Vayikra and Torah Wisdom - Are You Living A Calling Or A Coincidence?

0:00 SPEAKER_00: A rabbi is walking home from Shaw one Friday night.

0:04 SPEAKER_00: Through an open window he sees three prominent members of his shoul playing cards.

0:09 SPEAKER_00: He knocks on the door but there's no answer.

0:12 SPEAKER_00: Finding the door unlocked he enters the house.

0:15 SPEAKER_00: There's a heated game underway with bets and counterbets and money flying back and forth.

0:20 SPEAKER_00: The guys don't notice him.

0:22 SPEAKER_00: Gentlemen he says, What's happening here?

0:26 SPEAKER_00: Surely you've forgotten that it's Shabbat.

0:28 SPEAKER_00: Quite frankly, Rabbi, one of them responds, We remembered.

0:32 SPEAKER_00: The others nod in agreement.

0:35 SPEAKER_00: Well then the Rabbi continues, surely you've forgotten that playing cards is not in the spirit of Shabbat, and it is forbidden to handle money on Shabbat.

0:43 SPEAKER_00: Quite frankly, Rabbi, we remembered that as well, said the self appointed spokesman.

0:48 SPEAKER_00: Perplexed the rabbi asks, Well then, is there anything accidental about this situation?

0:55 SPEAKER_00: Yes, Rabbi, he responds, we forgot to close the blinds.

1:01 SPEAKER_00: This week we start Seifer Vayikra.

1:04 SPEAKER_00: After the amazing stories and characters in Sefer Barashit and the compelling narrative of slavery and plagues and escape from Egypt and Matan Torah in Sefer Shamot, Sefa Vayikra seems much less relatable.

1:20 SPEAKER_00: It is a seifra that has a lot of focus on service in the Beithamiddash, Korbanot, and rituals of the Koanim.

1:26 SPEAKER_00: Yet surprisingly, Seifer Vayikra is the whole purpose.

1:32 SPEAKER_00: You see, the Torah has what we call a chiastic structure.

1:36 SPEAKER_00: That is A, B, and C at the top, and then B A.

1:40 SPEAKER_00: It's a mirror.

1:41 SPEAKER_00: If you think of a triangle where you get A, B, and C at the top, with then B and A.

1:46 SPEAKER_00: So it mirrors each other.

1:47 SPEAKER_00: So we have Barashit, which is the prehistory of Israel.

1:51 SPEAKER_00: Then we have Shemot, which is the journey to Sinai.

1:54 SPEAKER_00: Then at the top we have Vayikra, which is what happens at Mount Sinai.

1:58 SPEAKER_00: And then we go back the other way.

2:00 SPEAKER_00: So we have Bamidbah, which is the journey from Sinai, and then Devarim, the future of Israel.

2:07 SPEAKER_00: So if you like, you have Barashit Marin Devorim, the prehistory of Israel, the future of Israel, Shemot maring Bamidbah, the journey to Sinai, and the journey away from Sinai.

2:17 SPEAKER_00: And at the pinnacle, there's Vyikra, the purpose.

2:22 SPEAKER_00: So this week I want to explore the foundational ideas in Parsha Viikra, which set the scene for what the whole Sefer is teaching us, which is absolutely necessary for our lives today.

2:35 SPEAKER_00: So Ramban Nahmanadiz explains what Vyikra is about in his introduction to the Seifah.

2:42 SPEAKER_00: Seifer Shemot ends with the building of the Mishkan and the Shachina coming to dwell amongst Kalya Shrael in the Mishkan.

2:49 SPEAKER_00: This is because Seifer Shemot is the book of redemption.

2:53 SPEAKER_00: Redemption does not come when we leave Egypt, nor even at Matantorah, the giving of the Torah.

3:00 SPEAKER_00: Redemption comes when Hashem is dwelling amongst the people.

3:05 SPEAKER_00: This is the whole purpose of creation, as told in Midrash Tanchuma, that Hashem created the whole world to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.

3:14 SPEAKER_00: The question is, how do we create a world where the Shekhinah can remain?

3:20 SPEAKER_00: How do we maintain a level of holiness that enables the Shekhinah to stay dwelling amongst us?

