Pemikiran Yahudi Bilangan 28:2: Akeidat Yitzchak & Kuzari

Midrash Tanchuma on our Parshah writes that Moses had conceptual difficulties with three of G-d’s instructions. When G-d instructed that the half shekel was to be a kopher nefesh a soul's ransom, Moses queried "how can anyone ransom his soul by means of a financial donation?" G-d replied that He did not mean for the Jews to donate according to HIS yardsticks and ability, but according to their own yardsticks and ability. When G-d instructed that the Jews build a sanctuary for HIM, Moses queried how G-d who cannot be contained by the whole universe, could possibly be contained by such a miniscule structure as the tabernacle? Again G-d replied that contrary to what Moses thought, the Jewish people were asked to do only things which were in keeping with their own ability, i.e. twenty beams in the South, twenty in the North, etc. When G-d commanded the offering of daily sacrifices, described by G-d as "My bread," Moses wondered how there could possibly be sufficient livestock to satisfy G-d’s needs. G-d answered that the dimensions of sacrifice were commensurate with Israel's ability, not G-d’s capacity. Hence one sheep in the morning, one in the evening. This is the meaning of Job 37,23, "Though we cannot obtain a true understanding of the dimensions of G-d, He has proven through justice and righteousness that He does not oppress."

Since G'd in His wisdom saw fit to make man a mixture of matter and spirit, He had to make the earth and the Heavens to provide a home for the spirit. This is expressed in Isaiah 45,12, by the words "I have made earth and Heaven and created man on it." The meaning is that earth and Heaven were needed for the sake of man. We have to conceive of rakiyah, the horizon as the dividing curtain between the purely spiritual "upper" regions, and the "lower" physical part of the universe. That this is so can be confirmed by the motion that we observe in the part of the universe inhabited by our bodies. For this reason Solomon in Kohelet, keeps referring to the state of things as "under the sun." By this he wants us to understand that he speaks only about the physical part of the universe. Since spiritual beings are not subject to time, they are also not subject to motion, since motion is measured by time. Not only are spiritual beings not bound by time, but, on the contrary, time and its "carrier" are subservient to them. Celestial bodies, (sun and planets) are in a category in between. Inasmuch as their very function is motion, they are affected by it; they are, however, not dominated by time. Their motion commenced before a time frame had been established, but ever since such time frames exist, they exist side by side with time. On earth, things are different, as Solomon said: "everything has its time and season under the sun." (Kohelet 3,1) Man is subject to the dictates of time. Israel the nation, assured as it has been by G'd of arichut yamim, a timeless, i.e. infinite future on holy soil however, can demonstrate by its history that there are aspects to its existence which set it above and beyond the limits imposed upon man by time. All this, providing Israel acts as Israel should. When Kohelet refers to eyt lechol chefetz, "there is a time frame for every desire," the reference is to an intellectual achievement. The message is that since we are in a human shell, a body, the workings of the mind are somewhat impeded. If we did not have a body to contend with, our mind would comprehend immediately things which require time for us to be able to understand them now. The body acts as a brake for the intellect.

Of these two kinds of offerings, the freewill offering is more pleasing, as alluded to in the Midrash quoted at the opening of this chapter. Noach thanked G'd for having saved him. This is like when we recite the benediction hagomel, after having been bypassed by some danger. We are told that Noach had found favour in the eyes of G'd, but G'd had not found favour. Ezekiel 14,14, tells us that even if the generation that he describes would have a Noach amongst them, none would be saved. (Bereshit Rabbah 31) Noach's offering insured though that a repetition of the deluge would never recur, since he had found the key to atonement for all future generations by offering this thanksgiving offering. It was the people of Israel however, who were commanded to offer the daily offerings, (Numbers chapter 28 ) the objective being le-hakriv lee "to achieve closeness with Me,” something that goes beyond the mere attainment of atonement. It is this closeness that the prophet in our opening Midrash envisions. The proliferation of sacrifices in the days of Solomon was pleasing to G'd, since those sacrifices represented the desire to achieve close communion with G'd. The reason that the "days of Noach" are mentioned in the same breath, is to show that also that type of offering is acceptable. The reason that these daily communal offerings of the Jewish people are primarily referred to as olah, is that they are me-ulleh, the highest, most advanced form of offering that exists. If the prophet also mentions ki-yemey olam, a reference to the dawn of history, he may refer to the pleasing aspects of the sacrifice brought by Hevel, who was certainly not inspired by the need for atonement, sin not having been part of man's general lifestyle in those days. If G'd, on the other hand, rejected the offering of Kayin, this proves that the latter's motivation had been of a lower order. The priests, as the recipients of part of the offerimgs, are the intermediaries, conduits between man and his Creator. The killing of the animal in the sanctuary or at least on consecrated ground, is a natural pre-condition for achieving closeness with G'd. The various paragraphs seem to follow one another in a natural order. The Torah starts with the olah, representing what man, at his noblest, altruistic intention wishes to offer, i.e. himself. The Torah emphasises "from you an offering," not "an offering from you." This alludes to the underlying intention. Though the actual sacrifice consists of sheep or cattle, it will be considered as if you had offered yourself. There follow the various regulations connected with the olah offering. We are told which animals are suitable, plus the fact that a "gift offering" must accompany such an olah. This latter is to be of the finest grade of flour etc This too has nothing to do with sin. Next comes the "peace offering," the motivation for which is also unrelated to sin. Only after the list of the most pleasing kinds of offerings has been exhausted, does the Torah list the various sin offerings, whose purpose is the expiation of wrongdoing, though they expiate in the main for unintentional wrongdoing. Here the order commences with a sin committed by the High Priest, followed by the sacrifice appropriate for the error committed by the entire nation. This is to show that the same par, bull, that fulfils the function of expiating for the representative of the nation, also performs that function for ordinary citizens. This is followed by the he-goat which serves as sin offering from the Prince, the temporal authority, followed by the same he- goat serving a sin offering for sins by ordinary individuals. Next we have the regulations about the asham, a sin offering covering a different type of sin. The common denominator of all these sacrifices is the need for semichah, the placing of the sinner's hands and weight on the respective animal prior to its being slaughtered. In this way, the "greatness," i.e. the attributes of man are transferred to the animal. We find that once Moses had placed his hands on Joshua, (Deut. 34,9) the people listened to Joshua, authority had been transferred. Just as power, authority, can be transferred by this means, one's weaknesses and inadequacies can be transferred in a like manner. Aaron is commanded to place his hands on the scapegoat, and immediately afterwards the Torah tells us that the second he-goat carried all the guilts of the Jewish people. (Leviticus chapter 16) Obviously, this was not part of the act of sacrifice, since the he-goat, scapegoat, was not offered on the altar, but consigned to death in wild unfriendly country. The semichah declaration indicates that the donor fulfils the details of the instructions connected with the sacrificial rite, is free from blemish in this respect. We find that those who had overheard the blasphemer, (Leviticus 24,13-14) had to place their hands on him prior to his execution, thus transferring any guilt from them to him. They are stating symbolically "your blood is on your own head, not on ours." Since the sacrifice is to atone for unintentional sins, the donor must recite "I did not knowingly commit the sin for which this animal is to expiate." After the Torah has dealt with the purpose of each individual sacrifice, it turns its attention to what parts of the animal can serve as compensation for the priest who is charged with performing the sacrificial service.