The Book of Leviticus, which begins with Parashat Vayikra this week, primarily concerns the laws of sacrifice in the ancient Jewish Temple. It has long offered commentators an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and purpose of sacrificial worship. The Zohar, too, devotes considerable ink to explaining the meaning of sacrifice in a kabbalistic world view.
One day, Rabbi Elazar was sitting before Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai.
Rabbi Elazar said: This End of All Flesh — did it benefit from those offerings that Israel used to bring upon the altar, or not?
He replied: All of them were sustained as one, above and below. Come and see: Priests, Levites and Israelites — these are called adam (human), in the union of those holy desires that arise from within them. And that lamb or sheep or animal that is offered, before it is brought upon the altar, it must bear upon itself all sins, all iniquities and all evil thoughts that a person has committed. Then it is called behemah (animal) in every respect, containing within it those sins, evils and thoughts — similar to the scapegoat offering to Azazel, as is written: “And he shall confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel…” (Leviticus 16:21) So too here. When it ascends upon the altar, they reach two sides; and therefore this ascends to its place, and that ascends to its place: one in sod ha-adam (the mystery of the human being), and one in sod ha-behemah (the mystery of the beast), as it is said: “Human and beast You deliver, O God.” (Psalms 36:7)
Zohar 2:268b
The opening question, voiced by Rabbi Elazar, poses a view that was widespread among kabbalists: Sacrifices are bribes given to the End of All Flesh — that is, Death. (The End of All Flesh goes by many other names in the Zohar including Sitra Achra, the Other Side, and Satan.)The notion is that making a sacrifice effectively removes the demonic threat lurking over a person on account of his sins, and thereby staves off his death. Whether because it is quasi-pagan or pseudo-magical, Rabbi Elazar clearly finds this kabbalistic view of sacrifice troubling. He asks his father, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, the hero of the Zohar, if he has another interpretation of the purpose of sacrifice.
Indeed, he does. In his response to Rabbi Elazar, Rabbi Shimon develops and presents to Rabbi Elazar — and to us — a more complex kabbalistic understanding of sacrifice. In the new picture that unfolds, the sacrifice acts in two directions. The first, called sod ha-behemah (the mystery of the beast), is similar to what was presented above: The sacrificed flesh counters the forces of demonic judgment. But alongside this action is a second, loftier action, called sod ha-adam (the mystery of the human being). This is directed not toward the End of All Flesh, but toward the sefirot— God’s emanations. Both actions operate simultaneously as the smoke of the sacrifice ascends.
The language of sod ha-behemah and sod ha-adam indicates that they are not of equal value. Humans, after all, are the crown of creation, above the beasts. And beyond this, the association of sod ha-behemah with the law of the scapegoat sharpens our understanding considerably. According to Leviticus 16, every Yom Kippur the high priest would send a goat to Azazel in the wilderness. The kabbalists associate the mysterious Azazel with Satan, also Sitra Achra, also the End of All Flesh, also Death. In their view, then, the purpose of this Yom Kippur sacrifice was to stave off demonic forces so they would not disrupt the intimate harmony between Israel and their God in the Temple on the Day of Atonement.
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This is precisely how Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai understands the act of sacrifice in general. At the center of the Temple proceedings described here, we find the convergence of “the devotion of the priest, the song of the Levites and the prayer of Israel” — the varied and concentrated spiritual activity in which the holy spirit is stirred, and through which the worship of God in the Temple is brought to its fullest expression. The sod ha-behemah is designed to clear the space of any hostile demonic presence. This prepares the way for the sod ha-adam which, by contrast, represents an orientation of approach, not repulsion. Its purpose is harmonious union with the sacred realm, not struggle with the End of All Flesh.
The act of distracting the demonic forces in order to purify the sacred Temple space takes place on a psychological level as well. In order for a person to devote his intention to song, prayer and ultimately union with the holy spirit, he must first purify his mind, his inner space, of sins and transgressions. When he confesses over the sacrifice, he dispatches the filth of his soul with the sacrifice to its demonic destination, just as the scapegoat was sent into the wilderness of Azazel. Once Temple and soul are clear and purified for the worship of God, the sod ha-adam — drawing near to the divine through intention, song, prayer and the indwelling of the holy spirit — can take place.
The Zohar does not ultimately dismiss the “primitive” kabbalistic conception of sacrifice as a charm to ward off demons. Rather, it repurposes it for a higher aim: Creating the conditions for worship of and encounter with God, and ultimately the indwelling of the Shekhinah. Sod ha-behemah no longer stands at the center of sacrificial worship, but prepares the way for sod ha-adam — the path of mystical striving and attachment to the supernal realms.
This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.
