(Leviticus: 1:1-5:26)     

(Haftara: Isaiah: 43:21-44:23)

1. [Leviticus 1:1…] Why are the details of every type of sacrificial offering so different? What type of personality is the Torah trying to develop by forcing us to focus so much on details?

2. [Pesach] Our rabbis tell us that chametz (leaven) represents arrogance. The removal of chametz from our lives is a metaphor for removing arrogance from ourselves. If so, why do we only remove the chametz for 1 week every year? Shouldn’t we distance ourselves from arrogance all year?

3. The Pesach seder is the main ceremony that we have for passing on our religious and historical tradition. Why is it so effective to teach the tradition around the dining –room table?

4. Eating chametz on Pesach is considered a much greater sin than eating other forbidden foods the rest of the year. Why is eating chametz such a serious sin?

5. The month of Nissan is the first month of the Jewish year. Therefore, Pesach is the first festival of the Jewish year. Why is it appropriate that Pesach should be the first festival of the year?

Commentary

[1:3] “…he will offer it, for his good will, before God.”

The main purpose of a sacrificial offering is that a person should subjugate his will to the service of the Creator in such a way that all of his spiritual and physical powers should be used only for the will of God.

One should read the pasuk in the following way: “…he should offer his will for God”—his own will should just be an extension of the will of God”

–“Haktav Ve’hakaballah”—Rabbi Ya’akov Tzvi Mecklenberg (1785-1865) -Koenigsburg, Prussia.

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Gad Eliahu ben David and Kochava–Eli Zucker

And to the memory of Sarah Beila Kummer bat Yitzchak and Chana, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer