50 | MARCH 23 • 2023
SPIRIT
Spiritual
Communication
T
his week we begin the
third book of the Torah,
Vayikra, Leviticus.
It is easy to write something
about Genesis as it is full of
stories of families that
we can still relate to
today. It is equally easy
to compose a piece
about Exodus with its
accounts of slavery,
emancipation, the
giving of the Torah at
Mount Sinai and the
construction of our
very first sanctuary,
the Mishkan. But what
to do we say about
Vayikra with its mul-
tiple lists of sacrifices
and admonitions to remain
ritually clean and strive for holi-
ness?
I would like to suggest that
this book, with its numerous
details, is all about our attempt
to approach the Divine. In ear-
lier days, Vayikra was the first
book of the Bible taught to our
youngest children because it was
thought that they were the most
pure and sinless and perhaps
best able to communicate with
God.
In years past, when I worked
at Camp Ramah, I participated
in daily summer services with
a group of campers who were
diagnosed with developmental
challenges. I always looked
forward to the experience
because I felt these campers
had a special relationship with
and the ability to communicate
with God perhaps because they
did not carry with them the
skeptical baggage most of us are
burdened with as we age.
So, how do we as sophisticat-
ed adults reach out to God? Our
ancestors did so by bringing
korbanot, which is often trans-
lated as sacrifices, but really
means “bring close” in Hebrew.
They brought their choicest
animals from the herd,
their first fruits and flour
meal and spices as tokens of
thanks to God for the gifts
of life or as expiation for
misdeeds. They also real-
ized these gifts could only
be offered with the proper
preparations of mind, body
and behavior. Kedushah,
holiness, was an important
prerequisite for the spiritual
journey.
Today, we no longer
bring animals for sacrifice,
nor would most of us want to.
What can we do to have a talk
with God? First, we need to set
the mundane aside, move away
from our busy daily and often
hectic schedules. Then we must
work to create a holy space in
our homes, outdoors or in a
synagogue, a space than can
enhance our sense that there is
something beyond our mortal
selves, waiting and yearning
for us to reach out. Finally, we
need to open the channels of
communication to thank, plead,
praise or chastise the creator of
the universe.
In our world this korban or
coming close can be done with
words, song, dance or even
silence, with certainty or with
more than a smidgen of doubt.
God may not always answer
our prayers, just as there was
often no immediate response
to the sacrifices of the past, but
God is always there to listen.
Rabbi Mitch Parker is rabbi emeritus
of B’nai Israel Synagogue in West
Bloomfield.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi Mitch
Parker
Parshat
Vayikra:
Leviticus 1:1-
5:26; Isaiah
43:21-44:23.
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Mason Lawrence
Frankford, son
of Richelle and
Warren
Frankford, will
lead the congre-
gation in prayer as he
becomes a bar mitzvah at
Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield on Saturday,
March 25, 2023. He will be
joined in celebration by his
sister Ashlee. Mason is the
loving grandchild of Gail
Rose, Jack Frankford,
Francine and Marc Wise,
and the late Michael
Goodman. He is the loving
great-grandchild of the late
Anne and the late Lew
Rose, the late Roselyn and
the late Samuel Gonte, the
late Connie and the late
Marshall Wise, the late
Barbara and the late Fred
Goodman.
Mason is a student at
West Bloomfield Middle
School. His most meaningful
mitzvah project was collect-
ing cans to donate money
for the Mamba & Mambacita
Sports Foundation, support-
ing underserved athletes
and boys and girls in sports.
Charles
Alexander
Heicklen, son of
Jodie and Gary
Heicklen, will be
called to the
Torah as a bar mitzvah at
Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield on Friday, March
24, 2023. He will be joined
in celebration by his sister
Elena and brother Noah.
Charlie is the loving grand-
child of Fran and Howard
Heicklen, Mollie Wittenberg
and Howard Wittenberg.
Charles is a student at
Norup International Middle
School in Oak Park. For his
mitzvah project, he par-
ticipates in Head for the
Cure 5K Detroit each year
in honor of his late uncle
Jamie.
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