Author: moshe

Rabbi Pliskin in “Growth Through Torah” (Perek 1, posuk 2, page 235) renders this translation and cites Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch regarding the posuk immediately following the opening posuk and the dialogue between Hashem and Moshe Rabbeinu regarding the small alef in “Vayikra”:

“When a person of you brings an offering to The Almighty…”

Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch commented on this verse: It is most regrettable that we have no word… [for] the idea which lies behind the expression “Korbon”. The unfortunate use of the term “sacrifice” implies the idea of giving something up that is of value to oneself for the benefit of another…. The idea of an offering presupposes a desire on the part of the one to whom it is brought which [who] is “satisfied by the “offering,” which is like a gift. But the idea of a “Korbon” is never used as a gift. It is used exclusively with reference to man’s relation with the Almighty, and it’s meaning can only be understood… [as] to approach, to come near and so to come into close relationship with somebody. The object and purpose… is the attainment of a higher sphere of life. The one bringing the Korbon desires that something of himself should come into close relationship to the Almighty. read more

The word Vayakhel — Assembling together of Kol B’nai Yisrael, introduces the building of the Mishkan (Tent of Meeting), the forerunner of the Beit HaMikdash, which would serve as a kappara (atonement) for the Eigel Zahav (Golden Calf). Our parsha opens by teaching B’nai Yisrael about Shabbos which has always, until recent times, been the unifying, defining factor of Judaism. Shabbos seems a gateway to all else — Kashrut, the Chaggim, Torah learning and Ethics, Yishuv HaAretz, Kiddushin, Family Purity, etc. It symbolizes the Jew’s faith in Hashem. And the melachot involved in the construction of the Mishkan were meant to define the paradigms of melachot prohibited on Shabbos. read more