Parshas Vayikra

Sacrificing Distance

Proper understanding of wisdom requires purity of emotions, for wisdom is acquired through words, and words are symbols of familiar concepts; the baser our understanding of the concept, the poorer our understanding will be. When one says 'love' for example, a mundane person will think of the mundane instinctive emotion stimulated by nervous impulses, whereas a refined person will understand it as an eternal metaphysical bond between two matching entities. Divine Understanding, Kabbalah, cannot be understood through our base concepts. Only through constant scrutiny and purification of our conciousness and the elevation of our daily existence to a completely spiritual experience can we approach these heavenly concepts and understand them properly.

Our Parsha, the opening chapter of the book of Vayikra, expounds on the concept of sacrifice - Korban. The word 'sacrifice' has the connotation of giving up something valuable for a higher ideal. But the Torah uses the word Korban - from the root Kirva - bringing closer: by connecting all our worldly belongings to their Spiritual Source, we create a channel that connects the whole of existence to Spirituality, thereby allowing the Source of all Blessings to pour forth sustenance through this channel. The ultimate goal of creation is for us to recognize that everything in the entire world - till the minutest detail - is essentially divine (Yichud). By the service of Korban we actually "feed" the purpose of Creation by recognizing the Holiness inherent in the pure species of the Animal World. By bringing out the spirituality of things that seem mundane, they become vehicles to elevate and sanctifiy Hashem's Name, and He in turn sends down more Heavenly bounty with which to serve Him.

Rabbeinu Bechaye explains this concept on the verse 'Olah Ishe Re'ach Nicho'ach Lashem' (translated as a burnt offering that smells pleasant to Hashem). 'Olah' which literally means elevating, refers to the raising of the mundane to spirituality by burning the Korban in the fire on the holy Altar. Here fire, "Esh" (Gvura) is called "Ishe" (like "Isha"), because it represents the feminine desire to accept the realization of mankind (Adam ki yakriv) that this animal is Heaven-sent. This expression of Hashem's Majesty (Kavod - Malchus) then evokes the aroma 'Re'ach' of Divine blessing to descend (from Tif'eres) and rest 'Nicho'ach' (from the root Lanuach) in the world, sustaining the world with compassion (Rachamim) expressed in the word 'to Hashem' which is written with the Holy Four Letter Name which denotes Heavenly Compassion.

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