Vayikra

Leviticus 1:1−5:26

[God] Called Out

The Eternal One called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: "Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When any of you presents an offering of cattle to the Eternal: You shall choose your offering from the herd or from the flock." - Leviticus 1:1-2

Who Is Required? Who Is Entitled? Who Is Excluded?

The third Book of the Torah, Leviticus (Vayikra), begins with a description of the olah (the burnt offering) brought by an individual Israelite. Just before the offering of the animal, it is said: “You [the offerer] shall lay a hand upon the head of the burnt offering, that it may be acceptable in your behalf, in expiation for you” (Leviticus 1:4).

As a vegetarian and a Reform rabbi, I must admit that the laying on of hands on the offering feels somewhat challenging. But if I consider this ritual in its original context, I learn that it was very significant for the individual in the cultic culture of the Temple: it established a special connection between the offerer and the offered animal.1 The visceral contact with the animal just before its slaughtering, enhanced a symbolic identification between the offerers and their offering. It also meant that the Israelite, the lay person, got to actively participate in the offering process, which other than that was reserved to the priests. Therefore, we may conclude that this was a very important ritual, and that it was perceived as the ultimate act of atonement and transference of the offerer’s sins to the offered animal.

Who was obliged (or entitled) to the laying on of the hands? The Torah says: “Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them: When any person [adam] of you presents an offering . . . ” (Leviticus 1:2). This seems to include all of the people of Israel, and those who are associated with or living among Israelites. Yet the Mishnah says: “All may perform the laying on of hands excepting a deaf-mute, an imbecile, a minor, a blind man, a gentile, a slave, an agent, or a woman” (M’nachot 9:8). This set of exclusions is rather unexpected: the list of people who are not entitled to the laying of the hands includes atypical categories of people, and it only mentions women at the very end.

The exclusions seem to be a later rabbinic innovation compared to the inclusive language used in the Book of Leviticus to describe the laying on of the hands. In this way, although women were welcomed in the Temple and were allowed (and sometimes required) to bring their own offerings, they were deprived from an essential aspect of the offering ritual. Nevertheless, at least some tannaitic sages argue that women were allowed to do so, and one sage testifies to a case where women actually did lay their hands on their offering:

Continue reading.