808 Vayikra A Broken Heart
Sefer Vayikra is the book of korbanot, and the entire book, including Parashat Vayikra, talks about the offerings that we bring. It’s something that seems strange to us, because we don’t have a Bet HaMikdash, and we don’t really feel it.
So Ramban teaches an important point about korbanot. Why do we bring Korbanot? What is this concept of slaughtering an animal? He explains that when a person does some thing, it involves thought, speech, and action. When a person sins, those three parts are involved. Therefore, Hashem says to bring a Korban: leaning your hands on it corresponds to the action, confessing with your mouth, corresponds to speech, and burning the innards of the animal corresponds to the thoughts and desires. The other limbs of the animal correspond to the person’s action, the blood of the animal corresponds to the person’s soul. With all of this, a person is supposed to think that because he sinned, the things happening to the animal really should be happening to him, if not for the kindness of God that said He’ll take a substitute. Thus, the Korban has these actions done to it.
So the Ramban says that the purpose of the korban is to act out on the animal, what should have been done to the person. So what does this actually do? The sefer Yad Yosef, written about 400 years ago by Rabbi Yosef Sarfati, explains that the purpose of all of this is that the person humbles himself when he sees what happens to the animal. He brings a pasuk from tehilim (51,18), where David HaMelech says, כִּי לֹא־תַחְפֹּץ זֶבַח וְאֶתֵּנָה עוֹלָה לֹא תִרְצֶה
You do not want a korban and I’ll give it,
You do not desire burnt offerings;
זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרָה לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶה
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
a downtrodden heart God will not despise.
This seems like a contradiction. First, David HaMelech says, “You don’t want a korban, and I will give it,” Why give it, if Hashem doesn’t want it? And secondly, what does it mean the Hashem doesn’t want us to bring a korban? Vayikra is full of Korbanot.
He explains that Hashem is saying that He doesn’t just want a Korban, He wants what the Korban does to you, which is to have a broken heart and most importantly, to realize what it means to sin to God.
Hashem wants us to humble ourselves and think, “Wow, how did I sin?”
This feeling comes from realizing how much one receives from God, and this is where our bitachon comes in.
I heard a mashal for this, from Rabbi Hillel Haber, at an Azkara for Rachel Bat Shulamit, Mrs Rachel Haber Cohen ah on ז אדר:
Imagine a father who buys his son a bicycle. The child is elated. It’s a beautiful, new, shiny, blue bicycle. The boy asked his father why he bought it and his father answers, “Because I love you.” So the boy hugs his father and kisses him and thanks him. He rides around and has fun with his friends.
Later that night, as he sits down at the dinner table, his father says, “I forgot my reading glasses. Do you mind going upstairs to get them for me?”
The boy groans and sighs and stomps up the stairs begrudgingly to get the reading glasses.
Then the father tells the boy that he forgot his slippers, and he asks his son to go get them. Now the son complains, “What? I have to go back up again?! I just went up there once! Why didn’t you tell me before?”
The father tells his son to stop, and asks whether he remembers the bicycle that he just bought.
Rabbi Haber explains that it is easy to say thank you, but do we actually serve God after that? Do we connect what He gives us with the fact that we have to reciprocate?
That is why David HaMelech says, “Serve Hashem with happiness.” It’s not enough to just be happy and thankful. We have to serve him. Imagine the boy in the story who is reminded about the bicycle. He feels terrible after that. And it wasn’t just the bicycle that his father gave him, it’s his bed, his clothing and his house…
When he thinks about all that his father has given him, he feels bad that he complained about getting his father his slippers. That is what teshuva is. Being humble doesn’t mean that you put yourself down as a lowlife or a jerk. It means looking at what God gave you. How could you not want to reciprocate?
God has given us so much, we have to feel bad that we aren’t taking care of our loving Father.
This only comes from bitachon, when you realize that everything comes from Hashem. And what does He want from us ? To get up in the morning and go to shul? To learn? There are things that we have to do, of course, but after He has given us so much, can’t we do it?
This is what Hashem wants. That is what brings Teshuva: When you realize how much you have. That was the purpose of the Korban. To bring about that feeling. To wonder how a person could’ve possibly eaten unkosher or sinned after all Hashem gave him. When you feel that way, that is the kapara.
B’ezrat Hashem, we should realize how much we receive from Hashem, and reciprocate. Have a Shabbat Shalom.