The Pure
מפני מה מתחילין לתינוקות בתורת כהנים, ואין מתחילין בבראשית? אלא שהתינוקות טהורין והקרבנות טהורין, יבואו טהורין ויתעסקו בטהורין. -ויקרא רבה ז, ג
“Why do schoolchildren begin their learning with Torat Kohanim – the Book of Vayikra, and not with Bereishit? Since the korbanot (sacrifices) are pure and the children are pure, let the pure come and deal with the pure.” (Vayikra Rabbah 7:3)
Purity is indeed a recurrent theme in a number of rules related to the sacrifices, but the classification of the sacrifices themselves as “the pure”, is very unusual.
The only time we find “purity” to be the sacrifices’ defining factor is before the Giving of the Torah. Beraishis 8:20 records that after Noach was saved from the Flood, he “built an altar to G-d, and he took of all the pure animals and of all the pure fowl and brought up burnt offerings on the altar.” In Rashi’s words, “the pure” refers to “those that are destined to be pure for Israel”, meaning Kosher animals.
This creates an anomaly of sorts. The Torah was yet to be given or observed, but the Torah’s soon-to-be classification of Kosher or non-Kosher was already being applied with regard to the sacrifices brought. By the same token, this relationship indicates that even the sacrifices later commanded by the Torah, are related to those which preceded the Torah. In terms of the “closeness” to G-d achieved through bringing a sacrifice, this anomaly shows us that the offering of a sacrifice has the potential to reveal the relationship between the Jew and G-d that precedes and transcends even the observance of the Torah.
Accordingly, a reference to the sacrifices as they were observed before the Giving of the Torah is most appropriate when explaining why schoolchildren begin their studies with Vayikra. The early studies or mere reading of the Torah by Jewish schoolchildren, too young to even be trained in Mitzvah observance, is emblematic of the Jewish people’s intrinsic and inherited relationship to G-d and His Torah that transcends even the observance of its laws. As the sacrifices instructed in the Torah too reflect a relationship with G-d that precedes the actual observance of the Torah, it is most appropriate that it is with this point that a child’s Torah experience begins.
Based on Likkutei Sichos vol. 22, pp. 1-6