Thus, the textualization of the ritual is balanced by the ritualization of the text. The command by God to Moses (to speak these words) is fulfilled even while no animals are killed. The movement from animal sacrifice to reading of texts involves some loss and some gain, as all change does. So there is no loss of ritual, only its transformation. b. Imaginative Performance There is another sense in which the text of Leviticus 1–7 can be thought of as a performance. The text was not written in order