BS"D

PARSHATH VAYIKRA
by Yitzhak Kolakowski

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"And Hashem called to Moshe from the ohel moed saying, 'Speak to Bnei Yisrael, and tell
them... you should bring your offering from the herd of cattle or from the flock of sheep..."
(Vayikra 1:1-2)

"I will take no bulls out of your house, nor goats out of your barns. 
For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 
I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. 
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof."
(Tehillim 50:9-12)

"Yet you have not called upon Me, O Yaacov, neither have you wearied yourself about Me, Yisrael. 
You have not brought Me the small cattle of your olah-offerings; neither have you honoured 
Me with you sacrifices. I have not burdened you with a minchah-offering, nor wearied you with 
frankincense.  You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither have you satisfied Me with 
the fat of your sacrifices..."  (Yeshayah 43:22-24)

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My dear friends, we are a holy people, and since Hashem loves us so much, He has told us the 
way to be truly happy and how to make the world into the best possible place it can be.  When
we just do what Hashem has told us to do, the whole universe becomes a much better place.
But what is it that Hashem wants from us?  Most of the Mitzvos Hashem gave us are tied into the
Beis Hamikdash and the korbanos, and unfortunately as I write this (hopefully by the time you
read this it will be different) we can't do most of the Mitzvos in the Torah because our Temple
is in ruins and our heathen enemies are polluting our Sanctuary.

But some people ask if this is indeed what Hashem wants from us at all.  If we look at those
passukim from Tehillim above, it would seem that Hashem doesn't want any korbanos.  But then
if we see what Hashem said through Yeshayah in this week's haftarah, it's not so clear.  If
we look elsewhere in Yeshayah we see things which would seem to be against korbanos.  WHAT'S
GOING ON?  Does Hashem want korbanos or not?

If we look more carefully, we see that Hashem does want us to bring korbanos.  Not for Him.
What does He need them for?  It's for us.  And the same is true about all the Mitzvos.
Hashem wanted to show His love for us, so He gave us a lot of Torah and Mitzvos.

But some people make a mistake about the Torah and Mitzvos.  Some people think Judaism is a
"religion" like, lehavdil, other religions.  This is when Hashem reminds us through His
prophets that He doesn't need us to do Mitzvos, we need them.  He is the same without us,
but He wants what's best for us, and He knows a lot better than we do how we can be happy and
make the world a better place.  But we shouldn't make the mistake to think that it's enough
to do "ritual"-type mitzvos without doing mitzvos like helping others and being a nice person.
We also shouldn't make the opposite mistake and think that we can be good people without
keeping the mitzvos which aren't so obvious.  Rather, we have to be totally dedicated to
a love of Hashem with all of our heart, soul, and might.

This is what Hashem wants from us, our whole heart.  No matter if we bring Hashem a cow, a
goat, a bird, or even a flour-offering, as long as we put our heart into it, it is a 
sweet-savor to Hashem.  We are here to praise Hashem with our every word, thought, and deed.
When we all get together to serve and praise Hashem, the whole world will become perfected.

"Sing you heavens, for Hashem has done it!  Shout, you earth below!  Break forth into singing,
you mountains, the forest and every tree in it!  For Hashem has redeemed Yaakov, and
glorified Himself through Yisrael!."  (Yeshayah 44:23)

May this great day come so soon.  The spirit of impurity will be removed from the earth
and we'll all get together on that holy mountain.  May we soon see Hashem's house rebuilt,
and all the korbanos restored.  That roasted lamb will taste so good next week!  Please Hashem
may it be soon!

Gut Shabbos!