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There is a phrase that is repeated over and over again in our Parshah, Parshat Bahar, which creates an almost meditative effect on the reader of the Parshah. The phrase in question is: “For your brother will kill you”. This formulation is repeated many times and is used to describe different situations in which a person among the people of Israel finds himself in various types of personal or economic difficulties, which require the mobilization and commitment of his surroundings to help him out of his difficulties and deal with them.
Once a person is asked to sell his land and does not have the means of production that enables him to earn an independent living. The second time is when a person is in a cash flow crisis and needs cash, and here the mitzvah is to lend him money without charging him interest on the loan. The third time is about a person who is forced to sell himself into slavery because of financial difficulties, and here the Torah commands the slave to become an employee, that is: a person who has certain rights in a relationship with an employer, especially a person who should not completely lose his independence and humanity because of the difficult financial situation he is in.
In order to understand the depth of what it means to be involved in the various contexts of “for your brother shall die,” I would like to try to broaden the view of Leviticus as a whole so that we can observe the deep processes that occur within it and the relationships it generates. Essence and essence-related exchange of divine concepts.
Two interrelated climaxes can be distinguished in Leviticus. The first event is the death of Nadav and Avihu on the eighth day in the sanctuary. The second, which follows closely on the heels of the first, is the entry of their father Aaron into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the people and his sons. The location of these two stories actually divides the book into three parts that differ in content and emphasis.
The first part of the book is devoted to an extensive and detailed study of the victim theory.Here the concept of the sacred is simple – it is concentrated in the narrow area of the temple/mishkan and includes the direct and practical work of worship.
The second part of Leviticus, following the story of Nadav and the death of Abihu, is characterized by a continued treatment of issues related to the world of the Mishkan and the Temple, but here the connection is more indirect with a direct focus on different areas of life that create situations of impurity and the means of purification from them.
Here, holiness moves from the world of the temple itself into real life: food and drink, birth and death, and other impure situations related to the body. In this section there is still a strong connection to the Temple, where the concepts of impurity and purity are defined, but these go beyond their definitions, to the fullness of the life of the common man in Israel, and to the space of his actual life. .
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