Our kitchen cabinets include one “catch-all drawer.” Among its clutter are two closed padlocks with forgotten combinations. Without the right tumbler sequence, their only tangible use is for paperweights. A few times yearly I’ll randomly rotate the dial hoping for a miracle, without ever any luck.

If we handle Leviticus like my catch-all drawer padlocks, its purpose will stay sealed. Yet this Pentateuch volume is basic to understanding the Jewish religious activity present in Numbers, Deuteronomy and the rest of the Old Testament.