April 5, 2025 · ז' ניסן תשפ״ד
Parashat Vayikra · פרשת ויקרא
A PEEK AT THE PARSHA Hashem calls Moshe from the Mishkan and tells him to teach Bnei Yisrael about the laws of Korbanot (sacrifices). Animal korbanot include animals from the cow and sheep families, turtledoves, and young doves. When someone brings an animal korban, he performs Smichah: putting one's hands on the animal’s head and leaning on the animal. While doing Smicha, the animal owner would confess his sins and think about doing teshuva (repentance). Animal Korbanot consisted of four steps. Shechita slaughtering the animal, Kabbalah - catching the blood in a basin, Halacha - carrying the blood towards the Mizbay’ach (Altar), and Zerikah -
ONE BIG IDEA The parsha - and therefore the book of Vayikra - begins with Hashem calling (Vayikra) to Moshe. But the word vayikra is oddly written with a small Aleph. The Baal Haturim, a commentary on the Torah, explains that Moshe was modest and did not want to publicize in the Torah that Hashem spoke directly to him. Instead, Moshe wanted to write the word Vayikar, which means “happened,” similar to the word used with other prophets. Hashem disagreed and instructed Moshe to write the word Vayikra, so Moshe compromised and wrote vayikra with a small Aleph. Moshe’s greatest quality was his humility.
sprinkling of the blood onto the Mizbay’ach. The kohen would place salt on every Korban that was offered onto the Mizbay’ach. There were four types of animal Korbanot. 1. Olah: A korban that is entirely burned on the Mizbay’ach. An example of an Olah that was brought every morning and afternoon was the Olat Tamid. 2. Shelamim: A korban that was brought as a gift to Hashem. An example of Shelamim is a Todah - a type of korban done when people wanted to thank Hashem for something good that happened. 3. Chatat: A korban brought when someone mistakenly commits a serious aveyrah (sin). There was a special Korban Chatat for the King and even the Kohen Gadol. 4. Asham: A korban brought for certain types of sins, as well as the Korban brought by a Nazir (someone who took a vow not to cut his hair or drink wine) or a Metzora (someone who had the disease of Leprosy). There was also a Korban Mincha that was brought from flour. Some of them would be mixed with water or oil. Levonah (Frankincense) was a pleasant-smelling incense that was added and burned together with the Korban Mincha.
TIMES - זמנים Candle-lighting: 7:05pm Havdalah: 8:02pm allah: 5:25pm