Musar sobre Números 28:32

Following these laws the Torah commands the details of the daily communal offerings known as תמידים. These offerings correspond to the close attachment of the soul to its Maker. The expression עולת תמיד for this sacrifice indicates that it symbolizes the soul that always "ascends" (עולה) to the Celestial Regions. The "address" of this sacrifice is the attribute of G–d represented by the Ineffable four-lettered Name. When the sacrifice "rises," it unites the soul of those who have offered it with G–d Himself. This idea is first mentioned when the Torah says in Leviticus 1,3: "When an Adam, (the Torah's word for the most superior type of human being) wishes to achieve closeness with the four-lettered attribute of G–d (through presentation of a sacrifice)" [Editor's translation]. In our portion the word אשי in the verse “את קרבני לחמי לאשי,” hints that the Torah speaks of these select people, viz, אנשי (28,2). The Torah describes certain people as achieving this closeness, קרבות through the daily תמידים. All this is part of the mystical dimension of גלגול, the soul's travels during its incarnations within different bodies. The offering of these sacrifices helps these incarnations achieve their purpose. They are refined and cleansed through these קרבנות.

Come and see how great is the power of peace. For in the beginning of the creation of the universe the Holy One Blessed be He employed Himself in the creation of an instrument of peace, as it is written (Bereshith 1:3): "And G-d said: 'Let there be light' — and there was light." And how do we know that light is peace? For it is written (Isaiah 45:7): "He fashions light and creates darkness; He makes peace and creates evil." On this basis, our teachers of blessed memory ruled (Shabbath 23b): "As between a candle for his house and wine for kiddush, to sanctify the Sabbath [if he can afford only one], a candle for his house takes precedence because of the peace of his household." What is more, our sages enacted many ordinances in pursuit of the paths of peace, viz. (Gittin 59a): "They declared the following in pursuit of the paths of peace: 'The Cohein reads first [in the Torah], then the Levite, then the Israelite, because of "the paths of peace."'" An eruv [a halachic enabling device] is placed in an old house, because of "the paths of peace." The pit nearest the irrigation canal is filled first because of "the paths of peace."'" And so is it written (Proverbs 3;17): "Its [Torah's] ways are ways of pleasantness and all of its paths are peace." And thus did our sages of blessed memory say in the aggadah (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:13, Tanchuma Beha'alothecha 11): "There are thirteen things that the Holy One Blessed be He loved, and of all of them, He "doubled" [in profusion of love], only "peace." They [(the thirteen)] are: Cohanim, Levites, Israel, Sanhedrin [the high court], the first-born, the offerings of the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the oil of anointment, the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple, the kingdom of the house of David, and the silver and the gold. The Cohanim — (Shemoth 28:41): "And they shall be priests unto Me." the Levites (Numbers 3:41): "And I shall take the Levites unto Me." Israel — (Shemoth 19:6): "And you [Israel] shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests." Sanhedrin — (Numbers 11:16): "Gather unto Me seventy men." The first-born — (Shemoth 13:2) "Sanctify unto Me every first-born." The offerings of the tabernacle — (Ibid. 25:2): "And they shall take unto Me an offering." The sacrifices — (Numbers 28:2): "You shall heed to sacrifice unto Me in its appointed time." The oil of anointment — (Shemoth 30:31): "The holy oil of anointment shall this be unto Me for your generations." The Land of Israel — (Ibid. 19:5): "For unto Me is all the land." Jerusalem — (I Kings 11:36): "The city that I have chosen unto Me." The Temple — (I Chronicles 17:12): "He shall build unto Me a habitation." The kingdom of the house of David — (I Samuel 16:1): "For I have seen in his sons a king unto Me." The silver and the gold — (Chaggai 2:8): "Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold." But, of all of these, none was doubled [in profusion of love] but "peace," as it is written (Isaiah 27:5): "Or let him take hold of My strength. He shall make peace unto Me; peace shall he make unto Me." Great is peace, which takes precedence to praise of the Blessed One Himself. For when Yithro came to Moses, immediately (Exodus 18:7): "And each made inquiry of the other's peace," whereas only afterwards (Ibid. 8): "And Moses related to his father-in-law all of the miracles that the Holy One Blessed be He had wrought for Israel." What is more, for all of the mitzvoth that the wicked perform in this world, the Holy One Blessed be He gives them their reward in this world — such as wealth, property, years, honor, and the like — except peace, which He does not give them, as it is written (Isaiah 57:21): "There is no peace, says my G-d, for the wicked." And, what is more, the Holy One Blessed be He gives peace as a reward to the righteous, as it is written (Ibid. 32:17): "And the reward for righteousness shall be peace…" What is more, it is with peace that He draws near to Him converts and penitents, as it is written (Ibid. 57:19): "He creates the utterance of the lips: 'Peace, Peace,' for the far and the near, says the L-rd, and I will heal him." Great is peace, for in regard to all of the journeyings in the desert it is written "And they journeyed and they rested," journeying in strife and resting in strife. But when they came to Mount Sinai, they made one great "resting," as it is written (Shemoth 19:2): "And Israel rested there, before the mountain." (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9): "The Holy One Blessed be He said: 'The time has now arrived for Me to give Torah to My children.'" For as long as they are at peace with one another, the Shechinah is among them. And thus is it said (Devarim 33:5): "And He was a King in Yeshurun when the heads of the people were gathered, together with the tribes of Israel." When does the kingdom and the Shechinah of the Blessed One abide in Israel? When they are all gathered together as one. Come and see how great is the power of peace; for it is through the power of peace that the world endures. For thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Avoth 1:18): "On three things does the world stand: on judgment, on truth, and on peace, as it is written (Zechariah 8:16): 'Truth and a judgment of peace shall you judge in your gates.'" What is more, when there is peace among men, there is blessing in their fruits, as it is written (Ibid. 12): "For as the seed of peace, the vine shall give its fruit, and the earth shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give its dew, and I shall bequeath all of these to the remnant of this people." And thus is it written (Psalms 147:14): "He makes peace on your borders and sates you with the fatness of wheat." Our sages have said (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9): "Great is peace, for if one erases one letter of G-d's name, he transgresses a negative commandment, as it is written (Devarim 12:3): 'And you shall wipe out their [the idols'] name from that place,' followed by (Ibid. 4): 'You shall not do so to the L-rd your G-d.' Yet to make peace between a man and his wife, the Torah says (Numbers 5:23): 'And the Cohein shall write these curses [containing G-d's name] in a book and erase them into the bitter waters.' The Holy One Blessed be He says: 'Let My name, which was written in holiness, be erased by the waters.'" And Chazal have said further (Vayikrah Rabbah 9:9): "Great is peace, for all of the goodly blessings and consolations that the Holy One Blessed be He convokes upon Israel conclude with "peace." The Shema — "He spreads a canopy of peace." The Amidah — "He makes peace." The priestly blessing — "And He shall repose peace upon you." "Therefore, my sons, be circumspect in this trait — to love peace and to pursue peace. For there is no end to the reward for loving peace and pursuing peace." Until here, the language of Ma'aloth Hamiddoth.

Personally, I believe that this idea is alluded to in the words: מחלליה מות יומת, "Those who desecrate it will be put to death" (Exodus 31,14). The Torah legislates (Numbers 28,9) that on the Sabbath day two sheep be offered as an additional public burnt-offering, i.e. שני כבשים The fact that these two sheep are lumped together in one expression [unlike the frequently used expression פרים … שנים. Ed.] requires analysis.

To explain the matter in a way that our ears can understand: The soul, which is called a “small world,” is sustained only by smell. Thus the Sages comment, “What is there that the soul benefits from but not the body? It is smell” (Berachos 43b). In the same way, the large worlds, both lower and upper, are also sustained by smell alone. Thus for as long as the Temple stood, Israel offered up sacrifices there and while reflecting on all the esoteric “unifications” connected with the sacrifice as well on as the holy Divine Names deriving from the verse, “a fire-offering, a sweet smell to Hashem” (Bamidbar 28:8). In this way the sacrifice would awaken Heaven’s favor and all the worlds would be united in a single bond. Thus the word korban — “sacrifice” — derives from the word keiruv — “drawing close.” Nowadays the exhalation of a person’s breath in prayer takes the place of the sacrifices, as does Torah study. For instance, whoever engages in the study of the burnt sacrifices is credited as if he offered one (Menachos 100a). In the same way, the breath that is exhaled in prayer on a fast day is also comparable to the fragrance of the sacrifices.

