Parsha Inspired Menus - Vayikra

Last week we closed out the creation of the mishkan and now we move into lots of information about the kind of sacrifices that can and should be made. It can feel repetitive and not particularly relevant for today, but if you've read my #parshainspiredmenus posts before, you know that there's always something we can find that sparks my interest. This week there are two details of sacrifices that have great lessons.

The first is in the section about the meal-offering (a mincha), which is made voluntarily and for personal reasons (as compared to commanded or required personal or communal sacrifices.) The

mincha is made of fine flour, oil, and frankincense (and usually water.) It is also unleavened. While there are some variations on how it's made, the Torah makes sure to state what you can't do with your offering.

No meal offering that you offer to יהוה shall be made with leaven, for no leaven or honey may be turned into smoke as an offering by fire to יהוה. (Vayikra 2:11)

Rashi understands this honey reference to be "fruit, which can produce a sweet, honey-like nectar." So, why wouldn't we want sweeten this offering or allow it to rise? The Stone Chumash commentary shares the following explanation:

The prohibition against offerings of leaven and fruit-honey conveys a moral lesson regarding the full range of man's service of God. Man should not be sluggish, as symbolized by the slow process of leaving; nor should he be obsessed with the pursuit of pleasures, as symbolized by the sweetness of honey.

I appreciated this connection to how we should serve God - with devotion, quick attention, and

not too much focus on our own pleasures. So, what to do with leavening and fruit-honey - we're making Daisies Cookies, a simple sugar cookie with a jelly center. (And another bonus of this plan is using up jelly from Hamantaschen to get rid of it before Passover!) I am using a recipe from The Essential Cookie Companion from the King Arthur Baking Company (my favorite flour).

Second, I heard a great 5 minute podcast about this parsha that focused on one important word:

אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָשִׂ֖יא יֶֽחֱטָ֑א וְעָשָׂ֡ה אַחַ֣ת מִכׇּל־מִצְוֺת֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהָ֜יו אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹא־תֵעָשֶׂ֛ינָה בִּשְׁגָגָ֖ה וְאָשֵֽׁם׃

When a ruler has sinned, and done something through ignorance against any one of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and has incurred guilt; (Vaykira 4:22)

When/אֲשֶׁ֥ר is in contrast to the way the other sin offerings are described. Those all use the word If/אִם. But for the Nasi, the ruler/leader, it's "when," as if the ruler/leader will inevitably sin. The podcast gave an amazing perspective on this, saying that by being willing to put oneself in a leadership position, to interact with the world, to take risks, and to be in relationship with others, the leader is going to make mistakes. The leader will sin, will have to make expiation for that sin. In today's world, the leader will inevitably have to apologize to someone they upset in the process of trying to lead a community. And yet, by acknowledging that this is a when the Torah normalizes these mistakes and doesn't cast shame on them. There's a remedy for these mistakes. There's a teaching by the Chofetz Chaim that points out that God gives us a neshama, a soul, at birth and would rather have it returned to Him at our death having improved it, even if we made mistakes

along the way. Or as our son described it on hearing this teaching, we are aiming for a net positive. Sure, we could do nothing and then get no negatives, but then we're net zero. By trying to do good in the world, we aim for a net positive, knowing that there will be mistakes on the way. So, we wanted to highlight the "good" in mistakes. So looked around for a food that was made by mistake. There's actually quite a few of them, but we are going to focus on corn flakes. (It is reported that a batch of wheat-based cereal dough was left out for too long and fermented, leading to the creation of crispy, thin flakes. Will Kellogg continued experimenting with the recipe and eventually found that corn created even more delicious and crunchy flakes than wheat. So, for Shabbat dinner, we're going with the thank-goodness-a-mistake-was-made Oven Baked Cornflake Chicken. (sub margarine for butter.)

Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!

Previous year's PIM for Vayikra:

PIM Vayikra 2024

PIM Vayikra 2023