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.

MAZEL TOV!

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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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