When the Beis HaMikdosh was standing, a person would bring a sacrifice and make confession over it, at the same time repenting for his sin. Then the kohanim would slaughter the animal and sprinkle its blood on the altar and burn its fat. All this was in place of the sinner’s own body and limbs, which had incurred a sentence of death through his sin. Thus the sacrifice served as the rectification for his limbs. Nowadays, however, the recitation of the sacrifices must take the place of offering them, as it is written, “And let us pay for [the offerings of] bullocks with [the prayers of] our lips” (Hoshea 14:3). Maharam the Babylonian (Ta’amei HaMitzvos, 64) writes that when a person recites the portion of the sacrifices he should have in mind that the letters on the page represent the body of the sacrifice, while the vowels animating them represent the soul of the sacrificial animal. In this way it is considered as if he actually offered a sacrifice on the altar. The importance of reciting the portion of the sacrifices every day should not be underestimated. Every morning a certain malignant spirit called Tola is aroused (Sha’ar HaKavanos, Tefilas HaShachar, 13b; Pri Eitz Chayim, Sha’ar Olam HaAsiyah, Part III) and begins lodging accusations against Israel for the sins they committed at night. As long as the Beis HaMikdosh was standing the kohanim were able to weaken its power through the offering of the morning daily sacrifice. Nowadays one should instead have this in mind when reciting the portion, “A continual burnt offering ordained at Mount Sinai” (Bamidbar 28:6). For the word for “[continual] burnt offering” — olas [tamid] — is the reverse of the name Tola. If a person behaves with arrogance he gives power to this malignant spirit, whereas by conducting himself with humility, in emulation of the sacrifices, he weakens it. Thus it is written, “God will not despise a broken and contrite heart” (Tehillim 51:19). Concerning this King Dovid wrote, “And I am a worm [tola’as] and not a man” (Tehillim 22:7).

The select few manage to penetrate to an even higher level, i.e. the level of the yud in its full sense equivalent to the שקל הקודש, as we explained earlier. The reason the Torah calls for a contribution of only half this שקל הקודש (Exodus 30,13), is that most people are not able to attain a higher level than that represented by such a half שקל. Psalms 68,18, describes this dual yud when mentioning רבותיים instead of רבבות. There was no need for the Torah in פרשת כי תשא, to describe the שקל as a half שקל and spelling out that a whole שקל contains 20 geyrah, except to remind us of the fact that G–d's input into a human being is limited to ten parts out of of twenty. This means that the "holy" component of a human being to start with is only 50%. Man can be compared to a two sided coin. The scriptural hint for this is תתהפך כחומר חותם (Job 38,14), "it turns over like clay under the seal" (which has a seal imprinted on it). The body thus is viewed like the coin, i.e. the receptacle for the imprint the soul makes upon it. In its most elevated state the soul is to be viewed like G–d's imprint on the body. This is what our sages meant when they said that the soul resembles G–d in five ways. This is also the deeper meaning of our sages in Shekalim 4, saying that G–d showed Moses a fiery coin since He Himself is compared to consuming fire (אש אוכלה, Deut. 9,3). The Jewish people purchased the daily communal sacrifices from the money raised by these contributions (half-שקל). This is perhaps why these sacrifices are described as, אשה לה' "a fire offering to G–d (Numbers 28,3).

It follows, then, that Pesach is the first of the Chagim, Shavuos, the second Chag and Sukkos the final Chag. That is why Shavuos is called the “Tree of Life that is in the midst of the garden” (Zohar, 3:96a), because it is the middle Chag [i.e., sandwiched between Pesach and Sukkos]. The Zohar also refers to Shavuos as the “praise of the Torah,” which is highest praise of all. That is why the Torah was given on this day, since the Torah is also called the “Tree of Life that is in the midst of the garden.” I believe that it was with reference to this that the Zohar states (ibid.): “And on the Day of the First Fruits when you sacrifice a new offering to Hashem in your weeks, there shall be for you a holy convocation” (Bamidbar 28:26). Rabbi Shimon began his address, “‘Then the trees of the forest will exult before Hashem, for He comes to judge the earth’ (Divrei HaYamim 16:23)… On the surface it is not clear why Rabbi Shimon chose to elaborate on this verse from Divrei HaYamim in this context. I believe that it is because all the trees of the forest of Levanon are bound to the “Tree of Life in the midst of the garden,” as I have already explained. In order to demonstrate His affection for Israel before all the nations the Holy One Blessed is He sustained us with manna in the desert. Thus is it stated, “Behold I will rain upon you bread from Heaven” (Shemos 16:4). He also commanded us to bring an offering of barley flour on the Yom Tov of Shavuos. Concerning this the Zohar (ibid.) teaches, “Meritorious is Israel’s lot, for the Holy One Blessed is He tests them with a barley offering, like a straying wife who must bring an offering of animal fodder. So, too, the Holy One Blessed is He commanded them to bring an offering of barley flour.