(18) They said, “Come let us devise a plot against Jeremiah—for instruction/Torah shall not fail from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor oracle from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and we shall no longer have to listen to all those words of his.”

(6)Proper rulings/Torat Emet were in his mouth,
And nothing perverse was on his lips; He served Me with complete loyalty And held the many back from iniquity. (7)For the lips of a priest guard knowledge, And rulings /Torah are sought from his mouth; For he is a messenger of GOD of Hosts.

(2) Command Aaron and his sons thus:
This is the ritual/Torah of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it.

(1) [GOD] called/ויקרא/vayik'ra to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying:

(6)With what shall I approach GOD,
Do homage to God on high?

Shall I approach with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? (7)Would GOD be pleased with thousands of rams,
With myriads of streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, The fruit of my body for my sins?

(8)“You have been told, O mortal, what is good,And what GOD requires of you:
Only to do justice And to love goodness, And to walk modestly with your God;

(17) In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the Tabernacle was set up.

(1) On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, GOD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying:

"Whatever has happened to the Patriarchs is a sign to the children.

"

(1) AND ABRAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND. I will tell you a principle by which you will understand all the coming portions of Scripture concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is indeed a great matter which our Rabbis mentioned briefly, saying: “Whatever has happened to the patriarchs is a sign to the children.” It is for this reason that the verses narrate at great length the account of the journeys of the patriarchs, the digging of the wells, and other events. Now someone may consider them unnecessary and of no useful purpose, but in truth they all serve as a lesson for the future: when an event happens to any one of the three patriarchs, that which is decreed to happen to his children can be understood.
Concerning all decisions of “the guardians [angels],” know that when they proceed from a potential decree to a symbolic act, the decree will in any case be effected. It is for this reason that the prophets often perform some act in conjunction with the prophecies, just as Jeremiah commanded Baruch his disciple, And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink. Likewise is the matter of Elisha when he put his arm on the bow [held by Joash, King of Israel]: And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Eternal’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory against Aram. And it is further stated there, And the man of G-d was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Aram till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite Aram but thrice. It is for this reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused Abraham to take possession of the Land and symbolically did to him all that was destined to happen in the future to his children. Understand this principle. Now, with the help of G-d, I will begin to explain in detail the subject matter of the verses.

(13) Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.”

Criticism of one of the patriarchs

(1) AND THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.

...Know that Abraham our father unintentionally committed a great sin by bringing his righteous wife to a stumbling-block of sin on account of his fear for his life. He should have trusted that G-d would save him and his wife and all his belongings for G-d surely has the power to help and to save. His leaving the Land, concerning which he had been commanded from the beginning, on account of the famine, was also a sin he committed, for in famine G-d would redeem him from death. It was because of this deed that the exile in the land of Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh was decreed for his children. In the place of justice, there is wickedness and sin.

(1) [GOD] called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them:
When any of you presents an offering of cattle to GOD: You shall choose your offering from the herd or from the flock. (3) If your offering is a burntoffering from the herd, you shall make your offering a male without blemish. You shall bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, for acceptance in your behalf before GOD. (4) You shall lay a hand upon the head of the burnt offering, that it may be acceptable in your behalf, in expiation for you. (5) The bull shall be slaughtered before GOD; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

(1) ויקרא אל משה, in view of our being told at the end of the last portion that Moses could not enter the Tabernacle (Exodus 40,35), this is why now God called to Moses from the Tabernacle. As a result, the meaning of the verse here is “God called to Moses from the Tent and spoke to him.” The meaning of the verse is parallel to Exodus 19,3 ויקרא אליו יהוה מן ההר/"The Lord called out to him from the mountain," where the operative clause is the word מן ההר, “from the mountain.”

...

(9) Its entrails and legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offeringbyfireofpleasingodor to GOD.

(1) A BURNT-OFFERING.

Now this verse mentions a reason for the offerings, namely, that they are a fire-offering, of a pleasing odor unto the Eternal. The Rabbi [Moshe ben Maimon] wrote in the Moreh Nebuchim that the reason for the offerings is because the Egyptians and the Chaldeans in whose lands the children of Israel were strangers and sojourners, used always to worship the herd and the flock, the Egyptians worshipping the sheep and the Chaldeans worshipping the demons whom they imagined as assuming the form of goats. To this day men of India never slaughter the herd. It was for this reason that He commanded [Israel] to slaughter these three species [of cattle: the herd, the flock, and the goats], to the Revered Name, so that it be known that the very act which the idol-worshippers considered to be the utmost sin [i.e., slaughtering the above species], that same act should be done as an offering before the Creator, and through it Israel’s sins would be forgiven. For such is the way to cure people of false beliefs, which are the diseasees of the human soul, for all diseases and sicknesses are healed by medicines which are antithetical to them. These are the words [the Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon], and he expounded them at great length.

