Choosing Obligation
Vayikra, 5784
Vayikra, Leviticus gets a short shrift, in my opinion. Very few people say it's their favorite book of the Torah, let alone the whole Tanach. It doesn’t have an obvious plotline (though it does have a year-long plot!) or stirring poetry. It does have lots of rules around sacrifice, purity, and the Tabernacle. It’s not fair, really, that it doesn’t get that much attention, because the book of Vayikra does have a lot to teach us. But very few people today want to put in the time to delve into its deeper themes, so it gets cast aside for easier fare.
So, Purim tonight everyone! Did you know there’s an interesting story that Purim is when the Jews accepted the Torah? Now, you might be saying to yourself, no, that’s Shavuot. But there’s an interesting Midrash in the Talmud that looks at the Torah’s description of the Jews as וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר, standing at the foot of the mountain when they were given the Torah. Now, Tachat can mean at the foot of, or the bottom, but it literally means underneath. Rav Avdimi bar Chama drashes from this that God lifted up Mt. Sinai, turned it over, and held it over the Israelites heads, saying to them “If you accept the Torah, good! If not, this is your grave.” Now, you might say that this undermines the idea that the Israelites accepted the Torah, and Rav Acha bar Yaakov agrees with you. “מִכָּאן מוֹדָעָא רַבָּה לְאוֹרָיְיתָא” he responds. “From here we learn a substantial caveat against the Torah!” But another Rabbi, Rava, jumps in and says, never fear, for the Jews accepted it of their own free will finally in the time of Esther and Mordechai. How do we know this? Near the end of the Megillah it is written “קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים” “The Jews ordained for themselves and took upon themselves.” Ostensibly, this verse is written about Purim. But, here Rava asks, why the repetition? Why does it say both “ordained” and “took upon?” It must be that that ordained for themselves that which they had already taken on in the past. And what is that? The Torah.
There is something beautiful about it being the Purim story, the story where God appears directly the least–that is to say, not at all-being seen as the story of the Bible where the Jews of their own free will accept Judaism and the Torah. Even without, and maybe even because, God is not there with an overturned mountain, or a supernatural miracle, the Jews still decide that this is what they want to do. Having seen what people like Haman will do even when confronted with just the smallest slight, the Jews of Esther’s day decide to recommit themselves to Judaism. Why? The midrash doesn’t say. And why after they defeat Haman. One might think that the threat of the extermination of the Jews throughout the Persian Empire would lead to an acceptance of Torah, in an act of “please God, I’ll do this and you save me.” But it is only after Haman is defeated, when the Jews have nothing more to gain, that they of their own free will ordain and take upon themselves the Torah.
You know what also starts with free will dedications? The book of Vayikra! You didn’t think I was going to say all of that about Vayikra at the beginning and then actually not talk about it? Vayikra deserves more than that. Vayikra does contain a lot of rules about sacrifices, and yes, some of those sacrifices are made in response to various sins or crimes that people commit, or even just lifecycle events or holidays. But the very first sacrifices we learn about? כִּי־יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קׇרְבָּן When you present an offering–as Rashi says, בְּקָרְבְּנוֹת נְדָבָה, a free will offering. Before we can go any further with rules about sacrifices, we need to learn about these types of free will sacrifice.
And if you stop to think about it, a free will sacrifice is really an amazing thing. Why would anyone offer a free will sacrifice? It’s not to get anything. It’s not to atone for anything. It is simply offering up something you own–an animal or grain–to God as an act of Thanksgiving. There is no expectation of return, no assumption that anything will be gained by making the sacrifice. It is simply given freely. And that makes it the model for all the other sacrifices, all the other holy acts we will see described throughout Vayikra.
In Vayikra, God gives the instructions on how to offer free-will sacrifices. These sacrifices are offered occasionally, as the offerer sees fit. In the book of Esther, the Jews, in the face of an absent God, freely commit and obligate themselves and their children. What the Jews did in the Megillah is therefore the natural continuation of the free-will sacrifices in Vayikra: not a self-obligation of one time, but an ongoing, continual commitment. They chose this commitment. And we choose to recommit to it.
This is the challenge of the book of Vayikra: that before we can lay out the laws of purity, and sacrifice, and holiness, we must talk about what it means to give freely. That is the challenge of Purim to us: that even in the face of the absence of God, of no even seeming benefit, the Jews chose to dedicate themselves anew. This the challenge that we have today: to accept the Torah again, to take on its commandments, to choose obligation. Not because of any reward we expect. But because giving of our free-will is one of the holiest things we can do.
