{"id":44303,"date":"2018-11-19T22:15:23","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T20:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=44303"},"modified":"2022-06-13T15:23:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T12:23:34","slug":"a-life-giving-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-life-giving-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life-Giving Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not for the squeamish, Leviticus 3 lays bear more details about animals parts than I care to notice. <\/span>The fat that covers the entrails. The protuberance on the liver. The two kidneys<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> All of these are burned on the altar by the priest, in the giving of the \u201csh’lamim<\/em>\u201d offering. Bloody and up-close, the verses bring into sharp focus a presumed intimacy with slaughtered animals that is worlds apart from my anesthetized food shopping culture. And there is little of me that mourns this loss; I celebrate my choice to eat largely grains, beans and vegetables and to remove from sight the red, fleshy insides of animals.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, one small detail in the description of the sacrifice grabs my attention and holds it steady. When a person offers the sacrifice before the LORD, <\/span>he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> At the moments before the slaughter, the animal is still whole. Laying one\u2019s hands on the animal\u2019s head, the worshiper would feel the animal\u2019s breath, its warmth, it\u2019s aliveness. Establishing this extremely close contact could instill a sense of likeness between the person and the animal. It could be me under the knife; the animal is taking my place. I have been exonerated of my guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the case of the \u201csh’lamim<\/em>,\u201d the sacrifice of well-being, there is no guilt to exonerate. In its stead, bringing oneself that close to the life force of an animal might have cultivated a healthy, necessary confrontation with one\u2019s <\/span>own<\/span><\/em> life force and mortality. A life-giving encounter, with the potential to fuel a complex sense of joy and vitality; a flash reminder to reinhabit fully one\u2019s own self, with the time allotted on earth. Worship, in this sense, could remove the anesthesia of routine living and reconnect the seeker with a more elevated awareness of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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