Just like the Tabernacle was central to Israelite life in the wildnerness for 40 years, and the two Sanctuaries in Jerusalem were together central to Israelite/Judean life for almost 1000 years, so too the synagogue (called "a miniature sanctuary" in rabbinic literature...
Margie Klein reviewed Rav Shmuly's new book Jewish Ethics & Social Justice for Zeek today: Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz’s new book, Jewish Ethics and Social Justice (Derusha Pub., 344pp, $14.95) is a must-read for Orthodox Jews interested in social justice. Unfortunately...
In the 51st psalm, the king David sings, "Then You will delight in the offerings of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole offering." There are many statements throughout the book of Leviticus suggesting that God is "pleased" with offerings, yet the sacrificial...
The Sanctuary's altar was a means of reconciliation with God's will for a person seeking to atone for a mistake. In the Tora, the Hebrew concept of what people think of as "sin" really means "failure" - particularly a failure to obey the law, whether intentionally or...
The act of prayerful contemplation is called in Hebrew "lehithpallel," meaning "to judge oneself." The act of offering a sacrifice is called in Hebrew "lehaqriv," meaning "to cause to draw close [to God]." The formal prayer service is based on the biblical sacrificial...
In the Tora-portion of "And [God] called to Moses" (wayyiqra el Moshe), there are 16 biblical precepts - 11 injunctions and 5 prohibitions. Things we're told to do: Make a burnt-offering (1:3) Make a meal-offering (2:1,5,7) Bring all offerings with salt (2:13) Have...
The ministers (kohanim) operated the sacrificial service in the Sanctuary, among their other duties. Up until the destruction of the first Sanctuary, they were the main legal and spiritual leaders of the people, providing most of the judges which sat on the Supreme Court...
The book of Leviticus proposes a sacrificial system as the (a?) method for relating to God. A formalized prayer service was not instituted until after the Persian exile, and it was only after the second Sanctuary in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE that this prayer service...
We make religion irrelevant when we lock it up in the house of prayer, keeping it away from the streets. For our Judaism to matter, it must respond deeply to – and even be molded by – the society in which we are enmeshed. As a living tradition, the Torah must be applied...
