Musar zu Wajikra 1:1

ויקרא אל משה ... אדם כי יקריב מכם . Rashi alludes to the rhetorical question of the sages why the Torah here used the term אדם instead of איש or something similar. They conclude that since the sequence of the words is not אדם מכם יקריב קרבן, but אדם כי יקריב מכם, that the Torah refers to an offering volunteered by man, as distinct from one that man is obligated to bring. This is why the Torah also added the word כי, which indicates something that is subject to choice. Rashi also says that the type of offering the Torah speaks of is the עולת נדבה, an animal which is burned up completely, the owner or priest not eating any part thereof, an offering which is volunteered by its owner.

Remember that if Adam had not sinned the whole concept of areas that are sanctified and areas that are not would not have existed. The whole earth would have been like גן עדן, and every place on earth would have enjoyed the status of sanctity. A return to such a situation is forecast in Jeremiah 3,16-17 where the prophet says: "In those days -declares the Lord- men shall no longer speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, nor shall it come to mind. They shall not mention it nor miss it, or make another." Rashi comments on this that this means that G–d promises that "all your entrances will be holy and I shall dwell therein as though it were the Ark of the Covenant." There similarly would not have been people specially selected to perform the service in the Sanctuary since the whole of mankind would have been a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Neither would certain times have been singled out as especially suitable for festivals or as times for atonement, etc.. Every single day would have enjoyed the same high status of holiness. Every day would have exuded the atmosphere of the Sabbath as promised for the future after the arrival of the messianic age. A סימן for you to remember this by are the words עולם, שנה, נפש, which are mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah. This means that the holiness of a particular place and the sanctity of a particular time are tied up with the concept "year." The sanctity of a specific person as distinct from people generally is connected to the concept of נפש. Man would not have been required to bring himself close to G–d by means of an animal sacrifice; he himself would have been the sacrifice, much as is described by our sages when they tell of the archangel Michael offering the souls of the departed righteous on the Heavenly Altar (Chagiga 12). For the above-mentioned reasons this book commences with אדם; this is why the Torah writes: אדם כי יקריב, an allusion to אדם הראשון, first man. We can therefore view the whole of this book, תורת כהנים, as the תיקון האדם, the rehabilitation of Adam=mankind.

When we look at certain individuals who lived prior to the time the Tabernacle was erected, we find that נח, אדם and אברהם respectively personified the concept of עשן, i.e. שנה,עולם , and נפש. Adam represented עולם, seeing he was the product for whose sake G–d had undertaken to create the universe. Noach personified the concept of שנה, seeing that during his lifetime the world underwent cataclysmic changes. He witnessed a world which functioned; he then witnessed a world that was destroyed; finally he witnessed a world rebuilt. Our patriarch Abraham, inasmuch as he personified absolute faith in G–d, comprised within himself all the spiritual powers connected with the soul. The Torah testifies that while still in Charan he and Sarah "made" souls, created people who possessed spiritual values, i.e. a soul (Genesis 12,5). Vayikra Rabbah 1,9 comments on Leviticus 1,1 ויקרא אל משה, "He called upon Moses," that whereas G–d called upon Moses, He did not call upon Adam. This seems peculiar in view of ויקרא ה' אלוקים אל האדם, in Genesis 3, 9! Obviously G–d did call upon Adam! We must answer by stating that it is not a disgrace for the king to speak to his tenant. The Midrash goes on: G–d spoke to Moses, i.e. וידבר ה' אליו, whereas he did not speak to Noach. How are we to understand this in view of Genesis 8,15: וידבר אלוקים אל נח! We must answer that it is no disgrace for a king to speak to his herder.