled as ''Chanukat HaTorah''. Edited by Chanoch Henoch Erzohn. Piotrkow, Poland, 1900. In Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. ''Chanukas HaTorah: Mystical Insights of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel on Chumash''. Translated by Avraham Peretz Friedman, pages 207–10.
Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was original ...
: Targum Press/ Feldheim Publishers, 2004. . *
Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...
. ''
Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
'', part 3, chapters 40, 42. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, pages 503–04, 572. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. . *
Shabbethai Bass Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass (1641–1718) ( he, שבתי בן יוסף; also known by the family-name Strom), born at Kalisz, was the founder of Jewish bibliography, and author of the ''Siftei Chachamim'' supercommentary on Rashi's commentary on the ...
. ''Sifsei Chachamim''. Amsterdam, 1680. In, e.g., ''Sefer Vayikro: From the Five Books of the Torah: Chumash: Targum Okelos: Rashi: Sifsei Chachamim: Yalkut: Haftaros'', translated by Avrohom Y. Davis, pages 85–139.
Lakewood Township, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5 ...
: Metsudah Publications, 2012. *
Chaim ibn Attar Chaim ibn Attar or Ḥayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar ( ar, حاييم بن موشي بن عطار, he, חיים בן משה בן עטר; b. - 7 July 1743) also known as the Or ha-Ḥayyim after his popular commentary on the Torah, was a Talmudist ...
. ''Ohr ha-Chaim''. Venice, 1742. In Chayim ben Attar. ''Or Hachayim: Commentary on the Torah''. Translated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 986–1019. Brooklyn: Lambda Publishers, 1999. . *Yitzchak Magriso. ''
Me'am Lo'ez ''Me'am Lo'ez'' ( he, מעם לועז), initiated by Rabbi Yaakov Culi in 1730, is a widely studied commentary on the Tanakh written in Judaeo-Spanish. It is perhaps the best known publication in that language. History ''Me'Am Lo'ez'' marked on ...
''.
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, 1753. In Yitzchak Magriso. ''The Torah Anthology: MeAm Lo'ez''. Translated by
Aryeh Kaplan Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan ( he, אריה משה אליהו קפלן; October 23, 1934 – January 28, 1983) was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and translator, best known for his Living Torah edition of the Torah. He became well known as ...
, volume 11, pages 119–86. New York: Moznaim Publishing, 1989. . *
Nachman of Breslov Nachman of Breslov ( he, רַבִּי נַחְמָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב ''Rabbī'' ''Naḥmān mīBreslev''), also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover ( yi, רבי נחמן ברעסלאווער ''Rebe Nakhmen Breslover'' ...
. ''Teachings''.
Bratslav Bratslav ( uk, Брацлав; pl, Bracław; yi, בראָצלעוו, ''Brotslev'', today also pronounced Breslev or '' Breslov'' as the name of a Hasidic group, which originated from this town) is an urban-type settlement in Ukraine, located i ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, before 1811. In ''Rebbe Nachman's Torah: Breslov Insights into the Weekly Torah Reading: Exodus-Leviticus''. Compiled by Chaim Kramer, edited by Y. Hall, pages 314–20. Jerusalem:
Breslov Research Institute Breslov Research Institute is a publisher of classic and contemporary Breslov texts in English. Established in 1979, BRI has produced the first English translation of all the works of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) and selected works of Re ...
, 2011. . *
Samuel David Luzzatto Samuel David Luzzatto ( he, שמואל דוד לוצאטו, ; 22 August 1800 – 30 September 1865), also known by the Hebrew acronym Shadal (), was an Italian Jewish scholar, poet, and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. Early ...
(Shadal). ''Commentary on the Torah.''
Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, 1871. In, e.g., Samuel David Luzzatto. ''Torah Commentary''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 916–23. New York: Lambda Publishers, 2012. . *
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter ( he, יהודה אריה ליב אלתר, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the ''Sfas Emes'' (Ashkenazic Pronunciation) or ''Sefat Emet'' (Modern Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi ...
. ''Sefat Emet''.
Góra Kalwaria Góra Kalwaria (; " Calvary Mountain", yi, גער, ''Ger'') is a town on the Vistula River in the Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is situated approximately southeast of Warsaw and has a population of around 12,109 (as of 2019). ...
(Ger),
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, before 1906. Excerpted in ''The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of Sefat Emet''. Translated and interpreted by
Arthur Green Arthur Green ( he, אברהם יצחק גרין, born March 21, 1941) is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston, where he ...