3:27 SPEAKER_00: Seifa Vaikra is about staying redeemed.

3:32 SPEAKER_00: Later in the Sefa, Hashem tells us in Pasha Kadoshim, you shall be holy for I am holy.

3:39 SPEAKER_00: Seifa Vayikra is about holiness.

3:42 SPEAKER_00: How we maintain a level of closeness with Hashem, it is about spiritual connection, how we maintain a level of kadusha in our lives.

3:51 SPEAKER_00: Therefore it talks about korbanot, morality, appropriate relationships among other things.

3:58 SPEAKER_00: When a couple gets married, the wedding is the beginning of the relationship.

4:03 SPEAKER_00: The relationship must be nurtured, cared for, and worked at in order to grow.

4:08 SPEAKER_00: Our marriage to Hashem happens at Hasinai.

4:12 SPEAKER_00: The question Sefa Vayikrah answers is how do we develop the relationship?

4:18 SPEAKER_00: Sefa Vayikra works on two levels.

4:20 SPEAKER_00: The Sefa guides the Kohenim in their service of Hashem, but it also guides us.

4:26 SPEAKER_00: We are the Koenim of the world.

4:28 SPEAKER_00: So how do we serve Hashem?

4:31 SPEAKER_00: Vyikra answers the questions of how we live a life of holiness, meaning and purpose, and fulfill our role as the Koenim of the world today.

4:42 SPEAKER_00: The very first word in Seifa Vayikra lays down an existential challenge which is fundamental to the way we choose to live our life.

4:53 SPEAKER_00: Vayikra and He called is famously written with a small aleph.

4:58 SPEAKER_00: Without the Aleph, the opening word of the Seifer would be Vayika, and he happened upon.

5:04 SPEAKER_00: So in literally the first word of the Sefer, Hashem lays down a challenge.

5:10 SPEAKER_00: How do you see life?

5:13 SPEAKER_00: How do you want to live?

5:16 SPEAKER_00: We can choose to see life with the Aleph, which is one, which represents Hashem.

5:22 SPEAKER_00: Then the opening of the Sefer is Vayikra and he called.

5:26 SPEAKER_00: A life with Hashem means seeing a life as a calling.

5:30 SPEAKER_00: Every one of us is born for a reason.

5:33 SPEAKER_00: Every one of us has a mission, a purpose, a job to do that cannot be achieved by anyone else.

5:40 SPEAKER_00: This means living life with responsibility, the responsibility to fulfill your purpose, the responsibility to contribute, the responsibility to fulfil the mitzvah and serve Hashem.

5:52 SPEAKER_00: The alternative is to live life without the Aleph, without Hashem.

5:57 SPEAKER_00: This is a life of Vayika.

5:59 SPEAKER_00: He happened upon.

6:01 SPEAKER_00: This is a world where there's no God, and therefore no meaning and purpose.

6:05 SPEAKER_00: Life is full of coincidences and randomness.

6:09 SPEAKER_00: This is a malak.

6:10 SPEAKER_00: We go to Sefadavarim in Kintse.

6:13 SPEAKER_00: It says when a malak happened upon you on the way, and Korcha happened upon you is from Kara to happen.

6:21 SPEAKER_00: A malak wants a godless world.

6:24 SPEAKER_00: There is no divine running things.

6:26 SPEAKER_00: It's haphazard, coincidental and pointless.

6:30 SPEAKER_00: The small Alef is there to give us the choice a life of Vayikra calling or a life of vayika coincidence.

6:39 SPEAKER_00: It is up to you.

6:42 SPEAKER_00: The small Alef comes to teach us something else.

6:45 SPEAKER_00: You have to look a little closer to see the Alef.

6:49 SPEAKER_00: We can choose to go through life thinking it's random and coincidence.

6:53 SPEAKER_00: Alternatively we can see the hand of Hashem.

6:57 SPEAKER_00: We just need to look a little closer.

7:00 SPEAKER_00: The friends you happen to bum into while shopping, the good fortune you experience getting the last tickets for the flight, or the unkind comments someone makes to you.

7:09 SPEAKER_00: None of these are random.

7:11 SPEAKER_00: Every one of them is meant to be.

