(20) And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. (21) And the LORD smelled the sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart: ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
(7) And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said: ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land’; and he builded there an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. (8) And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he builded there an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
(2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd or of the flock. (3) If his offering be a burnt-offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish; he shall bring it to the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. (4) And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
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Maimonides, Guide to the Perplexed “It is unreasonable to expect that one who grew up as a slave, laboring in mud and bricks, should one day wash his hands from the dirt and straight off [without any preparation] do battle with the giants. Therefore, God did not immediately bring the people into the Land of Israel, and did not lead them [along the direct route], “the way of the Land of the Philistines” (Ex. 13:17). Similarly, it is unnatural for one who is accustomed to many forms of service and practices, so ingrained that they are like unquestionable laws, to abruptly desist from them.” |
Rabbi Richard N. Levy, Hebrew Union College
But questions remain. How would bringing a groaning calf or a skittish goat, visible, physical animals, bring a person close to the invisible, nonphysical Presence of God? Didn't the Israelites get in trouble for trying to come close to God's Presence by building a calf made of gold? Why would the original animal serve any better?
Jonathan Klawans, author of Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple
It's stuff. One is giving something. One of the points that's often emphasized, even in the biblical tradition-- and also in later rabbinic tradition-- about sacrifice is that a proper sacrifice is something that one owns. You can't go steal an animal and sacrifice it to God. And we also have to remember even if we think of animals as property, ancients-- one has to imagine the domesticated life of people, shepherds, living with their animals, who know their animals. A proper sacrifice has to be unblemished. To have an unblemished goat, one has to really care for that goat, from the time that the goat is born, to ensure that that goat will not become blemished in some way.
Michael Fishbane, Aspects of the Transformation of Sacrifice in Judaism
But there were also offerings designed to heal ruptures between persons and the divine, with different modes prescribed at different times for different degrees of sin and inadvertence. In this way sacrifices and offerings not only mark and maintain cycles of life, but also restore and repair breaks in the bond between heaven and earth (Leviticus 1-7)...A basic religious concern, inevitably, became how sin could be atoned for in the absence of the Temple and its sacrifices.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference
The Universality of moral concern is not something we learn by being universal but by being particular.
(יא) לָמָּה־לִּ֤י רֹב־זִבְחֵיכֶם֙ יֹאמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה שָׂבַ֛עְתִּי עֹל֥וֹת אֵילִ֖ים וְחֵ֣לֶב מְרִיאִ֑ים וְדַ֨ם פָּרִ֧ים וּכְבָשִׂ֛ים וְעַתּוּדִ֖ים לֹ֥א חָפָֽצְתִּי
(11) To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? Saith the LORD; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, And the fat of fed beasts; And I delight not in the blood Of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.