Bring a Korban, Not a Sacrifice!

Sacrifice entails losing something for a bigger gain. The ideal is to get close to G-d and in the process bring toher things closer as well.

Vayikra: The Book of Affection

The third and central book of the Torah, Vayikra, is named after the opening word of the book, which translates as “and He called.” At first glance, it is strange that the name of a book—the central book—should be so ordinary. All this word seems to be saying is that G-d called Moses before speaking to him. What is so significant about G-d calling Moses?

Rashi explains that G-d calling of Moses was a sign of the affection He had for Moses. Accordingly, “Vayikra” reflects the love G-d has for Moses, and by extension, his people—the Jewish people.

What is the central theme of Vayikra? Korbonot, which we usually translate as sacrifices. That these laws are prefaced by the word Vayikra that connotes affection compels us to conclude that the sacrifices were expressions of G-d’s love for us.

Now the question is why is the offering of sacrifices an expression of love and affection?

An Exercise in Translation

One answer lies in the true translation of the Hebrew word Korban, which is “closeness” rather than sacrifice. The korban was G-d’s way of letting us get close to Him. And indeed, there is no greater sign of affection for another than allowing that person to get close to us.

This is especially true with regard to getting close to G-d who is Infinite. How can a finite being get close to an Infinite G-d? The answer is that it is impossible. However, G-d, just as He transcends the finite world, so too does He transcend the limits of the infinite.

What motivates G-d to transcend the parameters of both the finite and the infinite? It is His love for the Jewish people. The Talmud coins an expression “Ahava docheket et ha’basar,”

that love can compress the flesh and overcome the limitations of space that two people occupy. Similarly, G-d’s love for us allows the diametrically opposite realms of the infinite and the finite to meet.

One may still ask a question: granted that the Korban is not just a sacrifice but rather G-d’s way of demonstrating His love for us; that He allows and enables us to get close to Him. But why do we have to offer animal sacrifices? And why do we pray for the restoration of the sacrificial order in the future Temple?

There is a two part answer to this question:

The Proof of True Love

First, our offering a Korban involves seeking to do fulfill G-d’s will. It is the ultimate expression of our love and desire to get close to another when we do what the other wants even if we fail to understand why they want it and what is in it for ourselves. If we only give someone that we love a gift that we appreciate, then we are not expressing true love. Only when we give them what they want regardless of how we feel does it represent a true gesture of unconditional love.

Second, we must reiterate that a korban is not really a sacrifice. And this is not just a matter of semantics. A sacrifice implies destroying one thing to preserve something else that we deem more important. A korban, by contrast, represents preserving the original, albeit in a different and higher form.

If we think about it every physical object we use can either be a sacrifice or a korban. For example, when we eat any piece of food—meat or vegetable—we can view it as the destruction of its original beauty and form for the greater good. That would mean that we sacrificed an apple because we deem our nutritional needs to be more important than leaving the apple the way G-d made it without our intervention.

There is a more accurate way of looking at the consumption of that apple. The apple has now been converted into human energy and all of the benefits that ensue from human ingenuity that were nourished by the consumption of that apple. In that scenario, the apple is not destroyed and thus sacrificed for a greater good;

rather the apple is now transformed into a higher life form and has assumed a new and more sublime identity.

The korban we offered in the Beit Hamikdash involved a representation of every form of existence. It required salt a mineral, flour, oil and wine—vegetation, an animal and a Kohain, a human being. These four aspects of creation offered in the Temple represented all the inanimate, vegetative, animal and human forms. When the Kohain offered this korban he was in effect taking all of existence and elevating it to the level of the Divine. Nothing was sacrificed. Everything was elevated.

Maturity: Sacrifice or Growth?

Perhaps an analogy from the human maturation process will be helpful to put the korban concept into perspective that will also help us come to grips with the way life will be in the future Messianic Era.

When a child grows and develops into an adolescent and then an adult they do not sacrifice their childhood so that they can become adults. If a child was to sacrifice his or her childhood and compelled to mature overnight into a full-fledged adult it would be traumatic, daunting and overwhelming. Rather, a child takes his or her childhood identity and elevates it into a higher form of life. So that while the child remains in the adult personality, it is now a child that is elevated and absorbed within the more sophisticated state of adulthood.

The Entire World a Korban

The ultimate manifestation of the korban ideal will be realized in the Messianic Age. First, the Temple offerings will be reinstated as the Torah states and we make reference to it countless times in our liturgy. Second, all of existence will undergo the process of korban-elevation, not sacrifice.

Many people fear the unknown and particularly the Messianic Age when we imagine the drastic changes that will occur. Will we recognize ourselves and the world around us?

The answer is that the changes that will occur will not destroy or negate anything that exists in the present that is positive. Gradually and seamlessly we will grow and take our present state of mind into higher and more delightful state—the ultimate korban!

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Vayikra by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.