This sheet on Leviticus 27 was written by Margie Cella for 929 and can also be found here
So, we have arrived at the end of the book of Leviticus. The nation of Israel is poised to finally move on from Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) and set out on their long journey through Midbar Sinai (the Wilderness of Sinai). For 27 chapters we have been instructed in the details of how to offer the various sacrifices, as well as in dietary laws and laws of marriage and ritual purity. But one important reminder is given before we go:
“These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel in Mount Sinai” (v. 34).
With these words Leviticus, the torat kohanim, draws to a close. This last verse reminds us that the mitzvot, commandments, were given by God to the children of Israel: God is the Commander, we the commanded. In commenting on this verse, Rabbeinu Bahya quotes R. Ilah in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Shabbat 13:3): “If the people of Israel will perform these commandments . . . as commandments, then they are mitzvot; if not they are not counted as mitzvot.” In other words, the mitzvot take on the nature of commandedness only in the context of our relationship with God. When the Israelites are able to acknowledge, both individually and collectively, that our observance of the commandments is a vital component of the covenantal relationship that was sealed at Sinai, then, and only then, does that observance take on any meaning for us. Without that acknowledgement, the mitzvot are mere words and their observance nothing more than an empty, hollow performance.
As each of us walks through the wilderness of our own journey through life, may the purposeful adherence to the commandments lovingly given by God at Har Sinai be the cloud of glory that guides our path.
“These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel in Mount Sinai” (v. 34).
With these words Leviticus, the torat kohanim, draws to a close. This last verse reminds us that the mitzvot, commandments, were given by God to the children of Israel: God is the Commander, we the commanded. In commenting on this verse, Rabbeinu Bahya quotes R. Ilah in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Shabbat 13:3): “If the people of Israel will perform these commandments . . . as commandments, then they are mitzvot; if not they are not counted as mitzvot.” In other words, the mitzvot take on the nature of commandedness only in the context of our relationship with God. When the Israelites are able to acknowledge, both individually and collectively, that our observance of the commandments is a vital component of the covenantal relationship that was sealed at Sinai, then, and only then, does that observance take on any meaning for us. Without that acknowledgement, the mitzvot are mere words and their observance nothing more than an empty, hollow performance.
As each of us walks through the wilderness of our own journey through life, may the purposeful adherence to the commandments lovingly given by God at Har Sinai be the cloud of glory that guides our path.
(לד) אֵ֣לֶּה הַמִּצְוֺ֗ת אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל בְּהַ֖ר סִינָֽי׃
(34) These are the commandments that the LORD gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai.
Margie Cella is a 5th year rabbinical student at JTS, due to be ordained in May of 2019.
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