Festive sacrifices and their deeper meaning: Pinchas 5785

The recounting of the mandatory Temple sacrifices for the holidays of the Jewish year occupies significant space in this week’s parsha. While I have many times discussed the overall meaning of animal sacrifices in my parsha pieces, I wish to explore the uniqueness of the sacrifices that are meant to somehow characterize each chag. For example, the sacrifices offered on the seven days of Succot differ for each day of that holiday, unlike the daily sacrifices ordained for the last six days of Pesach, which are identical. This difference has halachic implications regarding the recitation of a Haftorah blessing on the Shabbat of Chol Hamoed. On Succot, since a different sacrifice was offered each day, the blessing is a festive blessing, not just a Shabbat one. On Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach the blessing is a purely Shabbat blessing.

A subtle message of general insight is provided here. Pesach, representing a one-time redemption from Egyptian slavery—a great but essentially singular event—repeats the same sacrifice throughout its six last days. But Succot, representing Divine protection over Israel and all individual Jews, is a renewed daily event which captures the differing circumstances that each day brings: a new salvation for each and every day. This is why each day of Succot has a different sacrifice.

The description of the sacrifices for Shavuot is also significant. The Torah describes the holiday as Yom Habikkurim, the day of the offering of the first fruits of the agricultural year. It also states that a new offering—the offering of the two loaves of bread—is to form part of the mincha offering of that day. Now,  each holiday revolves around the natural and agricultural year in the Land of Israel: Pesach is the festival of springtime and the offering of grain symbolizes the harvest of the winter wheat crop; Succot represents the holiday of the fall harvest season. But it is the offerings of Shavuot that are most intertwined with nature and agriculture. 

We know Shavuot as the festival of the granting of the Torah on Sinai to the Jewish people. The Torah does not mention this directly but rather concentrates upon nature, agriculture and the blessings of the bounty of the earth. By not dwelling especially on the granting of the Torah, the Torah subliminally suggests that it is as natural and necessary to us as is the seasons of the year and the bounty of the earth. 

Torah is truly our lives and the length of our days. It is therefore an integral part of nature itself, the very wonders of nature that Shavuot celebrates. Perhaps that is the intention of the rabbis in their statement that the world was created in the image of God’s Torah. 

Shabbat shalom. Rabbi Berel Wein

Rabbi Wein's devar Torah on parshat Pinchas for 5784 ("Outer Peace, Inner Peace") can be accessed here.