We must become the prayer #Vayikra#parashathashavua#devartorah

We begin the third book of the Torah Vayikra, Leviticus, this Shabbat. Now that Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle, has been erected parashat Vayikra deals with the aspects of the sacrificial cult that is offered up in it.  Our ancestors sought to draw close to God through the animal sacrifices offered up first in the portable Tabernacle and then in the Temple in Jerusalem.  In fact the Hebrew word for sacrifice is korbon and its root meaning is “to draw close”.  We no longer offer up sacrifices as our mode of worship. Today we worship God through prayer.

Rambam explains why prayer has taken the place of sacrifices since the Temple has been destroyed and we can no longer offer up sacrifices. “It is a positive Torah commandment to pray every day, as [Exodus 23:25] states: "You shall serve God, your Lord." Tradition teaches us that this service is prayer, as [Deuteronomy 11:13] states: "And serve Him with all your heart" and our Sages said: Which is the service of the heart? This is prayer.” (Mishneh Torah, Prayer and Priestly Blessing, 1:1, Sefaria.com translation)

In his book Listening for God in Torah and Creation Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg teaches for prayer to be meaningful we must become the prayer. He

“Yet the sacrificial system did not simply disappear; it left a profound imprint on the entire pattern of Jewish worship. The Talmud makes it clear that the three daily prayers correspond in their timing to the morning and afternoon sacrifices in the night-time rituals in the Temple (Berachot 26b). There are also deeper, more intrinsic connections, as Arthur Greene suggests:

Prayer comes in place of sacrifice. In true prayer, we give the only gift we have to offer: ourselves. Va’ani tefillati says the Psalmist, felicitously mistranslated by later Hasidic readers as ‘I am my prayer.’ (Ehye: A Kabalah for Tomorrow. Page 158)

Instead of bringing animals to the altar, we give ourselves, writes Green, ‘by opening our hearts, by being present to God’s presence in our lives, by sharing with others, by generosity towards the needy, among whom God’s presence rests’. (Ibid., page 158)

Perhaps it is this focus on the heart that makes an undated medieval poem so mysteriously beautiful, with this chorus listing all the different kinds of Temple sacrifice:

          God, You are my God and my Redeemer; I place myself before You.

          God who was and shall be, God who was and is, truly Yours is all the earth.

The Lord of hosts, with how many wonders He holds together his tent!

In the paths of the heart He plants the heart’s growth, the Rock whose work is perfect!

And our thanksgiving, burnt-and meal-offerings, are sacrifices for              sin and guilt, for peace and purification: we give them all so that you will draw us close. (Anonymous, author’s own translation) (page 172)