7:14 SPEAKER_00: You just need to see the Alef, the hand of Hashem, and the message he is conveying to you at that time.

7:23 SPEAKER_00: Rav Shneer Zelman of Liyadi, the first Chabad Rebbe, points out the second Pasuk of this week's pasha.

7:30 SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew weeds reads, Adam kiyakriv, which literally means when a person brings from you an offering to Hashem.

7:42 SPEAKER_00: Now of course you'd expect it to say when a person from you brings an offering, not brings from you.

7:50 SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the essence of Korban, says Rav Shneer Zolman, is that we offer ourselves.

7:57 SPEAKER_00: It then goes on to say that we offer from the cattle, herds, and flocks.

8:01 SPEAKER_00: This is unbelievably profound.

8:05 SPEAKER_00: The lowest level of the soul is Nefesh, which is the life force.

8:10 SPEAKER_00: So everything alive has Nefesh.

8:12 SPEAKER_00: For example, a plant has nefesh.

8:15 SPEAKER_00: The next level is ruach, which provides movement and emotions.

8:20 SPEAKER_00: So humans have ruach as the animals.

8:23 SPEAKER_00: Nefesh and Ruach, life force and emotions, create ruts on desire.

8:29 SPEAKER_00: This is the level at which animals operate.

8:32 SPEAKER_00: If they are hungry, they'll look for food.

8:34 SPEAKER_00: If they're tired they will find somewhere to sleep.

8:36 SPEAKER_00: They work on instinct motivated by desire.

8:40 SPEAKER_00: When a human being acts on a craving, so doing something that they really shouldn't do just for physical pleasure, this is the combination of Nefesh and Ruach operating at the level of ratson, of desire.

8:54 SPEAKER_00: It is at the level of an animal.

8:56 SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, many people live all their life at this level, one of a sophisticated animal.

9:04 SPEAKER_00: What elevates a human being is nashamah.

9:08 SPEAKER_00: This is living at the level of intellect.

9:11 SPEAKER_00: We as human beings can show restraint.

9:14 SPEAKER_00: To live a life at the level of nashamah, a holy life, we have to control desire and show restraint to abide by Torah.

9:23 SPEAKER_00: This is Qurban.

9:25 SPEAKER_00: Offering up the pure animal within us, the unrefined parts of ourselves to live life at a higher level, a spiritual level.

9:35 SPEAKER_00: Korbam, which comes from Karov to come close.

9:38 SPEAKER_00: Elevating ourselves brings us closer to Hashem.

9:43 SPEAKER_00: Judaism does not ask us to eliminate our physical drives.

9:48 SPEAKER_00: Those two are created by Hashem and can be godly.

9:52 SPEAKER_00: Judaism wants us to live a holy life at the level of Nishama, which means redirecting those physical drives.

10:00 SPEAKER_00: We eat, but with brachot before the food and a bracha or birkathamazan after.

10:07 SPEAKER_00: We engage in intimacy, but within marriage and practicing Tarat Hamishpacha, rules of family purity.

10:14 SPEAKER_00: We celebrate happy occasions such as birthdays and achievements, but as an act of thanks, knowing from where everything comes.

10:24 SPEAKER_00: Living life at the level of Nefish and Ruach is living life at the level of instinct and desire.

10:30 SPEAKER_00: It is pursuing pleasure as the end in itself.

10:33 SPEAKER_00: A life of Nishama is a life of direction and meaning.

10:37 SPEAKER_00: It is living life as Vayitra suggests, as a calling.

10:42 SPEAKER_00: Korban literally means to draw near or to bring close.

10:46 SPEAKER_00: In offering oneself as a korban, we come closer to Hashem.

10:51 SPEAKER_00: In so doing we transcend our physical selves and become bigger than we could ever otherwise be.

10:58 SPEAKER_00: Yitzhak was literal korban.

11:02 SPEAKER_00: He was offered at the Akeda with Avraham only being stopped at the last minute.

11:07 SPEAKER_00: And Yitzhak is associated with the middle of Gavura of strength.

11:12 SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean he was physically strong.

11:14 SPEAKER_00: It's inner strength, which is really restraint.

11:19 SPEAKER_00: He lived a life of discipline.