, pages 153–58. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1998. . Reprinted 2012. . * Louis Ginzberg. ''Legends of the Jews''
volume 3
pages 179–81. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1911. *George Buchanan Gray. ''Sacrifice in the Old Testament: Its Theory and Practice''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925. Reprinted by Ktav Publishing House, 1971. *Alexander Alan Steinbach. ''Sabbath Queen: Fifty-four Bible Talks to the Young Based on Each Portion of the Pentateuch'', pages 78–81. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House, 1936. *Isaac Mendelsohn. "Urim and Thummim." In ''The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible'', volume 4, pages 739–40.
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
:
Abingdon Press Abingdon Press is the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House which publishes sheet music, ministerial resources, Bible-study aids, and other items, often with a focus on Methodism and Methodists. History Abingdon Press w ...
, 1962. . *
Roland De Vaux Roland Guérin de Vaux (17 December 1903 – 10 September 1971) was a French Dominican priest who led the Catholic team that initially worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the director of the Ecole Biblique, a French Catholic Theological S ...
. ''Studies in Old Testament Sacrifice''. University of Wales Press, 1964. . *
Moshe Greenberg Moshe Greenberg (Hebrew: משה גרינברג; July 10, 1928 – May 15, 2010) was an American rabbi, Bible scholar, and professor emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. BiographyEncyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langu ...
'', volume 16, pages 8–9. Jerusalem:
Keter Publishing House Keter ( he-a, כֶּתֶר, Keter.ogg, link=yes, ''Keṯer'', lit. " crown") also known as Kether, is the topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Since its meaning is "crown", it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Se ...
, 1972. . *
Carol L. Meyers Carol Lyons Meyers (born 1942) is an American feminist biblical scholar. She is the Mary Grace Wilson Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Duke University. Meyers' field of research is focused on biblical studies, archaeology in the Middle ...
. ''The Tabernacle Menorah''.
Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...
:
Scholars Press A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...
, 1976. . *
Jacob Milgrom Jacob Milgrom (February 1, 1923 – June 5, 2010) was a prominent American Jewish Bible scholar and Conservative rabbi. Milgrom's major contribution to biblical research was in the field of cult and worship. Although he accepted the documentar ...
. "Sacrifices and Offerings, OT," and "Wave offering." In ''The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible''. Supp. volume, pages 763–71, 944–46. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1976. . * Gordon J. Wenham. ''The Book of Leviticus'', pages 112–45.
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979. . * Pinchas H. Peli. ''Torah Today: A Renewed Encounter with Scripture'', pages 111–14. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Books, 1987. . *David P. Wright. "The Disposal of Impurity: Elimination Rites in the Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian Literature." ''Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Studies''. Volume 101 (1987): pages 34–36. * Mark S. Smith. ''The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel'', page 2. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990. . (). * Harvey J. Fields. ''A Torah Commentary for Our Times: Volume II: Exodus and Leviticus'', pages 104–10. New York: UAHC Press, 1991. . *Victor Avigdor Hurowitz
“Review Essay: Ancient Israelite Cult in History, Tradition, and Interpretation.”
'' AJS Review'', volume 19 (number 2) (1994): pages 213–36. * Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "The Book of Leviticus," in ''The New Interpreter's Bible'', volume 1, pages 1042–63. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. . *Judith S. Antonelli. "The Priesthood." In ''In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah'', pages 247–56. Northvale, New Jersey:
Jason Aronson Jason Aronson was an American publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, pe ...
, 1995. . * Ellen Frankel. ''The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah'', pages 156–58. New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...
, 1996. . * W. Gunther Plaut. ''The Haftarah Commentary'', pages 244–53. New York: UAHC Press, 1996. . *Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden. ''Teaching Torah: A Treasury of Insights and Activities'', pages 172–76.
