Vayikra, the opening portion of the Book of Leviticus, discusses the first details of the sacrificial system that the priests will operate on behalf of the Jewish people. The text describes the particular sacrifices that will be offered, what is being offered, how the priests will carry out the ritual, and the reason that one makes an offering. While the system certainly seems obsolete and foreign to us today, the primary purpose of sacrifice in the ancient world was to address an issue and c...