DAVAR ACHER 
The Key to Jewish Survival Revealed
Rabbi Daniel Cohen
The Key to Jewish Survival Revealed
Rabbi Daniel Cohen
In rabbinical school, Dr. Martin Cohen gave us a difficult, but illuminating, task. Each member of the class picked a biblical holiday and identified each and every reference to it in that sacred text. He then had us turn to the rabbinic tradition and go through the same process. Not surprisingly, in most cases the "biblical version" of a holiday and the "rabbinic version" were vastly different. At times, they seemed to describe two entirely different holidays.
That brings us to this week's portion.
With its detailed description of the various biblical sacrifices, the portion and book of Vayikra often seems unfamiliar, foreign, and at times disturbing. It describes a religious approach that is almost entirely different from what we modern Jews call Judaism.
Many of us grew up believing that Rabbinic Judaism was a direct outgrowth of the religion of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, but that isn't true. Rabbinic Judaism did not flow from biblical Judaism but was built on top of it.
Consider archeology, and how there are two ways a new city might be built on the same ground. The first is to remodel but keep the same basic structure. The second is to build an entirely new city on top of the first's remains. The new city might be built on the foundation of the previous one, but that might be where their similarities end. Modern Judaism is akin to a new city built atop the old.
What has kept Judaism alive since 70 CE has been our people's commitment, tenacity, and flexibility, their willingness to build something new on top of what had been created; they’ve respected the past but have been willing to cut almost all ties with it as well.
Vayikra introduces an important part of our people's history. There is much to study and learn within this portion and book, but perhaps the greatest lesson it teaches us is not contained within the text itself. It is found in the very fact that the portion seems so ancient and foreign to us.
The key to Jewish survival is revealed through Vayikra, and it is—flexibility—the ability to remember the past and learn from it but to never be fearful of trying something radically new. It’s the need to build on the foundation of what has been but never feel constrained by it because, after all, that's how we got here in the first place.
Rabbi Daniel Cohen serves Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, New Jersey.
