parshat Vayikra

...There are things that must be kept in Sod (Secret), and if someone reveals them, he thus abuses and wastes their greatness. One who has no secrets is one who is shallow and external - but 'Israel was redeemed from Egypt in the merit of not having revealed their inner secrets' (Midrash Tehillim 114,1)...

Even though we live in a time when such animal sacrifices are not possible, one of the main lessons which is pertinent to us is that all forgiveness for wrongdoing requires true "sacrifice" on the part of the perpetrator of the sin.

The Zohar brilliantly asks: "Why was Moshe able to stand before the Divine Presence on Mt. Sinai, but not down on earth?"

We would expect to read: “when one of you offers a sacrifice.” Instead, what it says is “when one offers a sacrifice of you.” The essence of sacrifice, said Rabbi Shneur Zalman, is that we offer ourselves.

Michaelangelo may have been the greatest sculptor who ever lived, but his knowledge of Jewish anatomy was a bit off.

The very possibility to demand of a king to acknowledge his sin is a great novelty. All the more so, we would never expect that there would be someone with permission to rebuke the king or to demand of him to admit that he sinned.

Why is the first letter Aleph in Vayikra small? the Zohar explains this issue.

The Book of Vayikra begins a series of complex laws about the service of the Holy Temple, but even though the laws of the Torah are precise, they require individual creativity.