The Gemara (Ta'anit
27b, Megilla 31b) teaches that if not for the merit of those who recite the
passages in the Torah that speak of the various sacrifices, the world would
cease to exist. The Bet Yosef cites this
Talmudic passage in the context of the Tur's comment that it is proper to
recite each morning the sections in the Torah describing each form of sacrifice
– Ola, Minha, Shelamim, Hatat, and Asham.
The Gemara further
relates that after Hashem gave Abraham Abinu His promise that his descendants
would receive the Land of Israel, Abraham asked what would happen if they
sinned. How would they continue to
survive if they are unworthy? Hashem
replied by showing Abraham the Korbanot, the sacrifices through which his
offspring would earn atonement. Abraham
then asked how they would achieve atonement after the destruction of the Bet
Ha'mikdash, when sacrifices would no longer be offered. G-d responded that by reciting the sections
in the Torah discussing the Korbanot, Abraham's descendants would be considered
as having offered the sacrifices, and would thereby attain forgiveness for
their misdeeds.
The Gemara in Masechet
Menahot (110a) similarly teaches that one who learns about one of the
sacrifices is considered to have offered that sacrifice. And so when we read the verses about the Ola
offering, we are credited with bringing an Ola; when we read the verses about
the Minha offering, we are credited with bringing a Minha; and so on.
The Zohar tells that
when Hashem taught Moshe the laws of the sacrifices, he asked what would happen
once Beneh Yisrael are exiled and no longer able to offer sacrifices. Hashem responded that when they learn about
the various sacrifices, they would earn atonement as though they had offered them.
In a different
passage, the Zohar relates that Rabbi Pinhas once met the prophet Eliyahu, and
Eliyahu taught him about the great benefit of reciting the sections of the
Torah dealing with the sacrifices. He
said that Hashem told the prosecuting angels that as long as Beneh Yisrael read
these portions of the Torah with Kavana (concentration), the angels can report
to Hashem only about the good deeds that Beneh Yisrael perform, and lose the
right to prosecute against them. Thus,
by reading the section of Korbanot, we transform the prosecuting angels into
our advocates.
The Sefer Haredim (Rav
Elazar Azkari, Safed, 1533-1600) writes that since Hashem considers Beneh
Yisrael His "children" ("Banim Atem L'Hashem Elokechem" – Debarim 14:1), and
the Misva of honoring parents requires one to feed his parents, we bear an
obligation to "feed" Hashem. Quite
obviously, Hashem does not need actual food, but we accomplish this by learning
about the Korbanot, which represent the idea of bringing "food" to G-d.
King Shlomo, in an
ambiguous verse in Kohelet (11:2), writes, "Ten Helek Le'shiba Ve'gam
Li'shmona, Ki Lo Teda Ma Yiheyeh Ra'a Al Ha'aretz" – literally, "Give a portion
to the seven, and also to the eight, for you do not know what evil will befall
the earth." Rashi brings several
interpretations of this verse, one of which is that it refers to the sacrifices
offered during the seven days of Pesach and the eight days of Sukkot (including
Shemini Aseret). King Shlomo urged the
people to ensure to offer all the required sacrifices, because "you do not know
what evil will befall the earth" – the Bet Ha'mikdash might be destroyed at
some point in the future, such that Korbanot will no longer be brought, and the
nation will survive in the merit of the sacrifices brought when the Mikdash
stood. This verse thus indicates after
the destruction of the Bet Ha'mikdash, we have no option of receiving credit
for offering the sacrifices, except by relying on the merit of the sacrifices
that were offered in the times of the Bet Ha'mikdash. This would then contradict everything we have
seen about the ability we are given to earn the merit of offering sacrifices
through the recitation and study of the passages discussing the Korbanot.
Rav Haim Palachi
(Turkey, 1788-1868) explained Rashi's comments to mean that by learning about
the sacrifices, we invoke the merit of the sacrifices offered by
ancestors. When we recite the section of
Korbanot, and learn about them, we connect ourselves to the sacrifices which
were brought millennia ago in the Bet Ha'mikdash, as though those sacrifices
were offered on our behalf. And it is in
this way that we access the merit of the Korbanot by reading and learning about
them.
