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                    HaMaayan/The Torah Spring
                      Edited by Shlomo Katz

                        Parashat Vayikra
                    Volume V, Number 22 (208)
                   1 Nisan 5751/March 16, 1991
                       Parashat HaChodesh

                        Parasha Overview

   The Book of Vayikra is the "Torah of the Kohanim and Levi'im"
for it describes the laws of the sacrifices and how to guard the
honor of the Mishkan.  It is fitting that after the Book of
(Sh'mot) which describes the exile and the redemption from it, the
Torah should teach us the laws of the sacrifices which will atone
for our sins and help us avoid a future exile.

   The Book also describes restrictions on where and when Kohanim
may enter into the Mishkan, parallelling the command in Sefer
Sh'mot that Moshe restrict Bnei Yisrael's access to Har Sinai,
because of its holiness.

   Finally, Sefer Vayikra includes other laws which are
incidentally related to the Mishkan.  (Ramban)

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   "On all of your sacrifices you shall sprinkle salt."  (Vayikra
2:13)

   The Gemara (Menachot 21) comments:  "I might think that you
shall fill it with understanding, therefore the Torah says 'You
shall sprinkle'."  Rashi explains:  I might think that a sacrifice
should be saturated with salt, just as a person is saturated with
wisdom and understanding, but in order to forestall this mistake
the Torah says, "No! You shall merely sprinkle the salt on it."

   R' Yitzchak Blazer (died 1907), one of the leading students of
R' Yisrael Salanter, notes that the Gemara quoted here demonstrates
how different we are from our ancestors of Talmud times.  He
explains as follows:

   When trying to explain something that is not readily apparent,
one ordinarily chooses a metaphor whose meaning is obvious.  How
strange it is that when choosing a metaphor for something that is
"saturated" or "dripping" with salt, the Gemara would describe a
person who is overflowing with wisdom.  We can only assume that
this is what the typical person of that period was like, for it is
otherwise unlikely that the Gemara would have chosen this metaphor. 
By contrast, notes R' Itzele (as R' Blazer was known), common
idioms today describe something that makes no sense as "lacking
salt" or "lacking taste" (in Hebrew:  "chaser ta'am"), rather than
saying that something that has no salt is lacking sense.  It seems
that in our generation, salt is more readily available than wisdom,
unlike in Talmudic times where wisdom was the more common of the
two.

   A similar change in human nature is seen in the Mishnah (Avot
ch.2):  "One who borrows from man is [bound to pay] just as if he
had borrowed from G-d."  The language of this Mishnah suggests that
while people of Mishnah times were sometimes lax in paying their
earthly debts, they all recognized clearly their debts to Heaven. 
Therefore, the "Tanna" (sage of the Mishnah) teaches us that our
obligation to man is no less than our obligation to G-d.  How
different it is in our times, for we much sooner forget to repay
our debts to G-d than we do our debts to our banks and our
neighbors.
                                      (Kochvei Ohr:  chapter 50, 
                         "Mah Bein Dorot HaRishonim L'Acharonim")

              ************************************

   "A soul that will sin unintentionally against any of the laws of
G-d..."  (Vayikra 4:2)

   Because we are unable to bring "Korbanot Chatat" (sin offerings)
when the Bet HaMikdash is not standing, R' Moshe Isserles ("Rema")
writes that if a person has unintentionally sinned in such a manner
that he is obligated to bring a "Korban Chatat", he should give a
certain sum of money to charity in place of the offering.  The
Mishnah Berurah adds that such a person should also read a section
of the Torah which describes the Korban Chatat.  (Shulchan Aruch,
O.C. section 334, paragraph 26; Mishnah Berurah, ibid. paragraph
80)

   R' Yosef Chaim of Baghdad was asked whether donating a sum of
money to charity (or reading the Torah portion of the Chatat) is
intended to replace the sin offering, or does the unintentional
sinner remain obligated to bring a Korban Chatat at such time as
the Bet HaMikdash is rebuilt?  R' Yosef Chaim answered that the
unintentional sinner indeed remains obligated to bring a sin
offering when the opportunity arises, and he proved the correctness
of his view by citing the following Talmudic sources:

   The Gemara (Shabbat 12) relates that one Shabbat, the "Tanna" R'
Yishmael ben Elisha became so engrossed in his learning that he
unwittingly tilted the lamp in front of him to improve the flow of
the oil to the wick.  Realizing what he had done, he noted in his
diary:  "I, Yishmael ben Elisha, am obligated to bring a sin
offering upon the rebuilding of the Temple."  If, in fact, one can
fulfill his obligation merely by giving charity or reading relevant
verses from the Torah, why did R' Yishmael ben Elisha not do so?!

