Leviticus-Chap-23-1-22
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details of our beloved TaNaKh:
1. Torah = History & Law, 2. Nevi’im = The Prophets. 3. *Ketuvim = all other Writings.
*The Ketuvim - Includes, Poetical books - Psalms, Proverbs, Job,
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Please Note: Some
alterations or (additions) have been made relating to ‘Names’ and ‘Attributes’
of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, having been
corrected like it once was pre the “Masoretic Text”.
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye
shall NOT ADD
TO THE WORD which I command
you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM IT,
that ye may keep the commandments of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy
4:2. (JPS-1917).
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Part One..
With Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Introduction:
Leviticus 23 serves as the most “sacred
calendar” of
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Below is Part One of Leviticus Chapter 23: Verses 1 to 22 (JPS-1917 version of the Torah). Below the numbered verses are the ‘Explanations’.
1. “And יְהוָה - the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:’
Explanation: The dialogue begins with a direct transmission to Moses, establishing that these dates are not human inventions or mere cultural traditions, but Divine decrees.
2. ‘Speak unto
the children of
Explanation: The term ‘mo’ed’ (appointed season) implies a specific time and place for a meeting. These are “holy convocations”, times when the community must gather to testify to a shared spiritual reality.
3. ‘Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of ‘solemn rest’, a ‘holy convocation’; ye shall do no manner of work; it is a Sabbath unto יְהוָה - the LORD in all your dwellings’.
Explanation: Before the yearly festivals are listed, the Sabbath is established as the primary time “meeting”. It is the heartbeat of the our Hebrew calendar. Note that it is observed “in all your dwellings”, making holiness accessible in the private home, not just the sanctuary, or today in the Synagogue.
4. ‘These are the appointed seasons of יְהוָה - the LORD, even ‘Holy convocations’, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed season’.
Explanation: This verse acts as a formal heading for the annual festivals that follow, transitioning from the weekly cycle to the solar/lunar yearly cycle.
5. ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk, is the יְהוָה - LORD’s Passover’.
Explanation: Passover (Pesach) marks the historical birth of the nation. It begins in the “first month” (Nisan), signifying a new beginning rooted in liberation.
6. ‘And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the “feast of unleavened bread unto יְהוָה - the LORD”; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread’.
Explanation: While the Passover sacrifice happens at twilight, the seven-day festival of HaMatzot begins the next morning. The “bread of affliction” becomes the bread of freedom, stripped of the “leaven” of past servitude.
7. ‘In the first day ye shall have a Holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work’.
Explanation: The first day is a “Sabbath day of rest”. We cease productive labour to focus on the significance of the Exodus.
8. ‘But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto יְהוָה - the LORD seven days; in the seventh day is a Holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work’.
Explanation: The entire week is sanctified by daily offerings, concluding with another day of rest to bookend the experience of freedom.
9. ‘And יְהוָה - the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:’
Explanation: A
new section begins, shifting from the historical remembrance of
10. ‘Speak
unto the children of
Explanation: This introduces the Omer (sheaf). Holiness is tied to the soil. You cannot fully celebrate the harvest until you acknowledge the Source of the growth.
11. ‘And he shall wave the sheaf before יְהוָה - the LORD, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it’.
Explanation: The “waving” is a physical gesture of dedication. It signals that the bounty of the earth belongs to the Creator before it belongs to the farmer.
12. ‘And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto יְהוָה - the LORD’.
Explanation: Gratitude is expressed through the best of the flock, ensuring the “first-fruits” of both plant and animal life are dedicated.
13. ‘And the meal-offering thereof shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto יְהוָה - the LORD for a sweet savour; and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin’.
Explanation: ‘Fine flour’, ‘oil’, and ‘wine’, the staples of a prosperous life are included in this ritual of thanksgiving.
14. ‘And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the offering of your אֱלֹהִים - Elohim (God); it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings’.
Explanation: This creates a ‘discipline of restraint’. One must wait for the communal act of gratitude before personal consumption begins.
15. ‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete;’
Explanation: This initiates the “Counting of the Omer”. It creates a bridge of time and a bridge of consciousness between the physical liberation of Passover and the spiritual climax to follow.
16. ‘Even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto יְהוָה - the LORD’.
Explanation: Fifty days marks a symbolic “Jubilee” of days. The “new meal-offering” represents the transition from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest.
17. ‘Ye shall bring out of your dwellings two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, for first-fruits unto יְהוָה - the LORD’.
Explanation: Unlike most altar offerings, these loaves are leavened. They represent the completed, “puffed up” success of the harvest, offered back to אֱלֹהִים - Elohim in their finished state.
18. ‘And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be a burnt-offering unto יְהוָה - the LORD, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto יְהוָה - the LORD’.
Explanation: A massive communal sacrifice that mirrors the abundance of the season.
19. ‘And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings’.
Explanation: The inclusion of a “sin-offering” reminds the people that even in times of great joy and abundance, human fallibility remains and must be addressed.
20. ‘And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave-offering before יְהוָה - the LORD, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest’.
Explanation: The bread and the lambs are joined in a single ritual action, elevating the physical food of the people to a state of “holiness to יְהוָה - the LORD”.
21. ‘And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a Holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations’.
Explanation: This identifies the fiftieth day (Shavuot) as a standalone festival of rest and assembly, concluding the spring cycle.
22. ‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloheichem’.
Explanation: Critically,
the chapter interrupts the list of “holy days” to remind the farmer of social
responsibility. Real “holiness” is not just found in the
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My Closing Message:
In these twenty-two verses, the Torah weaves
together the strands of ‘history’, ‘agriculture’, and ‘ethics’. By placing the
commandment to leave the “corners of the field” for the poor (v. 22) directly
after the laws of the ‘high festivals’, the text teaches us a profound lesson:
ritual piety is hollow if it does not lead to social justice. To meet with the Divine
at the “appointed time” is to take on the Divine character of compassion for
the stranger.
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