Shabbat Messages

This Friday, we have come to the end of yet another exhausting week. We feel the strain of the pressures of our daily lives, as well as the continued news of war, missiles, overnight sirens, and attacks against Jews around the world. Events that are in theory far away still feel very close. There are so many problems and it is hard to see any real solutions.

Vayikra, the opening portion of the Book of Leviticus, discusses the first details of the sacrificial system that the priests will operate on behalf of the Jewish people. The text describes the particular sacrifices that will be offered, what is being offered, how the priests will carry out the ritual, and the reason that one makes an offering. While the system certainly seems obsolete and foreign to us today, the primary purpose of sacrifice in the ancient world was to address an issue and correct a problem when need be.

There are offerings made in cases of sin, guilt, to celebrate holidays, demonstrate appreciation and thanksgiving, and several others. When reading the portion this year, the one that jumped out to me was the shlamim, or the peace offering. This is a specific sacrifice that a person would make to create peace. As the medieval commentator Rashi wrote, “they are so called because they bring peace (shalom) into the world.” So when a person wanted more peace to appear in their lives and communities, they would offer this sacrifice.

In our world today, this sounds like an incredibly enticing opportunity. With so much violence, war, and hate all around us, I for one would be lining up to make a shlamim offering if possible. Even though we always pray for peace in every Jewish prayer service, the need for it feels that much more urgent lately.

Yet there was never an expectation that these sacrifices worked like magical solutions, that as soon as an offering was made, the desired outcome manifested in front of our eyes. Our ancestors performed these ceremonies with a deep yearning to impact their world, feel some semblance of control, and ground themselves in ritual and tradition. Recognizing that achieving peace felt out of our hands at times, the generations of Jews that came before us turned to God for intervention.

As we look at the events and circumstances surrounding us now, we struggle to find things that we can control and how to have a meaningful impact. And the offering of thoughts and prayers feels woefully insufficient. But these feelings of futility are precisely why ritual exists: to help us express our deepest yearnings for a better life and better world. For safety for our loved ones. For protection against those who would cause us harm. For the strength to support each other in these challenging times. While we do not offer sacrifices any more, I hope that this Shabbat we can gather in prayer, light the Shabbat candles, take time to connect with loved ones, or celebrate this day of rest in any way that feels meaningful, and through these acts bring peace into our little corner of the world. And from there, perhaps we might bring peace bit by bit into the wider world as well

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Hannah Elkin