Vayikra: The Fire of Faith

Parshas Vayikra starts the third of the Five Books of Moses. It deals with sacrifices beginning with the korbon olah, עלה, or burnt offering. It was so to speak the way a man would give a gift to G-d. Today prayer is the generally accepted substitute for this sacrifice as it says, “and we will render bulls with our lips (ונשלמה פרים שפתינו), Hoshea (14:3). The way that the burnt offering was brought gives us assistance in how we should arrange our petitions to the Almighty.
When one of you brings an animal as an offering to Hashem, the sacrifice must be taken from cattle, sheep, or goats. (Vayikra 1:3)
These are conventional domestic animals as opposed to wild or exotic animals. This hints that our prayers should be conventional and based on our education and experience.

If it is from the cattle an unblemished male you must offer. (Ibid 3)
Cattle are expensive and carry status unlike sheep or goats. The aspect of male means active as opposed to femine which is passive. Therefore if one’s prayer is lengthy and elaborate a specific request should be made as opposed to only hinted at.

to the entrance of the sanctuary you will bring it as an act of free will. (ibid 3)
A person should make a petition to G-d because they want to not because they are forced to. It should be sincere and preferably in a religious setting. Most importantly it should be within the context of a person’s knowledge of G-d and his omnipresence.

He should press his hands on the head of the olah and it will then be accepted and will cleanse him. (ibid 4)
The person’s actions should be guided by his intellect. In resolving to do so, his prayer will be acceptable and will act to cleanse him of his shortcomings.

The bull will be slaughtered before Hashem and the children of Aharon, the priests, will offer its blood . . . on the altar. (Ibid 6)
In offering a prayer one should put their life force into it. In addition it is appropriate to enlist the aid of people who are officially trained in religion.

The olah will then be skinned and butchered. . . . The cohanim will arrange the pieces, the head, and the suet on the altar. (Ibid 6-8)
One may ask teachers and rabbis about the appropriate components of a prayer, its theme, and its richest aspects.

Its inner organs and thighs should be washed in water. (Ibid 9)
The prayer should be clean and pure both in form and substance.

The cohen will then burn it all as incense on the altar; it will arouse a fire that will be a pleasant fragrance to Hashem. (Ibid 9)
If one does thusly the fire of faith and the favor of Above will be kindled toward him.