R. David Kasher on Parashat Vayikra: A Prehistory of the Sacrifices

Ta Shma

The laws of Leviticus appear to be entirely separate from the narrative and themes of the Torah so far. Exodus, by contrast, picks up directly from the narrative of Genesis, and—as we have seen—even the case laws in Exodus sometimes make subtle references to earlier stories. But when we enter Leviticus, we feel ourselves to be in another kind of book entirely. There is no narrative at all in here the first parashah. Instead, the book opens by listing the various types of korbanot (sacrificial offerings), and the precise details involved in their ritual preparation. Speaking directly to the priest, absorbed in the procedural realm of the mishkan (tabernacle), it is as if this middle book of the Torah is detached from the world that has come before it.