11:21 SPEAKER_00: You think Yitzhak was one of the greatest human beings that ever lived.

11:25 SPEAKER_00: You can only imagine the talents he had.

11:28 SPEAKER_00: And yet he restrained himself to follow in his father Avraham's footsteps.

11:34 SPEAKER_00: Because he was the first person ever born a Jew.

11:37 SPEAKER_00: He had to establish the Masora that Avraham had started.

11:42 SPEAKER_00: There was something bigger than himself at play, and because he restrained himself, he became a giant.

11:51 SPEAKER_00: When we offer ourselves, we draw Hashem and others close, transcending our physicality and becoming more than we could ever be otherwise.

12:01 SPEAKER_00: So I may want a quiet Shabbat, but I offer hospitality to someone who has nowhere to go.

12:07 SPEAKER_00: I may be tired, but I visit a friend in need.

12:11 SPEAKER_00: I may be under pressure, but I find time to do someone a favour.

12:16 SPEAKER_00: Similarly, I may fancy the milk chocolate, but I've just had a meat meal, so I don't have it.

12:21 SPEAKER_00: I may have had a late night, but I still got up for shore.

12:24 SPEAKER_00: I may be tight for money, but I still give sadaka.

12:28 SPEAKER_00: In each case I bring myself closer to Hashem and closer to other people.

12:33 SPEAKER_00: By offering ourselves and making room for Hashem and other people, we transcend our physicality and become bigger than we could ever be otherwise.

12:44 SPEAKER_00: This is the other lesson of Vyikra.

12:46 SPEAKER_00: Being a Khobban, offering oneself, requires humility.

12:51 SPEAKER_00: The Balhaturim, Ravyakov ben Asher, famously says, Moshe was reluctant to write that Hashem had called to him, and he called.

13:00 SPEAKER_00: Rather, he wanted to write Vayikah without the Alef.

13:04 SPEAKER_00: Hashem just happened upon Moshe.

13:07 SPEAKER_00: So Moshe compromised with Hashem and wrote the Aleph small.

13:11 SPEAKER_00: It was an act of humility.

13:14 SPEAKER_00: In order to offer self and make room for Hashem and for other people, one has to be humble.

13:20 SPEAKER_00: If you are full of self, there is literally no room for anyone else.

13:25 SPEAKER_00: Holiness requires humility.

13:28 SPEAKER_00: There's a famous midrash in Tehilim, which is when all the mountains are fighting, where Matant Torah, the giving of the Torah, is going to take place.

13:37 SPEAKER_00: One says I'm the highest mountain.

13:39 SPEAKER_00: Another says I'm the steepest mountain, and therefore the Torah should be given on me.

13:44 SPEAKER_00: But in the end, Hashem chose Hasinai because it was the smallest of all the mountains.

13:50 SPEAKER_00: The opening of Pirkeavot says Moshe kibel Torah Messinai.

13:55 SPEAKER_00: Moshe received the Torah from Sinai.

13:59 SPEAKER_00: Now normally in English it says at Sinai.

14:02 SPEAKER_00: But the literal Hebrew is that Moshe received the Torah from Sinai.

14:07 SPEAKER_00: But obviously Moshe received the Torah from Hashem, not the mountain.

14:11 SPEAKER_00: What it means is Moshe received the Torah because of his connection to Hasinai.

14:16 SPEAKER_00: As Hasini was chosen because it was humble, the smallest of the mountains.

14:22 SPEAKER_00: Moshe was chosen to receive the Torah because of his humility.

14:26 SPEAKER_00: Of course, in Pashet Baalatacha, we're told Moshe was the most humble person in the world.

14:32 SPEAKER_00: And Vizot Habracha, right at the end of the Torah, we're told never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moshe.

14:40 SPEAKER_00: Moshe was the greatest ever Talmud Hakim, precisely because he was the humblest of all men.

14:48 SPEAKER_00: The Gomorrah in Erevin in 13 Ahmed Bet talks about the three years of disagreement between Bet Shamah and Bethilel, and eventually a divine voice says, The Halachar is with Bethilel.

15:02 SPEAKER_00: Why?

15:03 SPEAKER_00: Because Bethilel taught both their own teachings and Bet Shami.

