I of course concur with the suggestions already made: I think studying Rav Hirsch’s commentary on Vayikra is a must for everyone. I also think highly of Rabbi Dr Berman’s book.
However, if you want a “short but quick†defense of Korbanoth I highly recommend my article “Sacrifice Categories and Personality Types†(JBQ, Vol#38(1), pp 254-260). I show a one-one correspondence between the 6 fundamental vocational personality types of the world-wide accepted Holland approach and the 6 categories of objects used in Korbanoth (You can access the article at [
www.Rashiyomi.com] )
Let me make myself crystal clear. Besides i) vehemently disagreeing that Maimonides looked at Sacrifices as a concession to the times (See my article [
www.Rashiyomi.com] ) I also disagree ii) we should accept korbanoth as no different than killing animals for hot dogs. I suggest an aggressive approach: iii) Korbanoth are the Jewish approach to psychology. They are superior to secular psychology. They should be part of our everyday conversations and should be how we approach psychological problems we face.
Let me give one example (courtesy of Rav Hirsch) Suppose you meet a person who is down with symptoms of depression. I would use the Korbanoth approach. If the person is not poor, I would suggest reminding him of all his past accomplishments (symbolized by the blood of a sin offering being placed on the top of the altar). However if the person is poor I would emphasize that with hard work the person can partially accomplish goals and should not give up (Symbolized by the blood of a bird (=poverty) sin offering being thrown midway up the altar). I would then follow up on this advice of korbanoth: Does the poor person have a job; can they change jobs; do they know how to follow up on job networks; do they realize that their efforts will probably only meet with half success (blood to the half way mark). If the person is not poor I would ask them what project is falling apart. I would go over principles of project management and ask them to state their goals achieved till now (Blood on top).
This is a small example but it exemplifies an approach: All social and psychological problems should be solved, whether with couples, parents, teachers or political leaders, through appeal to korbanoth. This is the spirit in which I wrote the article. I have explained what I can in the small space allotted to me and hope people will read the article.
Note: RE: Korbanoth and killing animals. Not so! There are six categories of korbanoth. 33% of them have nothing to do with killing animals (yes, we have a Minchah tractate dealing with plant sacrifices, not to mention the perfume offerings (ketoreth). More can be said but I will stop here.
My own opinion (explicitly expressed in several articles I have written) is that the only way we can make Judaism appealing to modern man is to portray its precepts not as arcane responses to a past primitive society but as a dynamic Divine response to our current situation which surpasses modern sciences’ attempt to remedy the same problems.
Respectfully
Russell Jay Hendel; Dept of Math; Towson University;
RHendel@Towson.Edu
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2014 01:42AM by mlb.
