Parashat Hashavua Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman If you have comments or questions please feel free to e-mail Rabbi Fischman at: fish9999@012.net.il

Parshat Vayikra

In our current state, what takes the place of avodat hakorbanot? The Tosafot Yom Tov says that the study of the laws of the korbanot takes the place of the actual sacrifices. Rabbeinu Yonah says prayer takes the place of the avodah..

The Tosafot Yom Tov cites a well known passage from masechet Megillah, page 31b. The Gemara there says that Hashem promised Avraham Avinu that should the Temple be destroyed then He will accept the reading of the parshiyot hakorbanot in place of the actual sacrifices.

Rabbeinu Yonah cites an equally well known Gemara, the passage in Ta’anit 2a which refers to prayer as a form of avodah, specifically as avodah of the heart.

There is no major disagreement between the two opinions. Both prayer and recitation of parshiyot hakorbanot are of course important. The question is which takes the place of avodah. It may be that Rabbeinu Yonah did not quote the Gemara in Megillah, because reading the parshiyot is a form of Torah study, and Torah study was already mentioned in the Mishna. For that matter, the Gemara in Menachot 110a says that scholars who study Torah (and not necessarily Seder Kodshim) at night have the merit of performing the avodah. As for the Tosafot Yom Tov, he may feel that if Shimon Hatzadik viewed prayer as the equal of the avodah he would have mentioned it in the Mishna.

When we say korbanot in the morning we say with each passage an appropriate ye’hi ratzon, that our reciting the passage should be accepted in lieu of that particular sacrifice. The Tur, at the end of Orach Chaim, siman 1, says that we should not say a ye’hi ratzon after reading the passage of the chatat offerring. The Tur explains this ruling as being due to the fact that a chatat (which is a sin-offering) cannot be brought voluntarily. The Beit Yosef, in his comments to the Tur asks this question: by the Tur’s reasoning, why do we recite the passage of the chatat at all? The Beit Yosef explains that reciting the chatat passage provides “slight” atonement in the event that a person is obligated to bring a chatat. If a person doesn’t know if he owes a chatat, reciting the passage provides a measure of atonement. If he does not owe a chatat then he hasn’t lost anything by reciting the passage since he has the reward of reading a passage of Torah.

The Bach apparently has a different perspective. The Bach writes that saying the ye’hi ratzon prayer is what converts the recitation of a Torah passage (or a Mishna) into a sacrifice. Since it is forbidden to bring a chatat vouluntarily, it is forbidden to recite the yehi ratzon prayer unless one knows he must bring the chatat. The Bach suggests reciting a “conditional” yehi ratzon before the chatat passage. In other words a person should say, “May it be Thy will that if I must bring a chatat, then this reading should be the equivalent of the actual offering.” The Bach adds that this was also the opinion of Maharshal.

The Taz (Orach Chaim, siman1, no. 7) does not approve of this “conditional” yehi ratzon. The Bach wrote that the conditional clause of the ye’hi ratzon means that if there is no obligation to bring a chatat then the reading of the parsha becomes an innocent reading of a passage of Torah. The Taz (who was the son-in-law of the Bach) says that the conditional clause can only convert an “obligatory” sacrifice (such as the chatat) into a “voluntary” one. But since there is no “voluntary” chatat the conditional clause in this context is meaningless and therefore should not be said. The Magen Avraham (ibid, no. 11) raises a different objection to the conditional yehi ratzon. He notes that a person can only bring a chatat if he is certain that he violated the law. The condition “if” renders the entire passage moot.

The Mishna Brurah (ibid. no. 18) quotes the point raised by the Magen Avraham, but adds that if a person knows of a sin that he commited and it bothers him then he may say the yehi ratzon.