15:08 SPEAKER_00: And when they spoke of a dispute, they actually put Bet Shami's teaching first.

15:13 SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was the humility of Bethilel which meant that the Halacha is with them.

15:20 SPEAKER_00: It is humility that enables us to create space for Torah, for Hashem, and for other people.

15:25 SPEAKER_00: It is only in this space that intimacy can occur.

15:30 SPEAKER_00: Humility is essential for living a holy and transcendent life.

15:36 SPEAKER_00: When we live as a Qurban, when we give of ourselves rather than just take, we don't just become better people, we bring harmony into the world.

15:46 SPEAKER_00: As Jews we pray for shalom every day of our lives.

15:50 SPEAKER_00: And Shalom is often translated as peace.

15:53 SPEAKER_00: But what is peace?

15:55 SPEAKER_00: It's not just the absence of violence.

15:58 SPEAKER_00: In order to give us free will, Hashem created two-ness in the world.

16:03 SPEAKER_00: We can understand health because there's illness.

16:06 SPEAKER_00: We can choose good because there's evil.

16:08 SPEAKER_00: We can choose to be selfless because there is an option to be selfish.

16:14 SPEAKER_00: In this vein we have our physical drives, the Yatsahara, and our spiritual selves, the Yatzatov.

16:22 SPEAKER_00: If we live life as vaiika to happen upon, a world without meaning or purpose, full of randomness and coincidence, then we are living a life of pure physicality.

16:33 SPEAKER_00: This means neglecting our spiritual being.

16:36 SPEAKER_00: When the spiritual is neglected, people often feel a deep sense of lacking, restless, restlessness, anxiety and disconnection.

16:44 SPEAKER_00: Much of the discontent in this secular world is because of the negation of the spiritual.

16:51 SPEAKER_00: When we live a life of vayikra, of calling, of meaning, of purpose and spirituality, which means offering ourselves to others and Hashem, keeping mitzvot, and living a life at the level of Nishama, we harmonize opposites.

17:06 SPEAKER_00: Shabbat is a mechanism for bringing holiness to the weak and harmonizing the six days of whole, the mundane, with the holy.

17:15 SPEAKER_00: Brachot and Birkat Hamazon is a way of harmonizing the physical need for food with the spiritual to make eating a holy experience.

17:24 SPEAKER_00: The Beit Hamidash, which today translates into the Beit Knesset, not nearly as holy, but still a space and a way of bringing holiness to that space and creating an encounter with Hashem within this physical world.

17:38 SPEAKER_00: This is shalom.

17:40 SPEAKER_00: By harmonizing opposites, the physical and spiritual, we bring a oneness to the world and reveal Hashem.

17:48 SPEAKER_00: Holiness is transforming life and revealing Hashem.

17:51 SPEAKER_00: This is shalom.

17:52 SPEAKER_00: This is our calling.

17:54 SPEAKER_00: This is what Seifa Vayikra is all about.

17:58 SPEAKER_00: Seifa Vayikra lays down an existential challenge in its very first word.

18:03 SPEAKER_00: Do we want to live a godless life of randomness and coincidence?

18:07 SPEAKER_00: Or do we want to live a life with Hashem of meaning, purpose, and spirituality?

18:12 SPEAKER_00: If we do, it means being a khoba, offering ourselves which enables us to draw close to Hashem and to other people.

18:23 SPEAKER_00: This means living a life at the level of Nishamah, not negating our physical selves, but showing restraint and challenging, channeling our physicality in the right way.

18:34 SPEAKER_00: This requires humility.

18:36 SPEAKER_00: We can only make room for Hashem and others by reducing self.

18:42 SPEAKER_00: An arrogant person has no room for anyone else because they're full of self.

18:47 SPEAKER_00: It is living life in this way that we harmonize the physical and the spiritual.

18:51 SPEAKER_00: The apparent two-ness in the world, which means revealing the oneness in the world, revealing Hashem.

18:57 SPEAKER_00: This is the shalom for which we pray every day.

19:01 SPEAKER_00: This is how we create a world where the Shahinah can dwell.

19:06 SPEAKER_00: The question is are you living a vayikha life or answering the call of vayikrah?