Please include Israel's captive soldiers in your tefillot: Zecharia Shlomo ben Miriam Baumel, Tzvi ben Penina Feldman, Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sarah Katz, Ron ben Batya Arad, Guy ben Rina Chever, Gilad ben Aviva Shalit.

 

 

Monday, 29 Adar 5770 – March 15, 2010

 

 

            The second verse of Parashat Vayikra establishes that one who wishes to bring a voluntary animal sacrifice should offer either a bull, sheep or goat.  The Da’at Zekeinim Mi-Ba’alei Ha-Tosafot commentary notes (citing from Torat Kohanim) that the Torah allows as animal sacrifices only domesticated animals which (at least in ancient times) were widely bred and easily accessible.  Rather than require Benei Yisrael to go hunting for wild game to bring as sacrifices, God designated for sacrifices specifically the animals that were most easily obtained.  Da’at Zekeinim comments that this is an expression of God’s benevolence and kindness toward Benei Yisrael, as He did not with to overburden them by requiring them to sacrifice animals which were difficult to capture.

 

            The implication of this comment, seemingly, is that in principle, going into the jungle and hunting wild animals would be a greater expression of devotion to God than simply taking a sheep from one’s herd.  The time and exertion entailed in bringing a deer, for example, would demonstrate one’s desire to serve his Creator at the highest standard, and his willingness to go to great lengths and endure considerable inconvenience for this purpose.

 

            One might wonder, then, why the Torah disqualifies animals such as a deer as sacrifices.  We understand that God did not want to overburden Benei Yisrael by requiring the offering of wild animals, but why did He take away this option?  Why did He not allow those who wish to demonstrate the highest levels of devotion to go to the jungles and hunt for deer and bring them as sacrifices?  God did not, for good reason, make such sacrifices obligatory, but why did He make them invalid?

 

            Rav Moshe Feinstein (in Kol Ram, vol. 3) explained that sometimes, voluntary measures that entail significant time and exertion are not only unnecessary, but also discouraged.  Self-imposed acts of devotion often have the effect of depleting one’s limited resources of time, energy and concentration, at the expense of his basic obligations and responsibilities.  The Torah established the institution of voluntary sacrifices to allow us to extend beyond the strict demands of Halakha and express our personal spiritual feelings in a way that could not be done through the performance of the mandatory mitzvot alone.  However, the Torah also sought to ensure that these voluntary acts of devotion would not take too much time or attention away from our basic obligations.  Hunting for sacrifices could easily lead to a situation of people spending days in the hunt, thinking that they thereby express their devotion to God, but taking precious time away from pursuits such as Torah study, raising a family, and communal involvement.  God therefore chose to disqualify wild animals as sacrifices, in order that voluntary sacrifices would not come at the expense of more critical and basic religious duties.

 

            Before trying to do great things, we must first ensure that we are doing all the good things that we are supposed to be doing.  It is certainly admirable to go beyond the strict call of duty – but only after we have answered that call, and adequately fulfilled all our basic obligations.

 

 

David Silverberg

 

THE COMPLETE SALT ARCHIVES CAN BE FOUND AT:

www.vbm-torah.org/salt-archives.html

 

Comments are welcome.

(c) 2010 Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion.

 

 


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