אָדָם כִּי-יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן, לַה'--מִן-הַבְּהֵמָה, מִן-הַבָּקָר וּמִן-הַצֹּאן, תַּקְרִיבוּ, אֶת-קָרְבַּנְכֶם. -- When any human of you (pl) brings an offering to Gd, you (pl) shall bring your (pl) offering of the cattle, of the herd or of the flock. (Leviticus 1:2)
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz (1550-1619) points out the many difficulties found in this verse: Why the use of the word 'human' rather than the more standard 'man'? What means 'any human of you'? Why does the Hebrew verse begin in singular language and end in the plural? He answers that in Hebrew there are 4 names for person: איש, אנוש, גבר, ואדם. The first 3 have plural forms, only אדם (human) has no plural form which teaches us that when Israel acts as one, even an individual's pious act will be considered as belonging 'of you' of the whole community. However, if Israel acts amongst itself as מִן-הַבְּהֵמָה (of the cattle – i.e., *as we act toward the cattle of the field) then even if everyone has other acts of piety they will be your offering and do not belong to Gd.
- *interpretive translation of R. Frank
