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Vayyikra
A little more than one hundred years ago people lived in a world without cars. They had no telephones, electric lights or refrigerators. One hundred years ago people could not even imagine what the radio was. They had no conception of movies or of television. Tape recorders and digital reporters were hardly an idea to the science fiction writers of the time. Medicine as we know it was just in its infancy. Anesthesia was a new idea; doctors were just learning about germs. On hot days people lived in homes without air conditioning and on cold days the master of the house had to chop wood to feed the fireplace to keep warm. A hundred years ago our forefathers lived in a different world, so different that it is hard for us to imagine.
Three thousand years ago our forefathers lived in a world without books. They had not yet been invented. They lived in a world without policemen or firemen. Houses were usually tents, but if they were not, they were rarely more than one story high, and they never had bathrooms. There were no newspapers and even the idea of science was in its infancy.
Even religion was different back then. People usually did not pray. They did not know how to pray, and even if they did, their prayers were but a few words long. For example, when Miriam was struck with leprosy, all that Moses her brother could say was: “Please God, heal her.”
Serving God then was a matter of work and sacrifice. People had to intend by their actions to worship God, and their actions had to be material, completed by the sweat of their brow. Only after the Temple was destroyed did we learn how to pray. Only then could people find words to speak before God: only then was prayer formalized.
Our ancestors lived in a world where they were enveloped by God’s Presence, but they did not recognize the necessity of prayer. It is that world that we study and learn about in the Torah portion that we read this week.
Think for a moment. In that ancient world, life was judged by the deeds that we did. In our modern world, life is more likely judged by the words that we say. How strange, God was a constant presence to our forefathers who did not know how to pray, and usually did not!
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Rabbi Aaron Kriegel |
Cantor Marsha Schreier |
President Marc Wurgaft |
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