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
: A.R.E. Publishing, 1997. . * Cornelis Van Dam. ''The Urim and Thummin: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel''. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997. . *Jacob Milgrom. ''Leviticus 1–16'', volume 3, pages 378–569. New York: Anchor Bible, 1998. . * Mary Douglas. ''Leviticus as Literature'', pages 20, 71, 76–77, 83–84, 113, 120, 123, 125–26, 128, 134, 150, 166, 187, 199, 203, 224, 231, 239, 244, 249–51. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. . *Susan Freeman. ''Teaching Jewish Virtues: Sacred Sources and Arts Activities'', pages 165–78. Springfield, New Jersey: A.R.E. Publishing, 1999. . (). *Frank H. Gorman Jr. “Leviticus.” In ''The HarperCollins Bible Commentary''. Edited by James L. Mays, pages 150–54. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, revised edition, 2000. . *Claire Magidovitch Green. "Message and Messenger." In ''The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions''. Edited by
Elyse Goldstein Elyse Goldstein is a Canadian Reform rabbi. She is the first woman to be elected as president of the interdenominational Toronto Board of Rabbis and president of the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto. Early life and education Goldstein was born ...
, pages 191–95.
Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Cha ...
:
Jewish Lights Publishing Jewish Lights Publishing is a publishing company. Founded in 1990 by Stuart Matlins in Woodstock, Vermont, the company publishes works for children and adults that come from a Judaic perspective, yet provide wisdom to readers of any spiritual bac ...
, 2000. . *Lainie Blum Cogan and Judy Weiss. ''Teaching Haftarah: Background, Insights, and Strategies'', pages 382–91. Denver: A.R.E. Publishing, 2002. . *
Michael Fishbane Michael A. Fishbane (born 1943) is an American scholar of Judaism and rabbinic literature. Formerly at Brandeis University, he is currently Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the Divinity School, University of Chicago. Fishbane (Ph.D., Brande ...
. ''The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot'', pages 155–61. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002. . * Robert Alter. ''The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary'', pages 564–75. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004. . *Elaine Rose Glickman. "Haftarat Tzav: Jeremiah 7:21–8:3; 9:22–23." In ''The Women's Haftarah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Haftarah Portions, the 5 Megillot & Special Shabbatot''. Edited by Elyse Goldstein, pages 116–20. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. . *Jacob Milgrom. ''Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics: A Continental Commentary'', pages 62–87. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004. . *Baruch J. Schwartz. "Leviticus." In ''The Jewish Study Bible''. Edited by
Adele Berlin Adele Berlin (born May 23, 1943 in Philadelphia) is an American biblical scholar and Hebraist. Before her retirement, she was Robert H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Maryland. Berlin is best known for 1994 work ''Poet ...
and
Marc Zvi Brettler Marc Brettler (Marc Zvi Brettler) is an American biblical scholar, and the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor in Judaic Studies at Duke University. He earned his B.A., M.A., and PhD from Brandeis University, where he previously served as Dora Gold ...
, pages 217–24. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. . *Antony Cothey
“Ethics and Holiness in the Theology of Leviticus.”
''
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament The ''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'' (JSOT) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of Biblical studies. The editors-in-chief are David Shepherd (Trinity College Dublin) and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer ( Örebro School of Theol ...
'', volume 30 (number 2) (December 2005): pages 131–51. *''Professors on the Parashah: Studies on the Weekly Torah Reading'' Edited by Leib Moscovitz, pages 166–67. Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2005. . *Bernard J. Bamberger. “Leviticus.” In ''The Torah: A Modern Commentary: Revised Edition''. Edited by W. Gunther Plaut; revised edition edited by David E.S. Stern, pages 686–703. New York:
Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms establishe ...
, 2006. . *Suzanne A. Brody. "A Woman's Portion." In ''Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems'', page 86. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. . * James L. Kugel. ''How To Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now'', pages 301–03, 358. New York: Free Press, 2007. . *Christophe Nihan. ''From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch: A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus''. Coronet Books, 2007. . *James W. Watts. ''Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. . *''The Torah: A Women's Commentary''. Edited by
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi Tamara Cohn Eskenazi is The Effie Wise Ochs Professor of Biblical Literature and History at the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She was the first woman hired by the Hebrew Union College-Jewi ...
and Andrea L. Weiss, pages 593–614. New York: URJ Press, 2008. . *Noach Dzmura. “HaNer Tamid, dos Pintele Yid v’ha Zohar Muzar: The Eternal Flame, the Jewish Spark, and the Flaming Queer: Parashat Tsav (Leviticus 6:1–8:36).” In ''Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer; foreword by
Judith Plaskow Judith Plaskow (born March 14, 1947) is an American theologian, author, and activist known for being the first Jewish feminist theologian. After earning her doctorate at Yale University, she taught at Manhattan College for thirty-two years before ...
