I have been reading the Torah, and would like to know the significance of the west, east, north and south directions of how the animals were sacrificed on the altar? There must be a significance of each direction, but I can’t find it, can you help me?
I cannot tell you much about all the significance of the sacrifices; these are some of the deepest secrets of the Torah, and ones which we have not been able to really experience for two thousand years.
A few simple points which I hope will help a little: The layout of the Tabernacle in the desert, and of the Temple in Jerusalem, was from west to east. That is, the building opened to the east and to the people coming in from the eastern side. Thus, the western side, which was the inside, is the direction of the most holiness, toward the Holy of Holies. The most holy sacrifices, such as those brought on Yom Kippur, are identified by being brought to the west, either in the Holy of Holies itself, or near the curtain leading to it, or even just on the western side of the altar. Even a sacrifice brought on the north side of the altar is more holy than one brought to its east, to the “outside”. (The south was not available, since it contained a large ramp leading to the top of the altar.) The menorah was placed in the south inside the Tabernacle, and the table with the Show-bread (“lechem hapanimâ€?) opposite it to the north. From this our sages understood that the south represents the dedication of wisdom and spirituality, and the north represents the dedication of sustenance and other physicality. They even said that someone who wishes to grow wise should stand in prayer turned a little to the south, and one who wishes to become rich, to the north.
A good place to go for further reading are the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Chumash, who has a wonderful treatment in remarkable detail on the meaning of each and every sacrifice. His discussion is quite lengthy, but you can take it a little bit at a time. Look at the beginning of Leviticus (Vayikra), and his whole treatment of the building of the Tabernacle in the last half of Exodus (Shmos).
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach