67% of this article was written by Shadal. Yet, I wanted to highlight Shadal's radical theory, compare and contrast it with Rambam's view, and use it to answer a common question about tefilah.
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Vayikra: Shadal's View of Korbanos
What better way to begin Sefer Vayikra than with a new perspective on korbanos? Shadal summarizes his (what some might be consider to be a radical) view in his commentary on Vayikra 1:2, as translated by Daniel A. Klein:
Here I thought it appropriate to express my view in brief on the subject of sacrifices. Sacrifices did not originate from a Divine command, but rather from human will, for people voluntarily chose to give thanks to God for His kindnesses to them, or to bring a gift before Him to assuage His wrath, or to appease Him so that He might grant their requests. This was because it was unlikely for human beings to conduct themselves toward their God in any way other than that in which they would conduct themselves toward a flesh-and-blood king … The divine Torah, whose goal was not to teach the nation knowledge and wisdom, but rather to guide it on the paths of righteousness, did not abolish the custom of sacrifices, not that this would have been beyond its power, but because this custom is not evil in and of itself and does no harm to people or to the betterment of their ways; rather, it is beneficial to them.
If we pause here, Shadal’s approach is reminiscent of the Rambam’s (see Moreh 3:32). The Rambam similarly holds that korbanos originated in human will and are not endorsed by Hashem as a primary objective of the Torah. Hashem “tolerated” korbanos and incorporated them into Torah because the abolishment of these ubiquitous modes of worship “would have been contrary to the nature of man, who clings to what he is accustomed.”
But if we continue reading, we see that Shadal’s emphasis is entirely different than that of the Rambam:
If the Torah had announced to the people that God has no desire for burnt offerings or sacrifices, the next day they would have said, “What desire does God have that we be righteous, and what would it profit us to perfect our ways?” And because one of the basic principles of the Torah is the belief that God watches over the activities of humankind and that He loves doers of good and hates the wicked, it was necessary that God would not be described in the full exaltedness of His true position, but that His majesty would be slightly lowered, as it were …
If instead of sacrifices, God had commanded prayer, hymns, Torah reading, and preaching words of moral instruction, the greatness and fear of God would not have been impressed upon the hearts of the masses, for it would have seemed to them that the gods of the nations, whose worshippers presented them with various sacrifices, were greater and more glorious than our God, Whose worship consisted merely of intangible things. This is characteristic of the masses in all generations, and not just the common people, but most of humankind: who is honored among them? One who honors himself and increases his own rank. In contrast, one who is forbearing and does not seek greatness for himself is not important in their eyes. Thus, the true God, even though He has no need for the honor of humankind, was compelled for the sake of our benefit to convey His fear into our hearts so that we would not sin. And because in those days His fear could not have been conveyed into the hearts of the people by any means other than sacrifices, He commanded these.
The result of the sacrificial system that was maintained by the public in the Sanctuary was this: it was impressed on the hearts of the masses that a great God and King dwelled in their midst, that they were dear to Him, that He commanded them to perform services that would be favored by Him, and that by performing these services at His command, they would come into His favor every day and constantly draw His love upon themselves.
Whereas Rambam holds that Hashem retained korbanos because their abolition would have been too shocking to the masses, Shadal maintains that korbanos are necessary for Kevod Malchuso (the glory of God’s Kingship) which, in turn, was necessary for the Torah’s true goal of promoting righteousness through obeying God’s will.
This answers a common question about tefilah. If we can’t affect God in any way, then why does He require us to offer Him praise, request, and thanks? The essential answer is that these activities are for our own perfection. Based on Shadal, we can add that if we didn’t daven to Hashem as the other religions pray to their deities, this would diminish Hashem’s Kavod in our own eyes, which would detrimentally affect our relationship to His will.
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It looks to me like you're reading too much into it, there doesn't seem to be much of a substantive diff btwn them . .
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