Shanah Tovah everyone! Happy Second Day of 5773!
Today we look at Va-Yikra, Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26 – the first reading of Leviticus.
Leviticus opens with a lot of talk of offerings – the different kinds of things we must offer up on an altar in ancient Israelite religious practices.
We no longer do these, so what can they teach us?
Community rules count – when we miss the mark and hurt someone, we have probably violated an ethical code of our community as well. So we apologize to the person we’ve hurt, make amends, and then pay a penalty to the community for disrespecting the civics of our society as well.
We are all connected, and our actions have repercussions beyond the individual.
During these Days of Awe we are called upon to confess publicly for exactly this reason – as individual members of a community we need to repair our standards together.
