Living On a Prayer

This week’s parsha, Vayikra, begins the third of the five books of Moshe. This book is filled with laws pertaining to the Kohanim (priests). This week’s parsha begins the laws of Kohanim by mentioning the karbonos (offerings) that the Kohanim brought during the time of the Beis HaMikdash.

The second mishna in Pirkei Avos (Ethics of our Fathers) states “the world stands on three things: Torah, Avodah, and Gemilus Chasadim.” Torah is easy to translate — it means learning Torah and doing the mitzvos. Gemilus Chasadim is also easy to translate — doing kind deeds. Avodah, though, is a little tougher to translate. One of the greatest commentators on the mishna, Rav Ovadia M’Bartenura, states that Avodah means karbonos. He states that this is one of the pillars of the world and we see proof to this from the story of Noach. Noach built a big boat and it rained for forty days and forty nights. Finally after a full year inside of the boat, the land was dry enough for Noach to leave. One of the first things he did after leaving was offering karbonos. Immediately after he offered them, Hashem Promised that He would never destroy the world again through a flood. The Bartenura says since G-d promised that He would never destroy the world again after karbonos were brought, we see that the world exists because of karbonos. Karbonos are very powerful.

This is a beautiful thought but how can this apply to today. Karbonos might be so powerful that the world exists because of them, but today we do not have them. Today all we have is tefillah, prayers. And tefillah is nothing compared to the karbonos, right? Actually, according to the Rabenu Yona, it is wrong — tefillah is NOT nothing compared to the karbonos.

Rabenu Yona writes that Dovid Ha’Melech, the great King David, committed some type of a sin with Basheva (as the Gemara points out, Dovid did not do anything that was actually wrong. He merely did an act that he should not have done, but it was not an actual sin). After committing this act, Dovid did not know what to do. He could not bring a karbon because karbonos can only be brought if a sin was committed unintentionally. Dovid committed this sin intentionally. Therefore, without being able to bring a karbon, Dovid screamed out in prayer. Dovid davened because davening could do something that karbonos could not. There was no karbon but there was prayer. Rabenu Yona says from here we see that tefillah is even stronger than karbonos.

Karbonos were very great. The whole world survives today only because of the karbonos that were brought. But we have an even stronger tool today. It is called prayer. If we daven properly, we can end all war and bring the everlasting peace we have been hoping for.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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By Rabbi Yaacov Seltzer
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