Parshas Vayikrah 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Apr 3
- 1 min read
עלתיך וזבחיך לא כבדתני לא העבדתיך במנחה ולא הוגעתיך ... (ישעי'מג-כג)
Until this point in Sefer Yeshaya, the Navi discussed various unique methods Hashem intends to deploy to redeem Klal Yisroel from exile when the time is right. But now, he confronts the nation with a different issue - accusing the Jewish people of failing to be consistent in their sacrificial service. But surely if the nation stopped bringing sacrifices altogether, Hashem would be quite angry. Yet, the words of Yeshaya HaNavi don’t seem so harsh.
R’ Hersh Mizrachi shlita explains that Rashi gives us a deeper insight into this. While the nation never willingly stopped bringing korbanos, there definitely was a lack of enthusiasm amongst the people. They did not entirely believe in the institution and saw it as merely a burden. Instead of getting angry and destroying His nation, Hashem lowered the bar to a lesser degree. In fact, Hashem declared, “I have not burdened you with grain offerings, nor wearied you about frankincense.” This was a direct result of Hashem lowering the standards and it finally reached a critical point where Hashem was willing to change the entire institution of korbanos from it being an obligation to that of a free-will offering.
Sadly, even after lowering the standards to a much lower degree, the Nation still could not be brought to understand the importance of sacrifices and how it affected their relationship with the Almighty. Indeed, how careful must we be to always maintain high standards and not force Hashem to lower these standards just so His children can meet them.