Fasting Instead of Sacrifice According to the Zohar HaKadosh

Fasting Instead of Sacrifice According to the Zohar HaKadosh

A Jewish fast is called a ta'anit. What is its significance? Why does the L-rd expect us to fast? How does a Jewish fast differ from the fasts of other nations? People behave differently during a fast: some are distressed that throughout the entire day they will be unable to recite brachot to the L-rd—to serve Him by saying blessings before and after eating. Others suffer from hunger and keep looking at the clock, wondering when the fast will end. Yet the purpose of fasting is for a person to feel that the L-rd has taken away the opportunity to serve Him and work for Him—and only this should cause him distress. The Zohar HaKadosh explains a deeper meaning: a person should realize that fasting is comparable to a sacrifice, when the blood and fat of an animal were burned, containing the colors red and white. Likewise, during a fast we try not to sleep or rest, but to serve the L-rd through the burning of the blood and fat of the person who is fasting. And if during this time he studies Torah (except on Tisha B'Av), then his fast becomes a sacrifice. It is written: “Offer Me fat and blood as a sacrifice.” - “Chelev” is the white fat, - “Dam” is the red blood. Thus, a person offers his fat and blood as a sacrifice, his sins are atoned for, and he is purified. One is red, while the other is white. One who fasts and offers his fat and blood as a sacrifice, as if “burned by fire,” reaches a state of “whiteness.” Rabbi Yitzchak said that fasting weakens a person’s organs and intensifies the fire within him. At that time, he offers his fat and blood as a sacrifice. Then the person is called an altar of purification. Therefore, when Rabbi Elazar fasted, he prayed and said to the L-rd: - “It is known and revealed before You, my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, that I have offered my fat and my blood to You as a sacrifice. They boiled, weakening my organs and weakening my entire body. May it be Your will that the odor of my mouth at this time be like the fragrance of a sacrifice upon the altar’s fire, and may You desire me (draw me near).” When a person fasts, he offers his fat and blood as a sacrifice. And the odor that comes from his mouth is the fragrance of the sacrifice, atoning for sins. Therefore, after the destruction of the Temple, prayer was instituted in place of sacrifice—provided that a person understands all this. And when a person fasts on Yom Kippur, Tisha B'Av, or the other fast days, this is his sacrifice—blood and fat, red and white. Therefore, prayer spoken by the lips is like the fragrance of the altar, as an expression of the Light of Chochmah. Rabbi Yosei said: “When we had the Beit HaMikdash (Temple), a person brought his sacrifice in precisely this manner—the secret of red and white, the secret of the fragrance rising from them. Everything became white through the fire, and he was forgiven. Now a person’s prayer atones for his sins and purifies him in place of a sacrifice, in the same way—through the intention that must be present in a sacrifice.” (Based on a lesson from the Skype series “The Zohar on Shemot” by Rabbi Tzvi Nisanzon)