The first commandment in our new chumash of Vayikra, Leviticus, is the commandment to bring a sacrifice. The Torah begins, “When a man among you brings a sacrifice to God.... If his sacrifice is a burnt-offering” (Leviticus 1:2-3).
The word “his sacrifice” (קרבנו) has the same value as “Mashiach” (משיח). All the sacrifices in general are related to teshuvah, to returning to God, and the burnt offering (עולה)—which is consumed in its entirety by the flames on the altar—is no exception.
The burnt offering makes amends for transgressing positive commandments by not doing them. But, as Rasbhi states in the Talmud, the burnt-offering also makes amends for an improper thought (הרהור הלב). In the Talmud, Rabbi Levi says that Rashbi’s teaching is based on an explicit verse, “And what you have in mind shall never come to pass—when you say, ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, worshiping wood and stone.’ As I live—declares the Sovereign GOD—I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with overflowing fury.”
The sages explain that this verse is meant to reveal how dear we are to God. Even if we think otherwise in our hearts, God promises to be our King regardless. In any case, God says “I am your King, and you are my people.” And, in the end, we will come to experience that, “God will be King over the entire earth, on that day God and His Name will be one.”
A Universal Message
In the Sifra, the legalistic Midrash on Leviticus, it says that the words, “a man from among you” (אדם מכם) is phrased with the word “man” (אדם), Adam, and not with the more frequently used Ish (איש), because Scripture intends to include converts. If we are explaining the word “man” let us also mention that we find a reference to the relationship between man and animal in the word “from among you” (מכם), which the Alter Rebbe explains indicates that a person is required to bring his inner animal as a sacrifice.
Once again, “man” includes the convert. There is even a more marginal reading that says that it comes to include non-Jews who wish to bring a sacrifice. What we learn from this is that “a man” (Adam) addresses all mankind. This is the basis for Rashi’s commentary that “a man” here alludes to the first man, Adam: Just as Adam did not bring his sacrifice from anything stolen (since he could claim to own everything) so you should bring a sacrifice from what is yours and not from something that is stolen.
The relationship between man and animal with reference to sacrifices is captured in the verse, “Man and animal you shall save, O’ God” (הוי' תושיע אדם־ובהמה). The sages say that this refers to people who are clever in intellect but comport themselves [humbly and self-effacingly] like animals. Rashi on the verse explains that it refers to Adam, the first man, who was clever and conscious, but comported himself with a low spirit, like an animal. Who else does this refer to? To King David who says about himself, “I am with you like an animal” (עמך הייתי בהמה). So, “man and beast” refers to both Adam and David, since David was the main example of a person who made himself like a beast. If we have Adam and David whose initials are alef and dalet, then Mashiach, whose initial is mem, completes the well-known acronym of “Adam” (אדם)—“Adam David Mashiach” (אדם דוד משיח).
Our purpose then should be to reach all the people on earth. First, this refers to Jews, who are referred to as “Adam,” but also all the converts and all the non-Jews. The word “a man” in this verse motivates us to include everyone. If our actions and our teachings do not include everyone, then the teshuvah we do is not yet complete.
Four Verses About Man
There is a tradition that compares four verses in which the word “man” (אדם) appears. The first verse is, “A man, should he die in a tent” (בְּאֹהֶל יָמוּת כִּי אָדָם). From this verse the sages learn that the Torah can only be learnt by someone who is willing to die, figuratively, when learning it. The second verse is, “When a man has on the skin of the body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration...” (בְּשַׂר עוֹרוֹ יִהְיֶה כִּי אָדָם), a verse from parashat Tazria, describing the plague of leprosy. Since it starts with the word “man” it means that leprosy is something that only a special person, worthy of being called a “man” can have. The third verse is in our parashah, “When a man among you brings a sacrifice to God...” (אָ דָ ם כִּ י־יַקְ רִ יב מִ כֶּ ם קָ רְ בּ ָ ן לַ הוי'). And the fourth verse is the verse we quoted, “Man and animal you shall save, O’ God” (הוי' תושיע אדם־ובהמה).
These four verses correspond to the four Worlds, from Emanation to Action and there is a “man” in each of the four Worlds. Earlier, we drew the connection between the 3rd man and the 4th, but now we will see that the fourth verse, despite being from Psalms, is higher than the 3rd. These four verses with “man” also correspond to the four letters of God’s essential Name, Havayah, from below to above.
Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (someone the Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek respected very much) has a beautiful explanation for this mesorah of four verses that contain the word “man.” He says that this mesorah is alluding almost explicitly to a well-known teaching from the sages, brought in the Jerusalem Talmud and in the Yalkut Shimoni. In this teaching, the question is posed: “The sinning soul, what will be with it?” The Jerusalem Talmud uses a variant of this question and says, “The sinning soul, what is its punishment?” The question is then posed four times. First, it is posed to wisdom. Wisdom answers: “The sinning soul should die.” Only death can atone for sin. Then prophecy was asked the same question. Prophecy replied: “The sinner should be pursued by trials and tribulations, and the suffering will cleanse it.” Then the Torah was asked. It replied that such a soul should bring a sacrifice to atone. The Torah brings in its support the opening verse of our parashah, referring to the person who is sinning in his heart, in a hidden thought. Finally, God himself is asked the question, and He answers differently: Not that the sinner should die, nor that he should suffer, not even that he should bring a sacrifice, just that he should do teshuvah, and he will be forgiven.
Rabbi Shlomo Kluger says that these four answers correspond exactly to the four verses brought in this mesorah about “man” (אדם). It is important to note that there are some readings where wisdom and prophecy’s verses are switched. In any case, the first verse, “A man, should he die in a tent” (בְּאֹהֶל יָמוּת כִּי אָדָם) is wisdom’s answer. The idea here is not to actually die, but to figuratively die in learning and serving God. The second “man” is the suffering of leprosy which is what prophecy said. The third is even more explicit. The Torah answered that a person should bring a sacrifice, which is the third verse, the verse from the beginning of Vayikra, “When a man among you brings a sacrifice to God...” (אָ דָ ם כִּ י־יַקְ רִ יב מִ כֶּ ם קָ רְ בּ ָ ן לַ הוי'). Finally, the fourth answer, given by God, that a person should just do teshuvah, that is the verse, “Man and animal you shall save, O’ God” (הוי' תושיע אדם־ובהמה). The Almighty has mercy even on the animal. When you bring a sacrifice, it is in place of you yourself being sacrificed. That is why a person has to place his hands on the animal’s head with all his strength, connecting with it. All this is the third (or second) level, that requires the sinner to bring a sacrifice. But if a person does teshuvah, both he and the animal are saved (the animal is also not sacrificed). This is an immeasurably higher level than the previous three verses.
Since we are discussing parashat Vayikra, we should identify most with bringing a sacrifice, but still we should know that the universal response to sin for all mankind is God’s answer, that through teshuvah God has mercy even on animals.
(from a shiur given on 1 Nissan 5773)
