Generosity of Spirit

Parshat Vayikra serves as the Torah’s introduction to the sacrificial order. For many or most, service to God through sacrifices seems, at the very least, alien or distasteful, still, a look at the ideas which serve as its basis gets at the very core of what religion is about. Since a good many of the sacrifices deal with expiation for wrongdoing, it is a common assumption that this is their primary purpose, yet, Sefer Vayikra, the book of Leviticus, opens with a description of the Korban Olah, a voluntary offering to God, which was wholly consumed on the altar:

The Lord called to Moshe and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Should any person (adam) present an offering from the herd (bakar) or from the flock (tzon). If his offering is a burnt offering, an unblemished male from the herd, he shall bring it forward, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, to be acceptable for him (l’rtzono) before the Lord. (Leviticus 1:1-3)

One late midrash saw an association between the above description of the Korban Olah and a verse from the book of Psalms, in which, according to the sages, David praises his songs of thanksgiving as more pleasing to God than the first sacrifice offered by Adam, the first human being:

I will extoll God’s name with song, and exalt him with thanksgiving (toda), that will please the Lord more than oxen, than bull with horns and hooves. (Psalms 69:32-3)

This verse prompted the author of the following midrash to hearken back to the very first positive religious act recorded in the Torah, one inspired totally by awe of God and a spirit of thanksgiving. The midrash then rummages through the pre-Sinaitic religious heroes of the Torah, each of whom carried out great religious acts even before such acts were obligated as mitzvot (commandments):

Ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, of the herd, or of the flock (Lev. 1:2) …

Blessed be He whose presence is everywhere, blessed be He who proclaimed Himself through the righteous of former generations. Adam, brought a young bullock to be sacrificed on the altar, as it says: “more than oxen, than bull with horns and hooves.” (Psalms 69:32). Noah fulfilled what was subsequently written in the Torah, as is said: Noah built an altar to the Lord. (Genesis 8:20). Avraham fulfilled what was subsequently written in the Torah, as is written: Because Avraham to My voice. (Genesis 26:5). Yitzhak did what was subsequently written in the Torah: like a lamb to be sacrificed he let himself [be bound] and cast down before his father. Yaakov did what was subsequently written in the Torah: And they gave to Yaakov all the foreign gods which were in their hand (Genesis 35:4) … (adapted from Seder Eliyahu Rabba 6, Meir Ish-Shalom ed, p. 35)

What distinguishes these heroes and their actions? Each of them fulfilled what the midrash considers to be virtuous religious acts which had yet to have the Torah’s imprimatur, or, in other words, they did them voluntarily, without being commanded. What we are witnessing in this midrash is the religious tension between being commanded and volition. We generally think of Judaism as being a religion which expects observance out of obligation. The author of this midrash ponders the significance of this idea and praises the virtues of those who did things without being commanded.

We, who live in a world where even those who believe fully in the obligation of being commanded, nevertheless, take upon themselves their commitment voluntarily. For them and for those for whom all that they do is voluntary, this midrash serves as a reminder that all of our acts, are, ultimately, done in the spirit of our heroic ancestors, who offered themselves before God with a generosity of spirit which should inspire our acts as well.