Vayikra, means: And He called. The book begins with the letter vav, a conjunction that gives us the idea of continuity with the story of the Exodus. To comprehend this book it is important to understand the problem that it is trying to resolve. The Hebrew word for offering is korbán, whose root is the Hebrew word karav, which means to approach. That is to say that a person brings a korbán with the purpose of approaching Yehováh.

Just imagining the scene where all the sacrifices we are about to study were carried out, produces an unconscious rejection in us; thinking about the priests cutting the animal’s jugular vein to collect its blood and then opening it up to remove its organs, and carrying out all the other procedures, makes us want to go to the New Testament where we see that Yeshua has put an end to the system of sacrifices.

However, it is very important to discover that the purpose of Yehováh was not simply to order sacrifices in order to perceive the smell of burnt flesh, but that by such means He was showing the people of Israel the need for a Messiah who would make atonement for all of us. Then we begin to understand that the “fragrant aroma” was in a sense a shadow of the significance that the work of Yeshua would have for the Father, because in him he was reconciling his people and redeeming what had been lost.