Leviticus ויקרא
The third book of the Torah: laws of offerings, purity, holiness and the festivals.
Vayikra is the priests' book, and children traditionally began their studies with it—"let the pure come and study purity". Its opening chapters set out the offerings: elevation, meal, peace, sin and guilt offerings, distinctions that turn out to be distinctions between kinds of human failure.
Then the consecration of the Mishkan and the death of Aharon's sons; the laws of kashrut; purity and impurity, including tzaraat, which the sages link to slander; the order of the Yom Kippur service. At the centre stand the chapters of Kedoshim—"you shall be holy"—where beside the ban on vengeance stands "love your neighbour as yourself", which Rabbi Akiva called the great principle of the Torah.
The festivals follow, then shmita and yovel, and the book ends with the tochecha, read in an undertone.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Vayikra Rabbah 7:3 — why children begin their studies with the book of Vayikra
- Arachin 15b — the laws of speech derived from the chapter on the metzora
- Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim 9:4 — “love your neighbour” — the great principle of the Torah
Rishonim
- Rashi on Vayikra 1:1 — vayikra — a term of affection
Basis: tradition.