   Another proof can be brought from the Gemara (Nedarim 10a) which
states that many Tzaddikim wanted to bring sin offerings [see note
below], but, even when the Bet HaMikdash was standing, they never
had the opportunity to do so because G-d protects the righteous
>from unwittingly sinning.  What did these Tzaddikim do?  They took
the vows of a "Nazir", and thus became obligated to bring the
sacrifices  - including a Chatat - that a Nazir brings upon
completing the period of his "Nezirut" (See Bamidbar 6:14).  This
story, too, demonstrates that one cannot fulfill his obligation
solely by reading from the Torah or giving charity, for if one
could, why did these Tzaddikim have to take the vows of the Nazir
in order to bring a sacrifice?  They could have read the
appropriate verses and that way, too, get "credit" for "bringing"
a Chatat!
                     (She'elot U'Teshuvot Torah L'Shmah, No. 120)
   Reminder:  As always, nothing in HaMaayan should be relied upon
in practice, neither now nor after the Bet HaMikdash is rebuilt. 
All Halachic questions should be referred to a competent Rabbi.

   [Note:  Why would the Tzaddikim referred to above want to bring
sin offerings if they were not obligated to do so?  Rabbenu Nissim
(Commentary to Nedarim 10a) explains that when a Korban Chatat is
brought, it incidentally atones for minor sins that are themselves
not of the type that warrants bringing a sacrifice.  Although the
Tzaddikim knew that Hashem protected them from serious sins that
would necessitate their bringing a Chatat, they were afraid that
they had nevertheless transgressed minor sins that required
atonement, and they hoped that this atonement could be achieved by
bringing the Chatat of a Nazir.]

               ***********************************

                     "Editors" of the Talmud
 
   We are used to thinking of Ravina II (died 475) and Rav Ashi
(died 427) as the "editors" of the Talmud Bavli or "Gemara", but
this is a gross oversimplification.  The development of the Talmud
was in fact the work of many generations.  The main landmarks in
this process are summarized here.

   The first two generations after the Tannaim began the task of
gathering and arranging thousands of "Beraitot" - teachings of the
"Tannaim" that were not included in the Mishnah - that elaborate
upon the Mishnayot themselves.  Without the Beraitot, the Mishnah
is too brief to be understood properly.

   The third generation of Amoraim, that of Rabbah and R' Yosef,
began organizing and clarifying the teachings of the early Amoraim. 
This work was aided by the influx of sages into Bavel, the result
of renewed Roman persecution of the Jews of Eretz Yisrael.

   In the fourth and fifth generations, under the leadership of
Abbaye and Rava, the analytical work of the Amoraim reached its
highest level, so-much-so that the expression "Havayot (discussions
of) Abbaye V'Rava" became a metaphor for intense analysis of
Halacha.  (See Baba Batra 134a).

   The sixth generation, led by Rav Ashi began to organize the
Gemara into its present form by arranging related discussions into
"Sugyot" ("categories" or sections covering discreet topics) and
determining their placement within chapters.  This work was
completed by Ravina II, the last Amorah.

   The first generation of Savoraim, the students of Ravina II and
his contemporaries, felt that they no longer had the authority to
add Halachic material to the Talmud, but they added clarifications
and elaborations based on the teachings of their mentors.  It was
probably in the days of the early Savoraim that the complete text
of the Gemara was written down for the first time.

   Later generations of Savoraim made no substantive changes to the
Talmud, but they made many technical improvements, inserting
occasional words as well as topic headings.  After the death of R'
Giza and R' Sama in 589, nothing was ever deliberately added to the
text of the Talmud.  (We say "deliberately" because careless
scribes throughout the centuries unfortunately made many changes in
the Talmud.)  Note that although the Savoraim are credited with
giving the Gemara its present form, this refers only to the content
of the Talmud.  The page format which is standard in most editions
today was designed by the Rom Publishing Company of Vilna in the
1860's.  The standard pagination is only a few centuries older.

                     ********************

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