vayikra: what does it mean to sacrifice?

(1) Hashem called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying:

(2) Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them: When any of you presents an offering of cattle to Hashem, he shall choose his offering from the herd or from the flock. (3) If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall make his offering a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, for acceptance in his behalf before the LORD. (4) He shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, that it may be acceptable in his behalf, in expiation for him. (5) The bull shall be slaughtered before Hashem; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (6) The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into sections. (7) The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay out wood upon the fire; (8) and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay out the sections, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar.

(9) Its entrails and legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to Hashem (10) If his offering for a burnt offering is from the flock, of sheep or of goats, he shall make his offering a male without blemish. (11) It shall be slaughtered before Adonai on the north side of the altar, and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar. (12) When it has been cut up into sections, the priest shall lay them out, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar. (13) The entrails and the legs shall be washed with water; the priest shall offer up and turn the whole into smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to Adonai.

(14) If his offering to Adonai is a burnt offering of birds, he shall choose his offering from turtledoves or pigeons.

(15) The priest shall bring it to the altar, pinch off its head, and turn it into smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out against the side of the altar. (16) He shall remove its crop with its contents, and cast it into the place of the ashes, at the east side of the altar. (17) The priest shall tear it open by its wings, without severing it, and turn it into smoke on the altar, upon the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing odor to the Hashem.

(10) Hear the word of the LORD,
You chieftains of Sodom;
Give ear to our God’s instruction,
You folk of Gomorrah!

(11) “What need have I of all your sacrifices?” Says the LORD.
“I am sated with burnt offerings of rams,
And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls;
And I have no delight in lambs and he-goats.

(12) That you come to appear before Me—
Who asked that of you? Trample My courts

(13) no more; bringing oblations is futile,^-c
Incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath, Proclaiming of solemnities, Assemblies with iniquity,^-d I cannot abide.

(14) Your new moons and fixed seasons
Fill Me with loathing; They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them.

(15) And when you lift up your hands,
I will turn My eyes away from you;
Though you pray at length, I will not listen.
Your hands are stained with crime—

(16) Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings away from My sight.
Cease to do evil; (17) Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice;
Aid the wronged.^-e
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
(18) “Come, let us reach an understanding,^-e
—says the LORD.
Be your sins like crimson,
They can turn snow-white;
Be they red as dyed wool,
They can become like fleece.”

(21) Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat!

(22) For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice.

(23) But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you.

(24) Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward,

As Rabbi Elazar says: With regard to anyone who divorces his first wife, even the altar sheds tears over him...