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Q: Your insights through your column are thought-provoking and often generate fascinating discussion within our family. One thing I have always wondered about is why God would tolerate, let alone encourage at times, the sacrifice of innocent human and animal life. Our modern sensibilities are shocked by activity of that type. Can you help us understand this? – (From D in Palm Beach, FL)

A: God created everything in the world but God also created a hierarchy of creation.

The lowest level are things that are created but not alive. The earth and the oceans sustain life but they are not themselves alive. They are the canvas upon which God has painted a living planet and as such they are holy because they are created.

The next highest level of creation is the vegetation that God has placed on the earth. The plants are created and alive. They serve as food for the higher levels of creation.

Next in the order of creation are animals. They eat the plants and they are created, alive and blessed. These animals and fish are more intensely alive than the plants and therefore they are also blessed by God. Their blessing is God’s desire that they “be fruitful and multiply” and fill the earth.

The final level of creation is the creation of human beings. We humans are created, alive, blessed and made in the image of God. Our blessing is identical to the blessing of the animals. We too are commanded to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

All this is clear from the account of creation in the book of Genesis, however, what is not at all clear is the meaning of being “made in the image.” What I believe is that imago dei means that we have free will and can choose our way in the world. All other living things respond to instinct. We alone respond to free will choosing. This free will is what distinguishes us from all other living creatures here on planet earth.

One of the objects of our choosing is sacrificing some lower-level living thing. We choose to sacrifice in order to express gratitude for our bounties and to make clear that we are aware that these sacrificial offerings of plants or animals have all been gifts from God.

We are commanded to offer our very best plants or animals as sacrifices in order to show that our most precious possessions are gifts from God. In the story of Cain and Abel, Abel offers the best he had while Cain offers merely some old rotted plants. This is why God accepts Abel’s offering and not Cain’s.

God then makes it clear to us that the spirit of sacrifice must end before it comes to sacrificing human beings. This is the meaning of the story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22. God wants us to offer sacrifices that do not end the life of human beings made in the image of God.

It would be easy for me to end my answer to your provocative question now, but it would not be honest. Although the Bible makes it clear in many verses that offering human sacrifices is forbidden by God, there are passages like the slaughter of the Amalekites that do seem to cross the line into the murder of innocent human beings. Although that account is terribly difficult for me to read or understand, it must be remembered that the Amalekites were casualties of war not offerings of human sacrifices. The great philosopher Martin Buber wrote about the slaughter of the Amalekites, “I do not hear God speaking through these verses.” I agree.

So the spirit of sacrifice includes giving up for God plants and animals, it does not and cannot include the sacrifice of human beings. We can express our belief that God owns everything in the world and we are grateful to share in God’s bounty without confusing sacrifice with murder.

Sacrificing opens our heart not only to God but also to love. The great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught, "If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love."

Sacrifice gives us a clearer sense of what wealth really means. Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.”

Nelson Henderson perfectly describes the feeling of joy that is produced by sacrifice, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

So give and then you shall receive.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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