Parashat Vayikra - 5762 - OU Torah Insights Project

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer. A publication of the Orthodox Union in cooperation with the Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center

Parshat Vayikra
March 15, 2002

Parshat Vayikra opens by delineating the laws of sacrifices. Among these sacrifices is the korban oleh v'yored - literally, "the sacrifice that rises and falls" - a variable guilt-offering whose cost varies and depends on the
wealth or poverty of the person who brings it. This sacrifice is offered to
atone for three specific sins - inadvertently defiling the Sanctuary or its
various types of holiness; the sin of false testimony; and the sin of false
or unfulfilled oaths.

The third category of sin mentioned is swearing, either regarding the past
or the future, and then transgressing the oath:

Or if anyone swears, pronouncing with his lips to do evil or
to do good, whatever shall a person with an oath (HA'ADAM BISHVU'A)
pronounce, and it was hidden from him; when he knows, then he shall be
guilty of one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty of one of
these, then he shall confess that he has sinned in it. Then he shall bring
his guilt-offering to Hashem for his sin that he sinned . . . (Vayikra
5:4-6)

The Sages say that although atonement is necessary for violating the oath
inadvertently (b'shogeg), no such atonement is needed when circumstances
beyond one's control force him (b'oness), preventing him from fulfilling his
duty. For example, if one swears that he will go somewhere and an
unexpected flash-flood renders this impossible, he is exempt from the korban oleh v'yored.

The Talmud (Shevu'ot 26a) explains that the source for this law is in our
verse:

Our Rabbis taught: a person with an oath (HA'ADAM BISHVU'A)
- to the exclusion of one who is forced (oness).
Rashi analyzes this derivation:

A person with an oath: That he be a person at the time of swearing, that
his mind be upon him.

In further discussing this derivation, Torah Temimah (R. Baruch ben Yechiel
Michel HaLevi Epstein, 1860-1942) explains the difference between the usage of ADAM for "person," as distinguished from ISH (man). ISH, he says, merely designates "a type of living creature," while ADAM is "one who chooses and is intelligent and free in his intentions." One who is unable to exercise the same ability to choose at the time of fulfilling his oath as he had at the moment of uttering it, has been deprived, to that degree, of his complete humanness. An oath that is obstructed by oness is not binding; it is not the oath of HA'ADAM BISHVU'A. The Talmud (ibid.) recounts an incident that explores the definition of oness:

Rav Kahana and Rav Assi stood up in the presence of Rav [after the lecture]. One said, "I swear that Rav said so-and-so," and the other said, "I swear that Rav said so-and-so."

When they came before Rav, he responded that he had said according to one of them. The other asked, "Then, did I swear falsely?" [Rav] said to him, "Your heart forced you."

At the moment of the oath, the mistaken student was certain that he remembered Rav's teaching accurately. But he was deluded by his ignorance, held captive by his own certainty. It could not be said of him that he swore falsely, only that he was compelled, by his own inner drives, to swear. This is not the oath of a complete ADAM.

The opening of the book of VAYIKRA, which teaches about a person who sacrifices a burnt-offering, also speaks of ADAM: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: A person (ADAM) among you who would bring an offering to Hashem - of the cattle, of the herd, and of the flock shall you offer your sacrifice (Vayikra 1:2). Rashi states that this passage deals with "voluntary sacrifices." So here, too, ADAM who sacrifices is one who expresses his full humanness by choosing - from the vantage point of knowledge - and then, unimpeded, fulfilling his choice.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Malbim (R. Meir Leib ben Yechiel Michael, 1809-1877) opens his commentary to the book of VAYIKRA with a lengthy discussion of the use of the word ADAM in Tanach, as compared with other words for "person," such as ISH or NEFESH. His conclusion is that ADAM describes that which is most essentially human, distinguishing the human being from all other living creatures - from animals as well as from angels. This is his bechirah chofshit, his free will.

To be an ADAM is to have choices and to be able to exercise them. Being deprived of choice is dehumanizing. Man has the capacity to elect to transform the world around him, whether to degrade it or to elevate it. The Torah uses the term is ADAM to express man's inherent ability to utilize his freewill positively. VAYIKRA, the book of holiness, the book of ultimate fulfillment of human potential, complements the books of BEREISHIT
and SHEMOT. The opening of VAYIKRA, in particular, stands as the counterpoint to the opening of BEREISHIT, which deals with the world created for ADAM, the creature blessed with freewill. Man was given the ability to choose, however, he ultimately misused that gift to defile the world. Now, as a result of their accumulated history from Avraham until now, the people of Israel can be given their mission and purpose: to be the vanguard
for humankind in the great task of making this physical sphere a kingdom
where Hashem reigns. This begins with:

A person (ADAM) among you who would bring an offering to Hashem.
ADAM who elects to serve Hashem is ADAM fulfilled.