, pages 129–34. New York:
New York University Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1 ...
, 2009. . *
Reuven Hammer Reuven Hammer (June 30, 1933 – August 12, 2019) was an American-Israeli Conservative rabbi, scholar of Jewish liturgy, author and lecturer who was born in New York. He was a founder of the "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in Israel and a presid ...
. ''Entering Torah: Prefaces to the Weekly Torah Portion'', pages 147–52. New York: Gefen Publishing House, 2009. . *Roy E. Gane. "Leviticus." In ''Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary''. Edited by John H. Walton, volume 1, pages 296–98. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...
, 2009. . *Mark Leuchter
“The Politics of Ritual Rhetoric: A Proposed Sociopolitical Context for the Redaction of Leviticus 1–16.”
''
Vetus Testamentum ''Vetus Testamentum'' is a quarterly academic journal covering various aspects of the Old Testament. It is published by Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international ...
'', volume 60 (number 3) (2010): pages 345–65. *Jeffrey Stackert. “Leviticus.” In ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible''. Edited by Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and
Pheme Perkins Pheme Perkins (born 1945 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a Professor of Theology at Boston College, where she has been teaching since 1972. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Greco-Roman cultural setting of early Christianity, as well as the P ...
, pages 150–54. New York: Oxford University Press, Revised 4th Edition 2010. . *
William G. Dever William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Old Testament scholar, and historian, specialized in the history of the Ancient Near East and the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah in biblical ...
. ''The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: When Archaeology and the Bible Intersect'', page 244.
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012. . *
Shmuel Herzfeld Shmuel Herzfeld (born October 9, 1974) is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi. He previously served as the Senior Rabbi of Ohev Sholom - The National Synagogue in Washington, D.C. He is a teacher, lecturer, activist, and author. Early life and ...
. "A Response to Catastrophe." In ''Fifty-Four Pick Up: Fifteen-Minute Inspirational Torah Lessons'', pages 147–50. Jerusalem:
Gefen Publishing House Gefen Publishing House (הוצאת גפן) is an English language publishing firm located in Jerusalem, which also has a department in New York City. History Gefen was founded in 1981 by Murray and Hana Greenfield. Its CEO is Ilan Greenfield, ...
, 2012. . *David Greenstein
"Urged To Remember: We must remember the heinous crimes of Amalek so that we may avoid the danger of repeating those crimes ourselves."
''
The Jerusalem Report ''The Jerusalem Report'' is a fortnightly print and online news magazine that covers political, security, economic, religious and cultural issues in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Founded as an independent weekly publication in 199 ...
'', volume 24 (number 25) (March 24, 2014): page 47. *Annette Yoshiko Reed
"From Sacrifice to the Slaughterhouse: Ancient and Modern Approaches to Meat, Animals, and Civilization."
(2015). *
Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United ...
. ''Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Leviticus: The Book of Holiness'', pages 99–131. Jerusalem: Maggid Books, 2015. . *Jonathan Sacks. ''Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 129–33. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2015. . *Jonathan Sacks. ''Essays on Ethics: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 159–64. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2016. . * Shai Held. ''The Heart of Torah, Volume 2: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy'', pages 15–25. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017. . *Steven Levy and Sarah Levy. ''The JPS Rashi Discussion Torah Commentary'', pages 80–82. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017. .


External links


Texts


Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translationHear the parashah chanted


Commentaries


Academy for Jewish Religion, CaliforniaAcademy for Jewish Religion, New YorkAkhlah: The Jewish Children's Learning NetworkAleph Beta AcademyAmerican Jewish University — Ziegler School of Rabbinic StudiesAscent of SafedBar-Ilan UniversityChabad.orgeparsha.comG-dcastJewish Theological SeminaryMechon HadarMiriam AflaloMyJewishLearning.comOhr SameachON Scripture — The TorahOzTorah, Torah from AustraliaOz Ve Shalom — Netivot ShalomPardes from JerusalemProfessor James L. KugelProfessor Michael CarasikRabbi Dov LinzerRabbi Jonathan SacksRabbiShimon.comRabbi Shmuel HerzfeldReconstructionist JudaismShiur.comTeach613.org, Torah Education at Cherry HillTheTorah.comTorah from DixieTorah.orgTorahVort.comUnion for Reform JudaismUnited Synagogue of Conservative JudaismYeshivat Chovevei TorahYeshiva University
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