For an explanation of the methodology of this series, see the introduction.

"This is the law for the burnt offering, for the meal offering, and for the sin offering, and for the guilt offering, and for the investitures, and for the peace offering." (Lev. 7:37)

Peshat (basic meaning):

Rashi: and for the investitures
The day of the initiation into the priesthood.

Remez (hinted meaning):

Baal HaTurim: "Let me go over, I pray, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon." (Deut. 3:25)
The word Lebanon is spelled defectively without a letter vav, whose gematria is 6, hinting to the 6 offerings in our verse: This is the law for the (1)burnt offering, for the (2) meal offering, and for the (3)sin offering, and for the (4) guilt offering, and for the (5) investitures, and for the (6) peace offering.

Derash (interpretive meaning):

Anyone studying these laws is as if he has actually offered the sacrifice.

Ohr HaChayim: Anyone studying these laws is as if he has actually offered the sacrifice. The purpose of Torah study is to recapture the sparks of fallen sanctity and have been held captive. There are two aspects. One is the sparks of holiness that fell into the World of Chaos for well-known reasons. The second aspect is the souls that have been oppressed by cruel people since the time Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Adam provided the negative elements of our world with a great deal of spiritual energy. The only way such a soul can be rescued from the kelipot is through the study of Torah, which is the effective antidote to Satan. If Satan attacks you, drag him to the House of Study.

The Torah writes "This is the Torah" as an introduction to its powers. "This is the Torah" means the benefits brought about through learning Torah, "For an olah/elevation offering" means that through the medium of Torah, G‑d's Divine Presence and the Congregation of Israel are elevated. "For a mincha" reflects the attribute of Menucha/rest, as well as Nahat/calm, and Hanacha/deposit or repose. The latter is most accurate as repose, for the stones Yaakov placed under his head when he went to sleep are described as having merged so that he could use them as a pillow. (Chulin 91b) Rashi writes: (Gen. 2:2) "the arrival of Shabbat brings with it a sense of repose", because the righteous which are the yesod/Foundation of the world, use the Shabbat as their pillow, so to speak. This is the secret of "Let His left hand be under my head, and His right hand embrace me."

"For the sin offering and for the guilt offering"
These words explain 2 different aspects of the descent of the sparks of holiness into the kelipot. These sparks descended at the time the world was in chaos. Tohu VaVohu is referred to as "the sin offering" whereas the sparks of holiness that fell to the realm of Satan after Adam sinned are called "guilt offering". The Torah had to tell us of this distinction to help us locate and isolate these holy sparks in a place which is opposed to holiness, but Torah can be the tool to rescue these holy sparks from their exile. The Torah hints to this when it says "to make them fill their original places", which means the original place assigned to the sparks of holy which fell into chaos before G‑d created order in the physical world. The words "to peace offering" refer to sparks of holiness that fell into the kelipot rampant in our world after Adam's sin.

Slaughtering means vanquishing.

Slaughtering means vanquishing. By vanquishing one's evil inclination one can again isolate the realm of good which has been fused with forces of evil while that soul had been in the clutches of the evil urge. These words also tell us that the whole purpose of identifying these lost holy sparks is in order to sacrifice them. Slaughter means that G‑d will slaughter Satan and deprive him of his spark of sanctity. This will be the peace offering hinted as the "happy ending" of human history. The slaughter of Satan will be done through our engaging in Torah study.

Sod (esoteric, mystical meaning):

Zohar Pinchas 241:
Rabbi Shimon was on his way to Tiberias when Elijah met him and said, Greetings, sir. Rabbi Shimon said to him: With what is G‑d engaged in the Heavens? Elijah replied: He is occupied with the sacrifices and saying new things in your name. Happy are you! And I came to welcome you with greetings, and there is one thing that I wanted to ask you to settle for me. A question has been asked in the academy of the firmament: In the next world there is no eating and drinking, yet it is written: "I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey..." (Song of Songs 5:1). Would one for whom there is no eating nor drinking say: "I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk?"

Said Rabbi Shimon: And what did G‑d reply to them? Elijah answered: G‑d said, 'There goes the son of Yochai. Let him tell you! So I came to ask you. Rabbi Shimon said: In what great affection did G‑d hold the Congregation of Israel, and out of the intense love with which He loved her, He altered his deeds from the way He had been doing. For, although He does not usually eat and drink, because of the love of her, He ate and drank. Since He had come to her, He did as she wanted. If a bride just entering the wedding canopy wants to eat, does it not follow that her bridegroom will eat with her, even if he is not accutomed to doing so? This is what is written: "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride." Since I have come to her, to go with her into the wedding canopy, "I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk."

Is the L-rd occupied with sacrifices above?

BeRahamim LeHayyim:
What? Is the L-rd occupied with sacrifices above? True, that is what Elijah revealed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. But the Zohar quickly clarifies that the doing of sacrifices, as well as eating and drinking [the altar "ate" the offerings and "drank" the wine libations], are not the way they are done down here on corporeal earth. They are 'spiritual' sacrifices. But now that there is no Temple down here, does that mean that there are no sacrifices up there? Au contraire: "May we compensate for the bull offerings with our lips."

This is why in traditional prayerbooks we find the entire order of Korbanot/Sacrifices. In fact our present verse is said in Sefardi prayerbooks just before the Mishnah Zevachim: (Chap. 5) "Ezehu Mekomam". So important is this verse which literally says: This is the Torah: the burnt offering, the meal-offering, the sin-offering, the inauguration-offerings, and the peace-offerings." The Beit Yosef (Chapter 1) writes that it is commendable to say our present verse along with the section that deals with the offerings, for the Midrash states "The heaven and earth shall be My witnesses that when anyone—be it gentile of Jew, man or woman, slave or maidservant—recites this verse, I will in their merit remember the Akeidah [binding] of Yitzchak the son of Abraham."

We don't offer physical sacrifices.
But we do offer words of sacrifice.
And we offer our heart. "G‑d desires the heart." "So shall you delight yourself in G‑d; and He shall give you the petitions of your heart." "Commit your way to G‑d; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass."

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