Sacrifice. This word brings up all sorts of connotations. What are we going to give up? What did we shortchange ourselves to provide another.  But, that’s not really the meaning.

This was the week that (in my religion) we begin reading the third book of the bible- Vayikra (‘And, He called). The “And” is to let us know, that while we may think we are discussing a whole different concept, it’s directly related to what just preceded it.

(As an aside, I’m not sure many of you know that the original text did not have spaces between the words. And, if the last letter of one word was the same as the next, it wasn’t repeated. That’s why if you look at the Hebrew version of this reading, you will note that the last letter of the first word is smaller than the rest of the text- because it was one of those characters that is repeated- and would not be found in both words. But, now, back to the topic at hand.)

In pre-rabbinic Judaism, sacrifice was the giving of the first fruits or the first of the herd to the Supreme Being. (Of course, that really meant, one provided food to the priestly class.)  It was a way to thank the Supreme Being for that which was right with our lives.  Nowadays, many folks take umbrage with that concept, since animals were slaughtered for this effort. Neglecting the fact that grains were also a choice offering for these thanksgiving offerings to the Supreme Being.

But, the real reason why animals were sacrificed is that the rest of the world at that time provided sacrifices to their idols- or to the sun and moon. Getting folks to make radical change is tough. So, sacrifices were made to the Supreme Being- changing one item, but leaving the rest of the practice intact.

It’s also why y’all consider Spring Cleaning this time of year. Because the early Christians (who were converted Jews) and the Jews all cleaned their homes for Passover. Where the commandment was not a drop of chametz (non-kosher for Passover items) was permitted to be in one’s possession.

Given these slight changes to one’s routine, it should be obvious that when you want to change something in your life, it’s best to change just one item now. Get that change well under control, and then you can consider changing another. Keep repeating the process unitl you find you’ve now got a radically new routine. This change just doesn’t happen all at once, which makes the bite-sized changes easier to handle.

Amazing what lessons can be found in the bible, huh?

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