Ha-Rav Dr. David Zvi Hoffman, zatzal, in the introduction to his work Das Buch Leviticus (Berlin, 1905) (translated into Hebrew by Zvi Har Shefer and Dr. Aaron Lieberman as Sefer Va-Yiqra [Jerusalem, 1966]), discusses (Hebrew ed., pp. 17ff.) the two distinct groups of laws that are formulated in the first seven chapters of the Sefer, that is, laws that are enumerated in this week’s parashah (Va-Yiqra) and in next week’s parashah (Tzav). The first group consists of laws enumerated in the first five chapters of Leviticus. They entail laws of the ‘olah (chapter 1), the minhah (chapter 2), the shelamim (chapter 3), the hata’t (4:1-5:13), and finally the asham (5:14-26). The second group, consisting of the laws cited in Leviticus, chapters 6 and 7, presents additional rules concerning various ‘olot (6:1-6), menahot (6:7-11), hata’ot (6:17-23), ashamot (7:1-10), and shelamim (7:11-21 and 7:25-36). This second group also entails laws regarding the minhat ha-tamid of the high priest, the kohen gadol, and the minhat ha-milu’im of the regular priests, as well as the prohibition to eat blood (dam) or forbidden fat (helev). The laws regarding the menahot of the high priest and the regular priests were listed after the laws concerning the other menahot, and the prohibitions concerning helev and dam were listed after the laws concerning shelamim.

To be sure, in order to follow the Laws regarding sacrifices in their totality, one must learn and observe the laws stated in both sections. Why then, did the Torah divide the enumeration of the laws into two distinct sections?

R. Hoffman, who fought against the Bible Critics, advocating for a unified understanding of the Pentateuch, while at the same time advocating a rationalist/peshat explanation of both specific, individual verses and the thematic totality of the parshiyyot, explained the matter with the following observations: Elsewhere in the Pentateuch we find laws concerning other topics are also divided into two as well. The list of prohibited sexual relations is found in both Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20. Neither one of those lists is exhaustive: one must study both to establish the total list of prohibited relations. The list of holidays, of course, is found in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere, such as in Numbers 28 and 29. But the list of Leviticus does not detail the specific contours of the individual offerings brought on each day of the specific holidays. Thus the division of Leviticus chapters 1-5 and chapters 6-7 is per se not unusual. What one must attempt to discern, however, is the specific nature of what is listed in the first group and what is listed in the second group. What is the principle of division? R. Hoffman writes that the initially appealing view that the first five chapters were addressed to the children of Israel (those that bring the sacrifices) as a whole and the sixth and seventh chapters were addressed to the priests (those that receive the sacrifices) must be rejected, unless it is seriously modified. A simple priests/ Children of Israel distinction cannot be, he continues, because the first section includes various tasks of the priests, such as throwing the blood, burning the sacrifices, and the like: all activities that concern the obligations of the priests. Moreover, in the second group many obligatory actions of the priests are not listed. Moreover, the presentation of asham in Leviticus chapter 5 only deals with the causes of the obligation to bring an asham and the various ingredients of an asham. No ‘avodot of the kohanim are mentioned there at all. But the other types of sacrifices mentioned in Leviticus chapters’ 1-5 detail the entire ‘avodah, from the initial slaughter (shehitah) to  the burning of the cuts (serefat ha-netahim)!

Rav Hoffman’s breakthrough distinguishes between two different locations: the specific laws written at Ohel Mo’ed and those written immediately after Har Sinai. But before he discusses the case of sacrifices, he revisits a famous dispute.

A well known Tannaitic debate between R. Aqiva and R. Ishmael (Zebahim 115b) concerns the various places where God revealed His Law to Moses. According to R. Ishmael, the general rules (kelalot) were given at Sinai, but the individual specifications (peratim) were given at Ohel Mo’ed (the Tent of Meeting. Indeed, the Mishkan was called the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting; [Exodus 40:2]. The Mishkan was set up on the first day of the first month in the year subsequent to the Exouds of the Israelites from Egypt.). R. Aqiva argues and claims that both the kelalim and the peratim were given at Sinai, repeated at Ohel Mo’ed, and repeated again at the plains of Moab (‘arvot Moav) (during the last year of the sojourn of the Israelites in the desert).

      R. Hoffman argues that even according to R. Akiba, although the particulars of the commandments were also given at Sinai (as Torah she-be-‘Al Peh, the Oral Law), and that the content of the laws was given at Sinai, repeated at Ohel Mo’ed, and repeated again at ‘Arvot Moab, there was a difference in the written form of the laws written down at the various junctures.  That is, the specific words through which the content of the laws were expressed in writing was different in each case. Thus, certain laws as written in Deuteronomy were expressed differently than those same laws as written in Exodus. With respect to sacrifices, even as God explained the specific parameters of those laws as well at Sinai (be’al peh), and subsequently repeated them at two other junctures, certain specific laws were not written down in the fashion that we possess them in the Torah until after the children of Israel had reached the Mishkan-Ohel Mo’ed stage. Consequently, the first verse in Va-Yiqra, The L-RD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting (ohel mo’ed) (Leviticus 1:1) expresses the place where the laws detailed in Va-Yiqra chapters 1-5 were written down after they had been given (orally) at Sinai. The conclusion of chapter 7, on the other hand, These are the rituals of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of well-being, with which the L-RD charged Moses on Mount Sinai, when He commanded that the Israelites present their offerings to the L-RD, in the wilderness of Sinai (Leviticus 7:37-38; JPS translation) details the sacrifices that God charged Moses on Mount Sinai. The specific laws entailed in those chapters were written at Sinai, before the ohel mo’ed stage.

      The beginning of Sefer Va-Yiqra, which mentions the “address” of ohel mo’ed, refers to the written form of Leviticus chapters 1-5, and concerns the laws written davka at that time (and not at Sinai). The conclusion of chapter 7, which mentions the “address” of Sinai, refers to the group of laws written in Leviticus chapters 6 and 7. Moreover, it seems clear that the passages in Exodus chapter 29 (the milu’im) were also given to the priests at Sinai, and one can find common motifs between Exodus 29 and Leviticus 6 and 7. Hoffman further suggests that although the original (written) instruction at Sinai from God to Moses regarding these two chapters was from Sinai, its popularization (pirsum) to the population at large (as opposed to the priests) was presented to the people at Ohel Mo’ed, after the writing of chapters 1-5. That is why Leviticus 1-5 precedes Leviticus 6-7. The content of both groups, however, was already given at Sinai.