Parashat Vayikra: A Call to Action

Vayikra — “And He called.”

It’s not just the beginning of a new book of the Torah — it’s also a personal invitation. Not a command, not a demand, but a calling. The Torah doesn’t open this new book with a firm instruction or an inflexible law, but with a gentle summons.

We may choose to answer or not, it’s up to us, within the bounds of the free will granted to us by the Lord. It is an intimate call, one that speaks directly to the heart.

The offerings described in this parashah, and much of the book of Vayikra, are not valued by their size or grandeur, but by the intention behind them. “Adam ki yakriv mikem” — “when one of you brings an offering,” the text says.

A clear example is that when an offering was brought for a specific purpose, it could not be repurposed for something else. Kavanah, the intention with which originaly the offering was prepared for, was of the utmost importance. It wasn’t about giving something external, but about offering a piece of oneself. It meant bringing forth the most genuine part of who we are: the capacity to feel, to empathize, to commit, to pour in our soul, our desire to repair, to give thanks, to draw closer to another human being. In fact, the Hebrew word for “offering,” korban, shares its root with the word “to draw near.”

What does it mean to offer something in today’s world?

It’s not about burning animals on an altar. It’s about laying our heart on the table. It’s about showing up. Refusing to give up. Using our voice, our sensitivity, our power to act, no matter how small it may seem, to demand justice, to ease someone else’s pain.

To offer is to refuse to see the world as a lost cause.

It’s to offer our presence, our words, our deeds so that something may change. Even just a little. Even if it doesn’t seem like enough.

This is the well-known commitment to Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Intention, followed by action. Just as it was in the great Temple of Jerusalem, the Beit HaMikdash: the offering was brought with intention, but had to be carried out through action.

This Shabbat, just one week before Pesach, the holiday that reminds us that we were once slaves, and therefore we cannot look away when others are enslaved. We are confronted with an open wound: the hostages still held by Hamas.

But it’s not only about them. It’s about all those who live under oppression, captivity, or humiliation, sometimes without even knowing they are slaves to systems, to ideologies, to indifference. Those trapped in fear, violence, or dehumanization, those suffering modern-day slavery without visible chains, but no less real.

Migrants in this country and others, who face discrimination from both governments and citizens, living in conditions none of us would accept for ourselves.

Today, this message echoes with devastating urgency.

If only leaders and governments, those who hold the responsibility of safeguarding the most vulnerable, could hear it as clearly. If only they would protect life, choose what is right, even when it comes at a high cost.

The Torah holds those in power to a higher standard:It demands they not hide behind empty rituals. That they not offer for the sake of protocol. That they lead with the deep conviction that every life matters — beyond the personal whims of each ruler.

Vayikra calls to us.May we answer with humanity. With courage. With a clear cry:For an end to all slavery.For a world where people draw near to one another with sincerity, empathy, and a willingness to be transformed.For the immediate release of the hostages.For the safe return of all our soldiers.

Does it sound far-fetched?If someone in the 21st century can imagine annexing Greenland or Canada, why can’t we dream of something just as far-fetched, yet infinitely more noble?

May this Shabbat bring us closer.May it awaken us.May it find us more human, more free — and ready to celebrate a meaningful Pesach for all.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Gustavo Geier