What’s the Deal with Sacrifices?
I’m guessing that if I asked people in our community what they thought of korbanot, sacrifices, that most people would respond by saying either something like, “Sacrifices are ancient and do not relate to our times,” or more emphatically, “Sacrifices are a primitive form of worshiping God.”
In a class on tefillah (prayer) for the past few months, a group of us studied how the rabbis borrowed the Biblical model of sacrifices to provide the structure for the timing of our tefillot, our prayer services. (Bavli Berachot 26b) We compared the similarities and differences of prayer and sacrifices. Both have the main goal of connecting with God. Yet there are major differences – prayer can take place anywhere. Prayer requires thought and reflection. Prayer comes from the heart. Prayer has the potential to be universal, in that anyone can pray to God.
Sacrifices, on the other hand, require people to go to a central institution, to be a part of community. Sacrifices require us to give something from ourselves. While sacrifices do cost money, there are varying levels of sacrifices, so that any person who wants can offer a sacrifice. In this sense, sacrifices offer two things that prayer does not – one, that we give something of ourselves, and two, sacrifices do not require fluency in Hebrew or liturgy. Sacrifices are universal, accessible to anyone.
One of the most important rituals today that recalls sacrifice and also has a universal call to give is the Pesach seder. Interestingly, the korban pesach, the Passover offering, was the only sacrifice that was allowed and encouraged to be performed outside of the Temple precincts. Rabbi Yehiel Poupko teaches that the seder instructs us to begin by looking out for the needs of our family. The Pesach ritual starts small, but then zooms out and treat everyone in the world as if they are family. While we do not offer a korban Pesach anymore, it remains the paradigm for envisioning a ritual when we first focus on our nuclear families, and then broaden our scope by viewing every person as a part of our global family.
As we all cram and plan for Pesach, we at Anshe Emet are partnering with Or Tzedek, Moishe House, and Bright Star Church, to celebrate a Hunger Seder. On Sunday, March 17th, we are going to Bright Star to relive parts of the Seder and talk about major issues of hunger today. This ritual will not feel arcane and primitive. Rather, we hope you will join us as we take the model of the korban Pesach, relive it today in a seder that is open and accessible to everyone, and look out for our global family, exploring the particular issue of hunger.
In a class on tefillah (prayer) for the past few months, a group of us studied how the rabbis borrowed the Biblical model of sacrifices to provide the structure for the timing of our tefillot, our prayer services. (Bavli Berachot 26b) We compared the similarities and differences of prayer and sacrifices. Both have the main goal of connecting with God. Yet there are major differences – prayer can take place anywhere. Prayer requires thought and reflection. Prayer comes from the heart. Prayer has the potential to be universal, in that anyone can pray to God.
Sacrifices, on the other hand, require people to go to a central institution, to be a part of community. Sacrifices require us to give something from ourselves. While sacrifices do cost money, there are varying levels of sacrifices, so that any person who wants can offer a sacrifice. In this sense, sacrifices offer two things that prayer does not – one, that we give something of ourselves, and two, sacrifices do not require fluency in Hebrew or liturgy. Sacrifices are universal, accessible to anyone.
One of the most important rituals today that recalls sacrifice and also has a universal call to give is the Pesach seder. Interestingly, the korban pesach, the Passover offering, was the only sacrifice that was allowed and encouraged to be performed outside of the Temple precincts. Rabbi Yehiel Poupko teaches that the seder instructs us to begin by looking out for the needs of our family. The Pesach ritual starts small, but then zooms out and treat everyone in the world as if they are family. While we do not offer a korban Pesach anymore, it remains the paradigm for envisioning a ritual when we first focus on our nuclear families, and then broaden our scope by viewing every person as a part of our global family.
As we all cram and plan for Pesach, we at Anshe Emet are partnering with Or Tzedek, Moishe House, and Bright Star Church, to celebrate a Hunger Seder. On Sunday, March 17th, we are going to Bright Star to relive parts of the Seder and talk about major issues of hunger today. This ritual will not feel arcane and primitive. Rather, we hope you will join us as we take the model of the korban Pesach, relive it today in a seder that is open and accessible to everyone, and look out for our global family, exploring the particular issue of hunger.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Russo
