page_title: Vayikra (parsha)
section_title: Leviticus chapter 4
hierarchical_section_title: Vayikra (parsha) / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Leviticus chapter 4
caption_attribution_description: العربية: 30 change me! الكتاب المقدس التوضيح من الكتاب من الفصل Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Біблійная ілюстрацыя да Кнігі Выхаду, разьдзел 30 Deutsch: Biblische Darstellung Buch change me! Kapitel 30 Ελληνικά: Βιβλική εικονογράφηση του βιβλίου της change me! Κεφάλαιο 30 English: Biblical illustration of Book of Exodus Chapter 30 Español: Ilustración bíblica de libro del change me!, capítulo 30 Français&#160;: Illustration biblique du livre de la Exode chapitre 30 עברית: 30 האיור המקראי של change me! פרק हिन्दी: {{{hi}}} अध्याय change me! की पुस्तक की बाइबिल चित्रण Bahasa Indonesia: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Keluaran pasal 30 Italiano: Illustrazione biblica del libro della change me! Capitolo 30 日本語: change me!30章の本の聖書の実例 Jawa: Ilustrasi Alkitab saking Kitab Pangentasan pasal 30 한국어: change me! 30 장 장부의 성경 그림 Bahasa Melayu: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Keluaran pasal 30 Nederlands: Bijbelse illustratie van change me! hoofdstuk 30 Português: Ilustração bíblica do Livro de change me!, capítulo 30 Русский: Библейские иллюстрации Книга Исход Глава 30 中文: 圣经change me!第30章的书籍插图
context_page_description: Parshat Vayikra, VaYikra, Va-yikra, or Wayyiqra is the 24th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah lays out the laws of sacrifices. It constitutes Leviticus 1:1–5:26.
  The parashah has the most letters and words of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus. It is made up of 6,222 Hebrew letters, 1,673 Hebrew words, 111 verses, and 215 lines in a Torah scroll. Jews read it the 23rd or 24th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in March or early April.
context_section_description: Reading Leviticus 4:3–21, the Mishnah noted that the person who burned the bull (as well as the person who led away the scapegoat pursuant to Leviticus 16:7–10 and 26, the person who burned the bull burned pursuant to Leviticus 16:27, and the person who burned the red cow pursuant to Numbers 19:8) rendered unclean the clothes worn while so doing. But the bull (as well as the scapegoat, the other bull, and the red cow) did not itself render unclean clothes with which it came in contact. The Mishnah imagined the clothing saying to the person: "Those that render you unclean do not render me unclean, but you render me unclean."
  Tractate Horayot in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the High Priest's bull in Leviticus 4:1–12, the bull for a communal error in Leviticus 4:13–21, the ruler's goat in Leviticus 4:22–26, and the sin offerings in Leviticus 4:27–5:12, and 5:17–19.
  The Rabbis interpreted the words, "If any one shall sin through error," in Leviticus 4:2 to apply to inadvertent transgressions.
  The Mishnah taught that 36 transgressions warranted excision ("the soul shall be cut off," נִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ, nichretah ha-nefesh) if committed intentionally, and warranted bringing of a sin offering (חַטָּאת, chatat), as in Leviticus 4:2, if committed inadvertently: when a man has intercourse with (1) his mother, (2) his father's wife, (3) his daughter-in-law, (4) another man, or (5) an animal; (6) when a woman has intercourse with an animal; when a man has intercourse with (7) a
  woman and her daughter, (8) a married woman, (9) his sister, (10) his father's sister, (11) his mother's sister, (12) his wife's sister, (13) his brother's wife, (14) the wife of his father's brother, or (15) a menstruating woman; when one (16) blasphemes, (17) serves idols, (18) dedicates children to Molech, (19) has a familiar spirit, (20) desecrates the Sabbath, (21) eats of sacrificial food while unclean, (22) enters the precincts of the Temple in an unclean state, eats (23) forbidden fat, (24) blood, (25) remnant, or (26) refuse, (27) slaughters or (28) offers up a consecrated animal outside the Temple precincts, (29) eats anything leavened on Passover, (30) eats or (31) works on Yom Kippur, compounds sacred (32) anointing oil or (33) incense, (34) uses sacred anointing oil improperly, or transgresses the laws of (35) the Passover offering or (36) circumcision.
  Reading Genesis 15:9, “And He said to him: ‘Take me a heifer of three years old (מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת, meshuleshet), a she-goat of three years old (מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת, meshuleshet), and a ram of three years old (מְשֻׁלָּשׁ, meshulash),’” a Midrash read מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת, meshuleshet, to mean “three-fold” or “three kinds,” indicating sacrifices for three different purposes. The Midrash deduced that God thus showed Abraham three kinds of bullocks, three kinds of goats, and three kinds of rams that Abraham's descendants would need to sacrifice. The three kinds of bullocks were: (1) the bullock that Leviticus 16:3–19 would require the Israelites to sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (יוֹם כִּיפּוּר, Yom Kippur), (2) the bullock that Leviticus 4:13–21 would require the Israelites to bring on account of unwitting transgression of the law, and (3) the heifer whose neck Deuteronomy 21:1–9 would require the Israelites to break. The three kinds of goats were: (1) the goats that Numbers 28:16–29:39 would require the Israelites to sacrifice on festivals, (2) the goats that Numbers 28:11–15 would require the Israelites to sacrifice on the New Moon (ראש חודש, Rosh Chodesh), and (3) the goat that Leviticus 4:27–31 would require an individual to bring. The three kinds of rams were: (1) the guilt-offering of certain obligation that Leviticus 5:25, for example, would require one who committed a trespass to bring, (2) the guilt-offering of doubt to which one would be liable when in doubt whether one had committed a transgression, and (3) the lamb to be brought by an individual. Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai said that God showed Abraham all the atoning sacrifices except for the tenth of
caption: Priests Preparing an Offering (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Sweet Publishing)
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