16:11] If priests owned no land and lived from the proceeds of the temple, how could Aaron have a bull for his own sin-offering?
So it says that he bought the bull from his own money (as opposed to the sin-offering for the people, that was purchased with the community fund). However, the same question arises then: Where did his "own" money come from, if he did not own land or property?

The concern that arises from that is for 600,000+ population, and cattle to spare, what was the food for all these animals (because there were goats and sheep as well)? There was no grain that they grew or could grow being in the desert. There is no mention of manna from heaven for the animals, so my question remains: "What did the animals eat? Where did their food come from?"

n16:16] The death of Nadab and Abihu is mentioned in conjunction with the chapter on Yom Kippur because just as Yom Kippur brings atonement, so does the death of the righteous.

{NOTE: This is a difficult idea to swallow—that a blessing for the righteous is to die young? Perhaps from the perspective of G-d, this makes sense, but from the perspective of the human...}

Confession

The concept of confession (vidui) regarding Yom Kippur is similar to the concept of recapitulation.

It is one of G-d's greatest gifts that He permits a person to erase the sins of his past so that he can being a better life, a life unhampered by the corrosive effects of past sins. Such a new beginning is not possible unless the sinner has repented by confronting his misdeeds, acknowledging them, and sincerely resolving to change. This is represented by confession.
The power of confession lies in the fact that it is not merely a recitation of a formula, but a sincere declaration of remorse. People are loath to acknowledge a fact that hurts them more than they can bear.

n16:20-22] Azazel

Every person must choose between good and evil. No one has the luxury of being neutral. Those who do not choose to move toward holiness are inevitably pushing themselves toward a wasteland of spiritual destruction (R' Hirsh)
This preoccupation with evil teaches us that it is not enough to be sure that we have G-d's forgiveness and love—we must also recognise and repel the hostile forces that surround and tempt us. (Zohar) Thus the scapegoat is a reminder that G-d wants us to guard against the threats of our enemies by recognising their existence and appeasing them.

17:7]

ולא־יִזבְּחוּ עוד את־זבחיהם לַשׂעִירים אשׁר הם זנים אחריהם

They shall no longer slaughter their offerings to the demons (of the field) after whom they stray.

n17:1-9] This is an interesting segment. The call to sacrifice only at the Mishkan is one to prevent the continuation of the worship of pagan idols, which took place in the fields and in the homes of the people.

יכפר...תטהרו —
There are two aspects to the removal of sin: atonement and purifying. When someone transgresses G-d's will, the sinner earns punishment for disobeying G-d, and, in addition, his resistance to further sins becomes weaker, because sinfulness becomes a habit, and one someone commits a misdeed, it becomes more likely that he will sin again. Atonement removes the liability to punishment, but to the extent that the habitual sinner has become a worse person, the effect of the sin remains. From this encrustation of evil, the sinner must be purified. (R' Gedaliah Schorr)

n17:4] דם יחשׁב

When a person kills animals without a legitimate purpose, he allows himself to be influenced by the same bloody characteristics that can cause people to commit murder. Thus, his act is considered as bloodshed, sin it is his bloody instincts that have taken control of him (Kli Yakar).

ונכרת האישׁ ההוא

What is interesting here is the note on the difference between using האישׁ as opposed to הנפשׁ. The former implies that the Kares will be one of an early death, but not that he will lose his place in the World to Come. However, if one uses the word soul, נפשׁ, instead, it means that his soul will be cut off from the World to Come

n17:5] אשׁר הם זבחים.

This stringent punishment for this sin was necessary to break the ingrained habit of slaughtering offerings wherever it was convenient for them to set up an Altar, a practice that had been followed from the days of Noah and the Patriarchs.

n17:7] ולא־יזבחו עוד — They will no longer slaughter

The people are no longer to follow the practice they learned in Egypt of offering sacrifices to the שׂעירים, demons of the fields, after which they used to stray. (Ibn Ezra)

Immorality

The Torah sets forth the prohibitions, in line with the principle that אין עונשׁים אלא אם כּן מזהירין, they do not punish unless they give a warning.

n18:3] מצרים...כנען — Egypt...Canaan

These two lands were the most morally decadent... G-d warns the Jews to be alert to the challenge of their past and future homes because people must be especially alert to the lures of their environment. It is tempting to justify sin on the grounds that
"everyone does it".

n18:4] משׁפטי...חֻקֹתי — My laws...My decrees.

Laws are practices that would be dictated by reason even if they were not dictated by the Torah.
Decrees are those that are unfathomable by human intelligence. Many have noted that חק, is derived from חקק, to engrave. A person commits himself to chok he cannot understand because the inner tzelem Elokim[mage of G-d] within the Jew recognises that there are truths above the limited human intellect. Many of life's important decisions are based on considerations that may be called a "light from within", considerations that reflect the person's true inner self... For example, no law is as universally accepted as that against murder, yet "logic" can permit people to nibble at the fringes of the sanctity of life, by arguing that fetus is not a true life, or that suffering or impaired people are unworthy of life or that human life is no more worthy of preservation than animal life.

n18:6-18] Forbidden relationships

Wherever one finds safeguards of chastity, there one finds holiness (Vayikra Rabbah 24:6).

n18:6] אני ה — Immorality becomes the norm of sophisticated people.

n18:7] עֵרְוָה — nakedness _or _shame. Immorality "exposes" something that should properly be covered.

n18:25] ותקא &mdash And...disgorged. It is the inner spiritual values that determine future events.