Two Famous Rabbis Who Rejected Animal Sacrifice
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When I am speaking to non-Jewish groups about Judaism, I frequently hear the question, "What happened to the sacrifices?" Since 70 C.E., when the Roman armies destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, no animal sacrifices have been performed by the Jewish community. That is, until recently.

For the last three years, a group called the Temple Mount Faithful has offered a lamb for sacrifice at Passover just outside of the Temple Mount area in Jerusalem. They and another group called the Temple Institute have prepared much of what is needed for the sacrifices of Israel to be resumed at any time. This renewed zeal for an issue which is so great a part of the Torah renders all the more necessary a clear view of the meaning of sacrifice and the reasons for Judaism's rejection of sacrifice.

A formidable legal authority at the time of the temple's destruction, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, led Judaism away from animal sacrifices. The Talmud tells how Rabbi Yochanan's disciples smuggled him out of the city in a coffin. The Jewish leaders had forbidden any to leave the city, lest they should surrender to the Romans. Yochanan had himself smuggled out so that he could appear before the Roman general Titus (the Talmud erroneously says the general was Vespasian). He requested permission to have a school of Jewish sages at Yavneh, a town near modern Tel Aviv. Titus allowed him to do this and the school at Yavneh became a preserving force for a certain viewpoint in Jewish life and thought.

An ancient rabbinical document called Aboth d'Rabbi Nathan continues the story of Yochanan, relating a discussion that he had with one of his disciples:

On one occasion, when they were leaving Jerusalem, the latter gazed upon the destroyed Temple and cried out, "Woe to us! The place where Israel obtained atonement for sins is in ruins!"" R. Jochanan said to him, "My son, be not distressed. We still have an atonement equally efficacious, and that is the practice of benevolence, as God says, 'For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"

Thus, according to Rabbi Yochanan, the teachings of Moses regarding sacrifice were unnecessary as long as the people practiced deeds of kindness.

Rabbi Yochanan never explains why God gave the laws of sacrifice if, in fact, they are unnecessary. That task was left to a later rabbi, Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides or Rambam in the late 1100's:

But the custom, which was in those days general among all men, and the general mode of worship in which the Israelites were brought up, consisted in sacrificing animals in the temples which contained certain images, to bow down to those, and to burn incense before them. It was in accordance with the wisdom and plan of God, as displayed in the whole Creation, that he did not command us to give up and to discontinue all these manners of service; for to obey such a commandment would have been contrary to the nature of man, who generally cleaves to that to which he is used. (Guide For the Perplexed, III, 32)

Thus, Maimonides teaches that the laws of sacrifice were a matter of God accommodating the superstitious religious rituals that the Israelites were used to in their world. He says later in the same passage that God limited sacrifices to one place (the Tabernacle/ Temple) and to one group of Israelites (the Levites) because he did not them to be widespread and become a focus of Israelite worship. For, Maimonides says, God never really liked sacrifices. He only allowed them to help the people worship with their limited understanding.

Maimonides proves his point by referring to many passages in the prophets in which sacrifices are said to be despised or subordinate to obedience. Rabbi Yochanan's favorite verse along these lines was Hosea 6:6, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Similar references can be found in Isaiah 1:11-15, Amos 5:22-24, and Micah 6:6-8. Maimonides reasoned that, if the prophets despised sacrifice, then the people should have come to understand that sacrifices were something that needed to be outgrown.

A Biblical Response to the Two Rabbis

Were the sacrifices of Israel merely an accommodation to human weakness? Can a practice that so thoroughly saturated all of the laws of Israel be written off? Were the prophets really opposed to sacrifices?

This is a large issue and could easily be the subject of a lengthy book. Rather than providing here an exhaustive answer, which considers every angle and every relevant passage of scripture, this response will attempt to be brief and conclusive.

In the first place, to discover the reason for God's commandments regarding animal sacrifice, it is vital to see what God himself had to say about the issue:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. (Lev. 17:11, NRSV)

The blood of an animal, as the symbol of its life, makes atonement (kippur, which means either "cleansing" or "covering"). If Maimonides is correct and God merely gave the sacrificial system because the Israelites wouldn't have understood worship without it, then why would God attach an idea of this great importance to sacrifice, that it is for atonement?

Maimonides would argue that God chose to reveal a different purpose for sacrifice in Israel than the pagan reasons. Most often, the pagan view was that the sacrifices were food for the gods. The God of Israel was not going to let the Israelites think foolishly that he needed food. But why, if sacrifice is unnecessary and repugnant to God, would he assign a meaning of such great importance to the sacrifices? Having made such a strong statement about the purpose of sacrifice, did God expect Israel to figure out, on their own, that good deeds and prayer would really be just as good for making atonement?

What about Rabbi Yochanan's argument from Hosea 6:6? If, as Hosea says, God desires mercy and not sacrifice, why should anyone sacrifice?

In the first place, the prophets came to Israel to exhort them to follow the Torah, not to break it. Hosea would never have contradicted the Torah and removed the commandment to sacrifice. In the second place, the word often translated "mercy" is chesed, a much-misunderstood Hebrew word. The term really means devotion or loyalty, and is especially used of Israel's devotion to God's covenant and of God's commitment to keep his covenant with Israel. Such a commitment includes a commitment to keeping the laws of sacrifice. Thus, Hosea is saying, "I desire devotion to all my covenant and not merely sacrifices". He is addressing the common fallacy of ritualism, the false idea that a person can offer external acts of worship to God and ignore his commandments and precepts. God desires devotion primarily. Sacrifice cannot replace devotion, but restores relationship when our devotion has broken down.

Samuel, the great prophet who took Israel from the time of the judges and into the time of the kings, is an example of a prophet who exemplified the godly attitude toward animal sacrifices. Having caught King Saul in the act of disobeying a commandment and offering sacrifice, Samuel said, "To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of ram's" (1 Sam. 15:22). Was Samuel then saying that sacrifices are unnecessary as long as we obey? This is apparently not what he believed at all, for on at least one occasion Samuel used a sacrificial offering to bring atonement for a repentant assembly of Israelites:

Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the LORD, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." (1 Sam. 7:3, NRSV)

According to Yochanan's theory and Maimonides', the Israelites would only have to repent to have their sin forgiven. But Samuel does more:

Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you." So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD. They fasted that day, and said, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it they were afraid of the Philistines. The people of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, and pray that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines." So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD; Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. (1 Sam 7:5-9)

So after the people had repented, been prayed for, and had determined to perform righteous deeds in obeying the Lord, even after all of that, Samuel still offered a burnt offering for them.

Will prayer, repentance, and good deeds pay for your sin? Samuel the prophet didn't think so. Just as he offered a lamb to make atonement for the people, so Yeshua (Jesus) offered himself:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7, NRSV)

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NRSV)

So where is your sacrifice, your blood atonement? What are you depending upon to bring you into God's favor?

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