perform any work during that day (Lev 23). The reversal rituals were designed to restore affairs to their proper condition by reversing impurity into purity and guilt into innocence. The cleansing ritual of the Leper transferred the individual from the unclean to the clean again prior to their entrance back into society (Lev 14). The elaborate anointing which follows the healing served to remove the person from his status of seclusion into a position of social fellowship within the community, and also served to reposition him within the natural categories of the world (Davies, 1985;158).Finally, the elevation rituals were considered rites of passage, in that it transferred the person from one clear-cut social category into another. Upon installation, priests endured seven days of isolation, humility and sacrality before entering into the community (Lev 8-9).This rite of passage allows the priest to cross over a threshold where the boundaries between the clean and unclean, holy and profane are blurred (Nelson, 1993;58). It was a state of liminality for the priest where the rules of society are suspended.Sacrifice within the Book of LeviticusIn the book of Leviticus the sacrificial framework is broken down in a series of speeches from God to Moses. In these speeches, God gave laws for the people of Israel directing them to glorify him through the sacrifice. In glorifying him, the Israelites were acknowledging that all their worldly possessions were gifts from God, and in sacrificing them, they were forfeiting themselves as sinners before him. These offerings were expressions of faith, whether it came as voluntary or compulsory.The priest or the sons of Aaron are the dominant actors in the sacrificial ritual. The rabbinic name for the book of Leviticus is kohanim, which means instructions of priests. Thus, since priests came from the tribe of Levi, the book came to be called Leviticus. The priest served as the intermediary betwe...
