 MARCH 26 • 2020 | 37

Spirit
torah portion

I

t is not easy to relate to the 
Book of Leviticus, which we 
recently began. 
It primarily focuses on sacri-
ficial laws and the rules of the 
priests (thus the name Leviticus, 
which literally means: the laws 
of the Levites). These laws feel 
foreign to our Jewish practices 
that do not involve Temple 
worship. 
That being said, hidden 
within the words of the text 
are profound lessons about the 
relationship between human-
ity and God. For example, 
the opening verse of 
Leviticus, a seemingly 
inconsequential intro-
duction, contains such a 
lesson. The verse appears 
to simply set the stage for 
the laws that follow: “The 
Lord called to Moses 
and spoke to him from 
the Tent of Meeting.
” 
Nonetheless, Rashi, the 
great French medieval 
commentator, points out 
that this verse contains 
a wealth of information 
regarding how God com-
municated with Moses. 
 Rashi observes, “God 
spoke to him from the Tent of 
Meeting. This teaches that the 
voice would stop and would not 
continue outside of the tent.
” 
 According to Rashi, only 
Moses could hear God speak. 
This was not because God 
spoke quietly, but because the 
sound would not travel beyond.
This is hardly intuitive or in 
line with the laws of physics. 
After all, the barrier between 
the Holy of Holies, where 
Moses stood, and the area 
beyond was nothing more 
than a simple curtain. Rashi’
s 
statement teaches something 
fundamental about God. Our 
relationship with the Divine is 
dependent on us, not on God. 
God’
s voice does not travel to 
us; it is we who move toward 
God’
s voice. Only Moses, who 

ventured within the Tent of 
Meeting, was privy to hear 
God’
s direction. Everyone else 
who remained on the outside, 
though they may have been 
very close, heard nothing.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of 
Kotzk, a 19th-century Chassidic 
rabbi often referred to as the 
Kotzker, is known primarily for 
his pithy and terse sayings. A 
story is told about the Kotzker 
concerning a student who 
approached him with a serious 
theological question: “Where 
is God located? Do we believe 
that God resides some-
where in the heavens, on 
Earth or somewhere else 
entirely?” After a pause 
to think, the Kotzker 
replied very simply, “God 
is found wherever we let 
Him in.
” 
 If we live our religious 
lives expecting God to 
bend to meet us, we will 
be unsuccessful. It is 
only when we work to let 
God into our lives do we 
experience the Divine.
This perhaps is the 
message of the beginning of the 
Book of Leviticus. Before delv-
ing into the minutiae of sacrifi-
cial law in the rest of the book, 
the Torah teaches an important 
message about our relationship 
with God. Ultimately, if we 
want to grow spiritually, it takes 
work on our part. Sometimes, 
it requires a physical act, like a 
trip to the synagogue. But other 
times (and this is especially 
true now, when many of us are 
socially distanced), it is about 
being emotionally open, being 
willing to look for God and to 
let God into our lives.
Whatever the right course 
may be for us, may we not wait 
for God to come to us, but may 
we proactively seek Him out. 

Rabbi Jared Anstandig is rabbi of the 
Orthodox Community at the Michigan 
Hillel and the rabbi of the Ann Arbor 
Orthodox Minyan.

Parshat 

Vayikra: 

Leviticus

1:1-5:26; 

Isaiah 43:21-

44:23.

Rabbi Jared 
Anstandig

Actively Seek The Divine

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