The ancient impulse to hold back chaos is something we can relate to. The world feels very chaotic and frightening sometimes (perhaps often). Disasters strike. Innocent people suffer. It could happen to us - it does happen to us. So it becomes a very real question - How do we create space in our physical world that will provide some spiritual structure for holding back chaos?
In the ancient realm of the book of Genesis, holy space is found - it is encountered. For example, when Jacob dreams of a stairway/ladder with angelic messengers ascending and descending, he wakes up and expresses awe at having happened upon a holy place.
By contrast, in the equally valid worldview of the book of Leviticus, holy space is created. You want God's presence in your life? In the life of your community? It's up to you to create the space, to set up boundaries to hold back the chaos of the world.
So what is this book of Leviticus? If you think of the Torah - the Five Books of Moses - as a story with a plot, then the book of Leviticus is a big problem.
Right in the middle of the yearly cycle of weekly Torah readings (where we are right now), we suddenly stop the story - for many weeks - to recite the details of the sacrificial system of the ancient Israelites. Except for chapter 19 - a stunning list of profound ethical instructions sometimes known as the "Holiness code" - the rest of Leviticus can feel like a huge, dense roadblock in the otherwise grand sweep of the Torah's narrative.
To the kohanim, the ancient Israelite priestly class, the temple's sacrificial system was literally the center of the universe, so it makes sense that they would place Leviticus as the jewel in the center of the Torah.
But does that mean anything to us? Can we find some meaning, some relevance, in the book of Leviticus?
My teacher Rabbi Nehemia Polen taught me to understand Leviticus as analogous to an engineer's technical manual for an airplane. If you get lost in the manual, you forget that the purpose of the airplane is to take you to Hawaii!
In other words, there is a delicious goal - and the words in the manual are just the technical instructions for getting the machine to work in order to get you to your goal.
So what is the goal of the Leviticus "machine"? Creating holy space in the midst of chaos in order to experience God's presence.
Ah, now that is something we can relate to.
In the ancient realm of the book of Genesis, holy space is found - it is encountered. For example, when Jacob dreams of a stairway/ladder with angelic messengers ascending and descending, he wakes up and expresses awe at having happened upon a holy place.
By contrast, in the equally valid worldview of the book of Leviticus, holy space is created. You want God's presence in your life? In the life of your community? It's up to you to create the space, to set up boundaries to hold back the chaos of the world.
So what is this book of Leviticus? If you think of the Torah - the Five Books of Moses - as a story with a plot, then the book of Leviticus is a big problem.
Right in the middle of the yearly cycle of weekly Torah readings (where we are right now), we suddenly stop the story - for many weeks - to recite the details of the sacrificial system of the ancient Israelites. Except for chapter 19 - a stunning list of profound ethical instructions sometimes known as the "Holiness code" - the rest of Leviticus can feel like a huge, dense roadblock in the otherwise grand sweep of the Torah's narrative.
To the kohanim, the ancient Israelite priestly class, the temple's sacrificial system was literally the center of the universe, so it makes sense that they would place Leviticus as the jewel in the center of the Torah.
But does that mean anything to us? Can we find some meaning, some relevance, in the book of Leviticus?
My teacher Rabbi Nehemia Polen taught me to understand Leviticus as analogous to an engineer's technical manual for an airplane. If you get lost in the manual, you forget that the purpose of the airplane is to take you to Hawaii!
In other words, there is a delicious goal - and the words in the manual are just the technical instructions for getting the machine to work in order to get you to your goal.
So what is the goal of the Leviticus "machine"? Creating holy space in the midst of chaos in order to experience God's presence.
Ah, now that is something we can relate to.