A suggestion for the structure of the book of Vayikra

מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני?

The book of Vayikra can be divided into three units, and the phrase behar Sinai, Mount Sinai, is a literary marker to these units. The phrase behar Sinai appears four times in the book of Vayikra, 7:38, 25:1, 26:46 and 27:34. By the second appearance of the phrase, Rashi (on 25:1) recorded one of his most famous questions, “What is the connection between shemitta (the laws in the beginning of chapter 25) and Mount Sinai?” My answer is that it is a literary way to mark the beginning of a new unit in the book of Vayikra.

The first unit in the book of Vayikra is from 1:1 to 7:38, and 7:38 records the phrase behar Sinai, which marks the end of the unit. The book of Shemot ended with the construction of the mishkan, and the first unit in Vayikra (chapters 1-7) records the laws of the sacrifices which were offered in the mishkan.

The second unit is from 8:1-24:23. This unit has a unique structure consisting of three cycles and within each cycle there are five themes. The five themes are separation, a connection of the people to the mishkan, a reference to G-d’s presence relating to the mishkan, a sin, and laws that are consequences of the sin and or are to amend for the sin. I will present the structure in a table and then I will explain the table.

Structure of the second unit of the book of Vayikra	Cycle 1: 8:1-10:20: Chapters 8-10	Cycle II: 11:1-17:16:  Chapters 11-17	Cycle III: 18:1-24:23:  Chapters 18-24
Separation = kedusha	8:1-36	11:1-47	18:1-21:24
Connection between the people and the mishkan	9:1-23a	12:1-15:33	22:1-23:38
G-d’s presence	9:23b,24	16:1-34	23:39-24:9
A sin	10:1-3	17:1-7	24:10-12
Laws that are consequences of the sin and or are to amend for the sin	10:4-10:20	17:8-16	24:13-23

The first cycle within the second unit is from 8:1-10:20. Chapter 8 records the initiation of the priests, which separated them from the general population, and made Aharon and his sons kadosh, 8:12,30. Also, within this ceremony, Moshe poured oil on various items in the mishkan, and was mekadesh the mishkan, 8:10,11,15. Afterwards, 9:1-23a records the ceremony of the eighth day, which was the dedication of the outer altar. This ceremony showed the connection of the people to the mishkan through the sacrifices of the people, 9:3,4, which were the main sacrifices in the ceremony, as the people brought more sacrifices than the priests. This section ends with Aharon twice blessing the people, 9:22,23a, which again shows a connection between the mishkan and the people. The culmination of the ceremony was that a fire came and burnt the sacrifices, and this fire showed G-d’s presence, 9:23b,24. 10:1-3 then records the sin of Nadav and Avihu, the sin of the first cycle. 10:4-20 then records laws relating to removing the bodies of Nadav and Avihu and how the priests were supposed to act after this tragedy. Within this section, 10:8-11 record laws that the priests are forbidden to drink wine in the mishkan, and this is conceptually related to the sin of Nadav and Avihu since when people become drunk, they do not follow the rules like Nadav and Avihu did.

The second cycle within the second unit is 11:1-17:16. Vayikra 11:1-47 focuses on the laws of eating, which is a type of separation of humans from animals and tumah relating to animals. This section ends, 11:44-47 with the statement that that people are to be kadosh and to make a separation between different animals, just as G-d has separated the people by taking the people out of Egypt. Afterwards, chapters 12-15 record the laws of tumah, but also the sacrifices of various individuals, the sacrifices of the new mother, 12:6,8, the sacrifices of the metsora, 14:10-31, and the sacrifices of the zav and the zavah, 15:14,15,29,30. 15:31 ends this section of tumah and taharah by warning the people not to defile the mishkan by their tumah, which connects the people with the mishkan. Chapter 16 then records the service of Yom Kippur, and the key element of the service was Aharon’s entry to the Holy of Holies, where he would be symbolically before G-d, 16:13,30. The beginning of Chapter 17 refers to people sacrificing to demons, 17:7, which is the sin in the cycle. Afterwards, there are laws relating to blood, which seems to relate to the sin of the people (see our discussion on 17:3-11, “Blood and demons”). The section ends with laws relating to nevelah and terefa, 17:15,16 since within the discussion of the sin of sacrificing to demons, there are references to slaughtering animals, 17:3,5.

The third cycle in the second unit of the book of Vayikra is 18:1-24:23. Chapters 18 and 20 refer to sexual misconduct, which relates to the idea of separation from different people, and form a bookend around chapter 19. Not only are the sexual prohibitions a form of separation, but the point of the laws is to separate the people from other nations, 18:3, 24-30; 20:24,26. 20:25 at the end of this sub-section, refers back to the separation of the animals, a theme of chapter 11, and this is because both sections embody the separation theme of their respective cycles. 21:1-24 continues the theme of separation with reference to the priests, with regard to who the priests can marry and a separation between priests with blemishes and priests without blemishes. Afterwards, 22:1-33, records general laws concerning the sacrifices, such as laws about the quality and status of animals that can be donated for sacrifices, and the sacrifices again show the connection between people and the mishkan. Note that within this section, 22:32 refers to kedusha, which is not a theme of this section, but the kedusha is in reference to G-d and not the people. 23:1-38 continues with the idea of connections between the people and mishkan, as this section records the bringing of sacrifices on the festivals. After the concluding verses of 23:37,38, there are more laws about the holiday of Sukkot, 23:39-44, but these laws do not relate to sacrifices. Instead, a central theme of these laws of Sukkot is for a person to celebrate before G-d, 23:40. The idea of being before G-d occurs again in 24:1-4, by laws relating to lighting the menorah, and by the laws of the lechem ha-panim, 24:5-9. Accordingly, 23:39-44, 24:1-4 and 24:5-9 all express the idea of being before G-d, which is the third theme in the cycle, a reference to G-d’s presence. Afterwards, 24:10-12 records the case of the blasphemer, which is the sin of the third cycle. Afterwards, 24:13-23 record laws that relate to the sin of blasphemy and the punishment of the person who sinned.

Within the three cycles of the second unit of the book of Vayikra, the presence of G-d in each cycle becomes less manifest, and correspondingly, the sin in each cycle also becomes less pronounced. Also, the cycles do not end with a sin, but with laws that relate to dealing with the sin. The point might be that while people inevitably sin, they can overcome their sin by following the laws. 

The third unit of the book of Vayikra is 25:1-27:34. As mentioned above, 25:1 begins the unit with the reference to behar Sinai, and the unit and the book of Vayikra ends with this phrase, 27:34. Within this unit, 25:1-26:45 can be divided into four parts based on the concluding sentences, 25:38,55; 26:13,45, see our discussion on Shemot 6:5-8, “The four words of redemption.” This section of 25:1-26:45 also concludes with the phrase behar Sinai in 26:46. The last chapter of Vayikra, chapter 27, is connected with chapter 25 since some of the laws in chapter 27 are dependent on the yovel year, 27:17,18,21,23,24, which is first introduced in 25:8-13.