Here is a paradox that Jewish tradition has lived with for centuries without fully confronting it.

The Torah mandated animal sacrifice as the center of Israelite religious life for a thousand years. An entire tribe — the Levites — existed to maintain the system. The Temple at full operation slaughtered animals by the tens of thousands on major festivals. And yet the tradition’s own canonical prophets, whose words we read every Shabbat as haftarah, said repeatedly, across three centuries, that God did not want it.

Isaiah: “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls.”

Amos: “I hate, I despise your feasts. Even though you offer me your burnt........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)