But these words are mere expressions, healing casually a severe wound and a great difficulty, and making the table of the Eternal polluted, [as if the offerings were intended only] to remove false beliefs from the hearts of the wicked and fools of the world, when Scripture says that they are the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasing odor. Moreover, [if the offerings were meant to eliminate] the foolish [ideas] of the Egyptians, their disease would not thereby be cured. On the contrary, it would increase the cause of sorrow, for since the intention of the above-mentioned wicked ones was to worship the constellations of the sheep and the ox, which according to their opinion possess certain powers [over human affairs], and which is why they abstain from eating them in deference to their power and strength, then if these species are slaughtered to the Revered Name, it is a mark of respect and honor to [these constellations]. These worshippers themselves were in the habit of so doing, as He has said, And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the satyrs, and those who made the [golden] calf sacrificed to it. Now the Rabbi [Moshe ben Maimon] mentions that the idol-worshippers used to sacrifice to the moon on the days of new-moon, and to the sun when it rose in a particular constellation known to them from their books. The disease of idolatry would surely have been far better cured if we were to eat [these animal-deities] to our full, which would be considered by them forbidden and repugnant, and something they would never do!

Furthermore, when Noah came out of the ark with his three sons, there were as yet no Chaldeans or Egyptians in the world, yet he brought an offering, which was pleasing to G-d, as concerning it Scripture says, And the Eternal smelled the pleasing odor, and on account of it He said in His heart, ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.’Abel likewise brought of the first-born of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Eternal had regard unto Abel and to his offering. Yet there was as yet not the slightest trace at all of idol-worship in the world!

...

By way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], there is a hidden secret contained in the offerings. You may be introduced to it by that which our Rabbis have said in the Sifre and at the end of Tractate Menachoth: “Shimon ben Azai said: Come and see what is written in the section of the offerings! It does not say with reference to them E-il (G-d), nor Elokecha (thy G-d), nor Elokim (G-d), nor Sha-dai (Almighty), nor Tze-baoth (G-d of ‘Hosts’), but only, Yod Hei — the Proper name of G-d [the Tetragrammaton — ‘Eternal’] — in order not to give an opponent [i.e., a believer in plurality] an occasion for a point of attack. Perhaps you might say that He is in need of food, Scripture therefore says, If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof. I have only commanded you to bring the offerings in order that My Will should be said and fulfilled.”

...

Thus is the subject [of the offerings] explained and clarified. May the good Lord pardon!

(1) When a person/נפש/nefesh presents an offering of grain/מנחה/minchah to GOD: The offering shall be of choice flour; [the offerer] shall pour oil upon it, lay frankincense on it,

(1) ונפש כי תקריב AND WHEN A PERSON (or “A SOUL”) WILL OFFER — Nowhere is the word נפש employed in connection with free-will offerings except in connection with the meal-offering. For who is it that usually brings a meal-offering? The poor man! The Holy One, blessed be He, says, as it were, I will regard it for him as though he brought his very soul (נפש) as an offering (Menachot 104b).

(13) You shall season your every offering of grain with salt; you shall not omit from your grain offering the salt of your covenant with God; with all your offerings you must offer salt.

(5) He should not break (the bread) until they bring before him salt or a condiment

Rema: Nevertheless, it is a mitzvah to bring salt to every table before breaking the bread, because the table is likened to the altar and the eating to a sacrifice, and it is said, "On all your offerings you shall offer salt" (Beit Yosef in the name of Shibbolei HaLeket).

(1) If your offering is a sacrifice of well-being/שלמים/shelamim/peace offering— If you offer of the herd, whether a male or a female, you shall bring before GOD one without blemish.

(1) שלמים PEACE-OFFERINGS — They are so called because they bring peace (שלום) into the world. Another explanation is: they are called שלמים because through them there is “peace” (harmony and lack of envy) to the altar, to the priests and to the owners (since all these receive a portion) (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:22 and our Note thereon; see also Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 16 2).

(17) It is a law for all time throughout the ages, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.

The Guilt Offering / אשם / Asham

(1) If a person incurs guilt—
When someone has heard a public imprecation but (although able to testify as having seen or learned of the matter) has not given information and thus is subject to punishment;(2)Or when a person touches any impure thing (be it the carcass of an impure beast or the carcass of impure cattle or the carcass of an impure creeping thing) but does not attend to it, and then, being impure, they realize their guilt;(3)Or when someone touches human impurity (any such impurity whereby one becomes impure) and, though knowing about it, does not attend to it, but later they realize their guilt;(4)Or when a person utters an oath to bad or good purpose (whatever a human being may utter in an oath) and, though knowing about it, does not attend to it, but later they realize their guilt in any of these matters—(5) upon realizing their guilt in any of these matters, that person shall confess having sinned in that way. (6) And they shall bring as a penalty to GOD, for the sin of which they are guilty, a female from the flock—sheep or goat—as a purgation offering; and the priest shall make expiation for the sin, on their behalf.