Vayikra (parashah)-Cedar Herald Index

Parashat Vayikra, VaYikra, Va-yikra, Wayyiqra, or Wayyiqro (—Hebrew for "and He called," the first word in the parashah) is the 24th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah lays out the laws of sacrifices (, korbanot). 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 (although not the most verses). It is made up of 6,222 Hebrew letters, 1,673 Hebrew words, 111 verses, and 215 lines in a Torah scroll (, Sefer Torah). (Parashat Emor has the most verses of any Torah portion in Leviticus.) Jews read it the 23rd or 24th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in March or early April.

Vayikra (parashah)

Readings

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot.

Vayikra (parashah)

First reading—Leviticus 1:1–13

In the first reading, God called to Moses from the Tabernacle and told him the laws of the sacrifices. Burnt offerings (, olah) could be bulls, rams or male goats, or turtle doves or pigeons, which the priest burned completely on wood on the altar.

Vayikra (parashah)

Second reading—Leviticus 1:14–2:6

In the second reading, burnt offerings could also be turtle doves or pigeons, which the priest also burned completely on wood on the altar.

Meal offerings (, minchah) were of choice flour with oil, from which priest would remove a token portion to burn on the altar, and the remainder the priests could eat.

Third reading—Leviticus 2:7–16

In the third reading, meal offering could also be cooked in a pan. Meal offerings could not contain leaven or honey, and had to be seasoned with salt. Meal offerings of first fruits had to be new ears parched with fire, grits of the fresh grain.

Fourth reading—Leviticus 3:1–17

In the fourth reading, sacrifices of well-being (, shelamim) could be male or female cattle, sheep, or goats, from which the priest would dash the blood on the sides of the altar and burn the fat around the entrails, the kidneys, and the protuberance on the liver on the altar.

Fifth reading—Leviticus 4:1–26

In the fifth reading, sin offerings (, chatat) for unwitting sin by the High Priest or the community required sacrificing a bull, sprinkling its blood in the Tent of Meeting, burning on the altar the fat around the entrails, the kidneys, and the protuberance on the liver, and burning the rest of the bull on an ash heap outside the camp. Guilt offerings for unwitting sin by a chieftain required sacrificing a male goat, putting some of its blood on the horns of the altar, and burning its fat.

Sixth reading—Leviticus 4:27–5:10

In the sixth reading, guilt offerings for unwitting sin by a lay person required sacrificing a female goat, putting some of its blood on the horns of the altar, and burning its fat. Sin offerings were required for cases when a person: was able to testify but did not give information, touched any unclean thing, touched human uncleanness, or uttered an oath and forgot. In such cases, the person had to confess and sacrifice a female sheep or goat; or if the person could not afford a sheep, two turtledoves or two pigeons.

Seventh reading—Leviticus 5:11–26

In the seventh reading, if a person could not afford two turtledoves or pigeons, then the person was to bring flour for a sin offering to the priest, and the priest would take a handful of it and make it smoke on the altar, and thereby make atonement.

Guilt offerings (, asham) were required when a person was unwittingly remiss about any sacred thing. In such cases, the person had to sacrifice a ram and make restitution plus 20 percent to the priest. Similarly, guilt offerings were required when a person dealt deceitfully in the matter of a deposit or a pledge, through robbery, by fraud, or by finding something lost and lying about it. In such cases, the person had to sacrifice a ram and make restitution plus 20 percent to the victim.