EXOD940 Build a Sanctuary in Hashem's Name. The Jewish nation must build a sanctuary where they shall pray to Hashem and sacrifice offerings to Him to help us to serve Him with a full heart. Not that He needs a sanctuary; rather, the mitzvah is for our benefit. Through praying and bringing offerings in this holy place on a steady basis, we refine and purify our thoughts and hearts. Out of His great kindness, Hashem fixed a place of the highest level of purity and holiness, and by going there we can elevate our thoughts and turn our hearts to serve Him devotedly. On the strength of the good deeds performed there, the sanctuary is always a place of great blessing and holiness, causing an abundance of good to be sent from Heaven. Reasons for the offerings: (1) A person's actions strongly influence his heart. Accordingly, if he sins, verbal confession and apology will not sufficiently cleanse his heart of the negative effects of the sin. Rather, to completely cleanse his heart he must act. He must invest much time and effort to bring an offering in the Beis HaMikdash. Having performed these efforts-filled actions, he comprehends the sin’s seriousness and will avoid sinning in the future. (2) The Ramban writes that when a person sins and brings an offering to atone for it, he should realize that what is done to the animal should actually be done to him. That is, man's deeds are composed of thought, speech and action, so for an offering to atone for a sinful deed, the procedure must involve thought, speech an action. The sinner performs semichah--placing his hands on the animal's head and leaning his weight on it--to atone for the sinful act. Verbal confession atones for use of the power of speech in the sin. The animal’s kidneys and other innards are burned on the Altar, and this atones for having used one’s mind in the sin, for these organs are centers for sinful thoughts and desires. On the Altar we also burn the animal’s hind legs, to symbolize that we sinned with our feet and hands. Then the animal's blood is sprinkled on the Altar in place of our blood. The procedures impress upon the person that he sinned against Hashem with his body and soul, so really, for the sake of his atonement, his own blood should be offered and his body should be burned, but out of His kindness Hashem accepts an offering instead. Certain portions of the animal are given to the Kohen--a teacher of Torah--so that the Kohen will pray for the person who had sinned. (3) The Ramban writes that there are additional, hidden kabbalistic reasons for the offerings (see his commentary on Parashas Vayikra). Additional insights regarding the offerings: (1) We are commanded to bring offerings from commodities that people generally desire, enjoy and regard as important--such as meat, wine and bread. Thereby the heart is more likely to be moved by the procedure. As to a pauper, whose eyes and thoughts always are trained on his daily bread, he must bring a flour offering when he sins--from the small amount of flour that he has. (2) Only in terms of his body does man resemble the animals. Man has a soul that animals do not have. Thereby he has unique intelligence, but if he slips into sin his intelligence no longer is governing him so he descends to the level of an animal. To gain atonement he takes an animal whose body resembles his and brings it to the Beis Hamikdash, the most inspiring and elevating place for his intelligent soul. There he completely burns the animal’s body until there are no remains. Thereby, he receives a vivid, visual message that a body that acts not according to the dictates of intelligence perishes and is gone forever. He takes joy in the appreciation that in giving him an intelligent soul that can live forever, Hashem has set him apart from the animals. He recalls that his body is his soul's partner and that if he heeds the urging of his soul and does not sin, Hashem will return his body to him at the time of the resurrection of the dead, so that his body, too, will gain eternity. Understanding this important truth, he will be extremely careful to avoid sins in the future. The Torah promises him that if his sin was unintentional and he brings his offering according to the required procedures and regrets the sin with all of his heart and soul, he will gain atonement. On the other hand, if his sin was intentional, this matter of atonement does not suffice. Because he sinned with his conscious self, offering an unthinking animal in place of himself does not relay a strong enough message to him. Rather, because of his conscious foolishness, he needs to be physically punished in order to gain atonement. Reasons for other types of offerings: There is a daily sin offering of the community, since unavoidably, some member of the congregation has sinned. This offering atones for him. The Torah allows us to bring voluntary offerings even in the absence of sin. The symbolism of the destruction of the animal’s body impresses upon us the lowly and fleeting nature of the physical body and the supremacy of the soul. Accordingly, there is ethical gain in bringing the offering, despite that it is not brought for a specific sin. The scapegoat that is thrown to its death on Yom Kippur carries away the sins of our nation. The procedure sends a message to the grave sinners such as heretics and those who deny the Torah and resurrection of the dead. This animal is not slaughtered. None of its blood or meat is brought on the Altar. None of its remains, even ashes, are left in the Beis Hamikdash. So, too, grave sinners are quickly and utterly destroyed and no trace of them is left anywhere. When they see the fate of the scapegoat they will understand where they are heading and will mend their ways.