ויקרא אל משה, always out of the cloud; similar to what was described already at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24,16) “He called to Moses on the seventh day out of the cloud.” Moses could never enter the Tabernacle without first having obtained permission to do so.

מאהל מועד, to warn Moses not to enter the Tent while G’d’s glory was still there. Our verse speaks of what occurred on the day when Moses had completed erecting the Tabernacle, for it was then that G’d’s glory descended to sanctify the site as well as the ones performing their sacred duties in and around it. All of this is the execution of G’d’s promise in Exodus 29, 43-44 ונועדתי שמה לבני ישראל ונקדש בכבודי, וקדשתי את אהל מועד ואת המזבח את אהרן ואת בניו, “and there I will meet with the Israelites and it shall be sanctified by My Presence. I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting, the Altar, Aaron and his sons.” The same procedure occurred when the Temple which Solomon had built, at the time it was being consecrated. We read in Kings I 8,11 “the priests could not enter and stand there preparatory to performing their sacred service for the glory of the Lord filled the entire House.” Filling the House with His glory was the manner in which the structure became sanctified, as was spelled out in the Book of Kings I 9,3. However, after this first day Moses could always enter the sanctuary outside of the Holy of Holies, i.e. up until the dividing curtain, פרכת. Numbers 7,89 elaborates on this describing that “when Moses entered the Tent of Meeting in order to speak with Him, he would hear the sound of G’d’s voice speaking to him from above the lid of the Holy Ark.”

אדם כי יקריב מכם, when he brings himself close to G’d by means of a confession of his sins and by humbling himself. The concept parallels the verse in Hoseah 14,3 ונשלמה פרים שפתינו, “we will pay with bulls after having done so first with our lips.” Psalms 51,19 warns זבחי אלוקים רוח נשברה, “an offering of sacrificial meat is such only if accompanied by a crushed spirit.” The psalmist means that G’d is not interested in the fools who offer sacrificial animals if they have not first humbled themselves. Our sages paraphrase this when pointing out that the Torah does not write here כולכם, your entire selves, but מכם, something emanating from you, i.e. “by excreting the spiritually unworthy parts of you.” (compare Rashi)

מן הבהמה, if he chooses to offer a 4-legged mammal, it must only be from either the category of cattle or sheep and goats. Wild roaming, undomesticated beasts, are not permitted to be offered as sacrifices on the altar. This needed to be spelled out as we were taught in Deuteronomy 14,4-5 that the wild roaming beasts with the distinguishing features that make them “pure” animals are permitted for consumption by Israelites provided they have been slaughtered in the appropriate manner. The animals discussed in these portions as candidates for sacrifices are only the ones mentioned in our verse here, i.e. בקר or צאן. The Torah indicates that such voluntary offerings as are under discussion at this time may even be offered by gentiles and accepted on the altar of the Temple or Tabernacle. When Leviticus 22,25 proscribes offerings tendered by the בני נכר what are meant are not gentiles but Jews who have become estranged to their G’d, have renounced their religion and become meshumadim. These are far worse that gentiles born as such, and that is why G’d rejects their voluntary offerings on His altar. Included are Jews who publicly desecrate the Sabbath. [Eyruvin 69 states that desecrating the Sabbath publicly is equivalent to violating all of G’d’s commandments. Ed.] There are three categories of offerings which may sometimes be voluntary and other times mandatory. These comprise the burnt-offering, עולה, the peace-offering, שלמים, and the gift-offering (non-animal) מנחה. When they are offered by the poor i.e. bird offerings, only pigeons and turtle doves qualify among all the birds. Complementary offerings known as סולת-שמן-לבונה are also part of voluntary offerings on occasion. The sin offerings חטאת and אשם are invariably mandatory offerings. This helps to explain the offerings of Hevel and Kayin and why the offering of Kayin was not accepted by G’d. (Genesis 4,5) It consisted of material which G’d had not designated as fit to be offered as a gift to Him. The Torah did not simply state that G’d did not turn to Kayin, but that “He did not turn to Kayin and His gift.” In other words, the reason He did not accept Kayin’s offering was that it consisted of matter rejected by G’d as unfit to be an offering to Him. On the other hand, when Noach offered a sacrifice G’d responded not only by accepting it, without further ado, but He reacted to it as if it were the most pleasant smelling fragrance, ריח ניחוח, although burnt flesh and fat most certainly does not exude a pleasant fragrance. What the Torah meant to say there (Genesis 8,21) was that G’d accepted the parts of the offering which were fit to please Him as if it were sweet smelling fragrance. (as a result of that offering not only did G’d promise never to bring another deluge, but He permitted man to kill animals for food, something that had been forbidden since Adam’s sin or earlier). Interestingly, the Torah does not say that G’d accepted all of Noach’s offerings, presumably seeing that some pure animals that were of the free roaming category are not acceptable although these animals are fit to be eaten by Jews, and all the more so by gentiles such as Noach. (the author speaks about this in Genesis 8,21 claiming that prior to the giving of the Torah all of the species of “pure” animals were fit as sacrifices.) In connection with the sin offerings it is mandatory for the person trying to obtain forgiveness by means of such mandatory offerings to place his hands on the animal with all his weight, as if attacking it, and praying that it be accepted as a substitute of his own person. Each individual’s sin offering possesses an element of what we are familiar with from the legislation concerning the communal “scapegoat” upon which the High Priest placed his hands, symbolically transferring the many sins of the Jewish people to that animal. (Leviticus 16,21) By means of this symbolic act, the humility with which the owner of the sin offering is to approach G’d prior to gaining a chance of acceptance and forgiveness, has been demonstrated. As a result, ונרצה לו לכפר עליו, “G’d will be in a mood to forgive such a person.” Seeing that there are so many different kinds of sin, some of which are merely sinful thoughts, not involving sinful deeds, it is appropriate to ask G’d’s forgiveness also for such sinful thoughts. This is best accomplished as a by product of the voluntary burnt offering called עולה by the Torah, an offering of which the priests only receive the skin and hair of the animal. The burning of the fat parts of the animal or the parallel fistful of flour and oil of the gift offering מנחה, which is burnt on the altar, are the instruments that bring about this atonement for sinful thoughts. Obtaining forgiveness for sinful deeds (all of them committed inadvertently, of course) other parts of the bodies of the offerings presented as חטאת or אשם, “sin offering or guilt offering,” are required. Peace offerings, שלמים, on the other hand, are viewed (based on Tzefaniah 3,9) as if the owner joins, becomes a partner with the angels, he and they serving their Lord jointly.