Vayikra

(1:1-5:26) God reveals the sacrificial laws.

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5)Set a Margin so Life doesn’t Just Barge In

March 19, 2021
Leviticus
Vayikra

Margin/märjən/the edge or border of something. Although margins are important for books, we don’t talk enough about the need to leave space for margins in life. In The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients, Irvin Yalom, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford, says that he never schedules back-to-back appointments. […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26)/Parshat Zachor “It’s All I Had”

March 15, 2019
Leviticus
Vayikra, Zachor

We begin reading Leviticus, the third book of the Torah this week. The main topics revolve around the offerings brought during the times when the Temple in Jerusalem stood (it was destroyed in 70 CE). Although the idea of animal sacrifice is foreign and even repulsive to many people, many lessons can be learned from them. One […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5) Finding the Spark in a Life of Dark

March 16, 2018
Leviticus
Vayikra

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5) Finding the Spark in a Life of Dark And if a person brings a meal offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil over it and place frankincense upon it. (2:1) Rabbi Noah Weinberg used to ask students, in his Judaism 101 classes, if […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5)

March 31, 2017
Leviticus
Vayikra

Margin When looking at a Torah scroll, there are many components that make it distinct from other ancient texts. One of the most obvious of which are the spaces found before and after paragraphs. Being as a Torah scroll is written without vowels or Cantillation marks (the special indicators of the accent and tune), it […]