In the Hebrew Bible, semicha refers to the priest's placing of his hands before the offering of a korban in the Temple in Jerusalem. This involved pressing firmly on the head of the sacrificial animal, thereby symbolically "transmitting" sins onto the animal or, in other interpretations, to transform the sacrifice into an offering acceptable to HaShem.
In the Hebrew Bible
The basis for the mitzvah of semicha is Leviticus 1:4: It is also mentioned in Leviticus 4:24 with regard to the laying on of hands over one's sin-offering, before it was slaughtered: "And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat." In Pseudo Jonathan's Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch, the translator of the verse explains its sense: "And he shall lay his right hand with force on the head of the goat." According to Philo of Alexandria, the custom of laying on of hands was done in order to aid him in developing a clean conscience, so that he can say without guile: "These hands have not taken a bribe to distort justice, neither have they divided the spoil, nor have they coveted, neither have they shed innocent blood, etc."
The Jerusalem Talmud mentions that the first dispute in Israel concerned the laying on of hands upon the head of one's sacrificial animal during a Festival Day, with applied force, some permitting the owner of the animal to do so, others forbidding him to do so. The Babylonian Talmud provides a more detailed set of regulations for the practice of semicha.
Interpretations
The symbolism of this custom has been variously explained. According to Philo the sacrificer intended his act to imply that "these hands have done no wrong, but have performed good and useful deeds." This, however, applies only to thank-offerings and meal-offerings, and not to sin-offerings or to offerings of atonement. Some rabbinical authorities, followed by some Church Fathers, interpreted "semikah" as meaning that the sacrificer, by laying his hands upon the animal, transferred his sins to it and imposed upon it the punishment which his conduct had merited. Also important, here, should be the explicit teaching , "And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness." Many scholars hold that these interpretations are not well founded; many hold that there is no evidence that the Israelites believed that sins were actually transferred to the sacrificial animal through the laying on of hands. In this view, the recitation of the liturgical formula, rather than the ritual act, is the determining factor. This explanation of semikah, moreover, does not apply in the case of meal-offerings and thank-offerings, for they had nothing to do with a transference of sins. Since semikah was prescribed for sin-offerings and for offerings of atonement, as well as for meal-offerings and thank-offerings, it must have had a meaning which applied to all these various sacrifices, and must therefore have had some connection with the basal concept of sacrifice. In this view, the hands were laid upon the victim's head as implying on the part of the sacrificer the words: "This is my property, which I dedicate to God."
