In this week’s Parshah we read of various sacrifices for various occasions and occurrences. There are sometimes interesting links between them and understanding one can through light on another. For example, a famous conundrum of our Parshah is that the Torah describes the obligatory bringing of First Fruits as voluntary: ‘If you bring an offering of First Fruits to G-d’. Many reasons are given for this wording and we discussed some ideas in this sheet last year. Yet we can maybe understand a deep message in this verse by looking at another sacrifice, that of the Guilt Offering. One of the sins that someone has to bring this offering for is not an active transgression but an omission. If someone saw something or heard something relevant to a case and did not testify they are regarded as guilty. Even though they committed no wrong action by staying silent and not coming forward they have transgressed and need to bring an atoning sacrifice. This teaches us an important lesson. One may think that it is alright to stand aside and not get involved. You can reckon that its up to you whether to volunteer to testify or do something else of communal benefit. The Torah thinks otherwise. Even though you may think coming forward is voluntary the Torah sees it as an obligation. Maybe this is why the Torah presents the obligation to bring First Fruits in a voluntary manner. Here too you may reason that one should only bring them if you truly feel thankful. Maybe you have other worries that prevent you from, in you opinion, properly thanking G-d. Yet the bringing First Fruits is obligatory. Like in the case of the witness you are obliged to ‘volunteer’ to do something. This is an important message for our community. Too few people do far too much and far too many people stand aside. They reckon it is not there place to come forward or to stand up to be counted. They may rationalise that they don’t have what it takes or are too busy or a thousand other excuses. The Torah in this week’s Parshah makes clear it does not accept such rationalisation. Not to volunteer is a transgression. Standing up and taking responsibility is an obligation on all of us. If we stand aside we, like the witness that refuses to come forward and testify, must bear responsibility for the consequences. In communal life, the Torah clearly tells us, helping out is not optional but an obligation.

Parshat Vayikra