74 | MARCH 28 • 2024
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An Ethic of Gratitude
T
his week’s Torah portion
deals with sacrifices
that were offered in the
Mishkan (the Tabernacle) and
later in the holy Temple. Animal
sacrifice was such a key part of
Jewish ritual in the Temple era
that prayer services
were instituted to par-
allel sacrificial service.
The traditional Musaf
service is all about the
aspiration to reinstate
animal sacrifice.
However, many
Jewish communities
today are troubled by
the idea of reinstating
animal sacrifice and
have either removed
references to them
from their liturgy or
keep these references
in past tense, indicating
that while sacrifices used to be
an integral part of Jewish ritual
service, we no longer strive to
reinstate them in the future.
However, there are sources
dating back well over 1,000
years that claim that animal
sacrifice will never be reinstated
as a Jewish ritual. One source
(Vayikra Rabbah 9) claims that
all animal sacrifices have for-
ever ceased, with one notable
exception: the Korban Todah, or
Thanksgiving Sacrifice, which is
described in this week’s portion
(Leviticus 7:12-15).
Question: If animal sacrifices
are outdated, then shouldn’t the
Thanksgiving Sacrifice be as
well? And if there is still value to
bringing sacrifices, why only the
Thanksgiving?
Dr. Nechama Leibowitz,
Bible scholar of the 20th centu-
ry, quotes a Talmudic passage
which discusses the situations
in which a person would bring
a Thanksgiving Sacrifice. “Four
[categories of people] need to
offer thanks to God: seafarers,
those that travel through the
desert, one who was ill and
recovered, and one who was
imprisoned and got out.
”
This passage uses a particular-
ly curious turn of phrase. It
says that these people “need
to” (tzerikhin) offer thanks to
God, not that they “are obli-
gated” (hayyavin). This may
seem a superficial distinc-
tion, but it’s a deviation from
the usual legalistic terminol-
ogy used in the Talmud.
Leibowitz says that this
“need” reflects the fact that
offering thanks, more than
simply being a traditional
obligation, is an existential
need. When a person is the
beneficiary of some kind-
ness, they feel something
is lacking until they are able
to express gratitude to the one
who bestowed kindness on
them. This, argues Leibowitz,
is why we can conceive of an
elimination of all animal sac-
rifices, while still retaining the
Thanksgiving Sacrifice.
It’s no coincidence then that
studies have found a correlation
between expressions of gratitude
and lower levels of anxiety and
depression analysis. I don’t mean
to suggest that someone experi-
encing depression should simply
remember that other people
have it worse and be thankful
for what they have. However,
cultivating an ethic of gratitude
trains us to fill the existential
need that’s created when some-
one does something kind for us,
leaving us emotionally and spiri-
tually fulfilled.
Rabbi Michael Langer is a Jewish
Studies instructor at Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield.
SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Michael
Langer
Parshat Tzav:
Leviticus
6:1-8:30;
Numbers
19:1-22;
Ezekiel 3
6:16-38.
shalomhartman.org
Donniel Hartman
Lior Zisser-Yogev
Register:
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