VaYikra (Lev. 1:1-5:26) - Calling for the Animals

Lev. 1:2: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man from [among] you brings a sacrifice to the Lord". Why does the verse add in the words "from among you"? These words seem superflous. But rather the Torah is hinting to us that the offering has to be brought from among ourselves, meaning from our very own being.

The first offering mentioned in the Torah is that of Cain. Gen. 4:3-5: "...Cain brought an offering to G-d of the fruit of the ground; and as for Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and from their choicest. G-d turned to Abel and to his offering, but to Cain and to his offering he did not turn..."

So we see that the first criteria for an offering is that it must be the choicest. If we want G-d to turn to our offering it must reflect our greatest accomplishments in life, being willing to give those up or use them for G-d's purposes. And Moses is the shining example for the Jewish people in this regard.

Num. 12:3: "Now the man Moses was exceedingly humble, more than any person on the face of the earth!" How could Moses with all his accomplishments as a leader, as a man of faith, and a revolutionary remain humble? Because he maintained that if anyone else was granted access to the abilities and soul powers that he, Moses, possessed, they could perform better than he had at his tasks. How did Moses offer himself up to G-d? By looking at his accomplishments from G-d's perspective, realizing that all his powers were granted from on high and his achievements were all the result of these gifts and talents that he himself did not create.

Moses knew that he had great accomplishments. He knew the nature of the offering, but at any moment he was able to attribute these accomplishments back to their source - to bring what could be the source of pride and superiority back to his Creator to Whom he attributed all his successes.