From Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel
Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz
Kayin brought his minchah offering from a lofty plane of spiritual appreciation, intuiting the secret of korbanos from his own mind and heart. Nevertheless, Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not accept his offering, since it was sorely lacking in quality, as Rashi interprets the words mipri ha’adamah to mean min hagarua — from the worst.
The rosh yeshivah, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, observes that at this point in history, the only inhabitants of the world were Adam HaRishon and his wife and children, while the world itself was replete with a virtually endless array of the finest and most succulent fruits, grains, and produce. Adam and his family couldn’t possibly have consumed even a tiny fraction of the great bounty that flourished all around them, and abandoning all the excess produce in the fields would leave it to rot.
The Exalted Secret of Korbanos
What prevented Kayin from offering the cream of his crop to Hashem, especially when it was he who originally grasped the exalted secret of korbanos and felt inspired to offer a gift to Heaven?
Rav Chaim explains that this is the innate nature of man. Even when a person is blessed with all the bounty and goodness in the world, he is reluctant to part with his possessions or share them with others. Furthermore, even when a person does share his wealth, he tends to be stingy and give with an ayin ra’ah.
The attribute of nesinah, giving from the heart, is so challenging for a human being to master that even when a person engages in this lofty spiritual form of giving — offering a korban to Hakadosh Baruch Hu — his nature would be to do so frugally, with an ayin ra’ah.
Wouldn’t Your Friend Surely Be Insulted?
If someone were to present low-grade produce as a gift to his friend, the friend would surely be offended. Why, then, was Kayin so shocked and dismayed that Hashem did not accept his korban? Kayin’s reaction stemmed from the same negative trait of stinginess that underpinned his offering. It is so difficult for a person to give genuinely from himself that even when he gives the bare minimum, he feels that he parted with everything he owns and that others owe him appreciation for his magnanimous gift!
Kayin presented the worst of his produce to Hashem, yet he still believed that his offering would be accepted graciously and with desire — because in his mind, he had given everything in the world. This is why the rejection of his korban caused him deep distress.
Reprinted from the Parshas Bereishis 5783 edition of At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Insights on Chumash from Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel.”
