During the avodah of Yom Kippur, the kohen gadol performed a gorel to determine which goat would be brought as a korban, and which goat would be pushed off the Azazel cliff (see this week's parashah, 16:8). The nature of a gorel is that the person doesn't choose, instead Hashem chooses. The truth is, even when a person does choose, it isn’t him. Hashem is the One deciding. A person thinks he chose his parnassah, his shidduch, and various other matters, but this is an illusion, because Hashem determines everything for him. Reb Saadyah Gaon zt"l explains that the kohen gadol is commanded to make a gorel on Yom Kippur to remind us that everything is from Hashem. Just as a gorel is a choice made by Hashem, so too, all our choices are predetermined by Hashem.
Life’s situations aren’t always how they appear on the surface. For example, some circumstances seem bad to us, but later we discover they are for the good, and vice versa. Because there are situations that appear to be good, and then we discover the troubles that come from them.
This is apparent by the two goats that were prepared for the avodah of Yom Kippur. One was slaughtered as a korban. The other animal remained alive, as it states (16:8) 'ה ְנֵילִפ ַיח ַדֳמיָע. If a goat could think, the surviving goat would say, "I struck it lucky. My fellow animal was slaughtered, and I am alive and well. They even took me out of the Beis HaMikdash, so I am free and out of risk." But soon this goat is taken to a cliff and thrown off. The other animal was more fortunate, because it was slaughtered and brought as a korban before Hashem. (Based on a lesson from Reb Shamshon Refael Hirsh zy'a.)
The ketores of Yom Kippur is called ֶתְטֹרקָּהדַּק ִּיםַמס, "fine incense" (16:12), which means that it was well ground. Rashi writes, "Why does it have to state that the ketores was ָּהדַּק, thin? All ketores were ground thin, as it states (Shemos 30:36) הדק ממנה ושחקת, "You shall crush it very finely..." Rather, for Yom Kippur, the Torah repeats that the ketores should be thin, to tell us that it should be הדקה מן דקה, extremely thin. On Erev Yom Kippur, the ketores was returned to the grinder [so the ketores of Yom Kippur would be extremely thin]."
In the ketores that we say every day, we mention this, as it states, ֶתֹֽרְּטַקה ּוּםִּטפ ,ַבָּנָןר ָּ נוּתֵאוֹתמ ְׁׁלֹשש .ָּהב ָיוּה ָנִיםמ ְׁמוֹנָהוּש ִׁיםִּׁשוְש ֵאוֹתמ ְׁׁלֹשש :ַדכֵּיצֲרִיתַחׁבְּש ַסְּרפ יוֹם ָללְכ ָנֶהמ ,ָּהַמַחה יְמוֹת ִנְיַןכְּמ ָהִּׁשֲמוַח ִׁיםִּׁשוְש גָּדוֹל ֵןכֹּה ַכְנִיסמ ֶםֵּהֶמׁש ,ֵרִיםיְת ָנִיםמ ָהְׁׁלֹשוּש ,ַרְבָּֽיִםָעה בֵּין ַסְרוּפ,ֻּרִיםַכִּפה יוֹם ֶבֶֽרבְּע ֶתֶּֽׁשַכְתלְמ ָןֲזִירַחוּמ ,ֻּרִיםַכִּפה בְּיוֹם ְנָיוָפח ְלֹאמָּהַדַּקה ִןמ ָּהַקד ֵאְּהֶתׁש ֵיכְּד ָהיָפ ָהיָפ ָןֲקׁוֹחוְש, "Chazal taught, that the ketores contained 368 maneh — 365 for each of the days of the year, a maneh for each day, half to be offered in the morning and half toward evening. Of the remaining three maneh, the Kohen Gadol would bring two cupped handfuls into [the Kodesh Kadoshim] on Yom Kippur. These [three maneh] had been returned to the mortar on the day before Yom Kippur and were ground very thoroughly so that they would be הדקה מן דקה, exceedingly fine."
If the ketores could speak, the three maneh would complain, "Why must we be returned to the mortar? Why should we be pounded and ground more than the other pieces of ketores?" But the next day, they won't be complaining anymore. They will discover that they were ground extra because they were to be used for the ketores of Yom Kippur. It was for their benefit, so they could enter the Kodesh Kadoshim and be a korban for Hashem.
This is a life lesson. Every hardship and beating a person goes through is for his benefit. Because of these hardships, he will benefit b'ruchniyus and b'gashmiyus.
