Parsha Vayikra - March 8, 2014

6 Adar II / March 8

By: Neska 

Vayikra 

With gratitude to Hashem on Kira Hannah Newman's 46th birthday.

It has been an ambition of mine to try to relate personally (and communally) to the parshiyot on the 'offerings - sacrifices.' I cannot, hard as I try, put myself into those times. I cannot imagine the long lines waiting to be next, standing with whatever I brought. I cannot imagine the scene. So, Neska, I said to myself: stop imagining and refocus.

So I began noticing a refrain that happens after each offering..."a sweet aroma to Hashem". Now what can that mean? This refrain happens after all offerings except when leavened flour and fruit honey are added to the offerings...a note I read suggested that the leavening slowed down the process and that the fruit honey also slowed down the process, meaning for me, that nothing was to deter the sweet aroma reaching Hashem and that the aroma itself was the sweetness.

And then I began thinking wait! Hashem doesn't need the smell of a cow or lamb or chicken or flour to know that we have uplifted something. That's not the sweet aroma. Rather, for me, what gives Hashem pleasure is Sensing the sweet aroma that we humans give off when we are taking the offerings to Hashem. I can now translate that into my own life...when I am grateful I know my body undergoes a different sense than when I have missed the mark which gives off a different sense than when I am trying to 'obey' a mitzva which gives off a differense sense when I am in conversation with Hashem. And all of these 'senses', I believe, are sweet aromas that are intricately woven into the fabric of my Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom from snowy Virginia....