It is told of a family man who one day began to feel unwell until he was ill. He went to doctors who told him he had a serious disease. In order to be cured from this disease, he had to undergo a difficult and dangerous operation, and of course, very expensive. He went to a tzaddik and asked for a bracha, the tzaddik asked him if in his house at the Shabbos table, did he ‘operate’ on people (meaning do you judge and speak about them)? The man admitted that this was their custom, when they sit around the Shabbos table, they bring people to the operating table and literally cut them up crosswise and lengthwise... the tzaddik told him, “Stop cutting people up at the Shabbos table and you will not need an operation.”
The man returned home, gathered all his children and told them the instruction of the tzaddik. Of course, they all accepted upon themselves to stop this bad custom, the main thing was that their father should be well, and so, after a short time the man was completely cured and did not need any treatment or surgery.
Our parsha says (21:17), 'איש אשר יהיה בו מום לא יקרב להקריב לחם אלוקיו' – ‘Any man in whom there will be a blemish shall not come near to offer the bread of his G-d’, and Rashi explains, ‘any meal is referred to as “bread”’, and we must understand what is ‘the bread of his G-d’? Does HaKadosh Baruch Hu have to eat? Does He need bread? Dovid HaMelech has said (Tehillim 50:9) 'לא אקח מביתך פר ממכלאותיך עתודים' – ‘I will not take from your household a bull, nor from your pens any goats’, the karbanos that we offer before Him are only for our benefit, but He Himself does need this, then what is ‘the bread of his G-d’?
The truth is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu does need bread nor our karbanos, but He does want the karbanos so that we merit that it should be good with us, and we should be forgiven for all our sins. Nowadays, when we do not have karbanos, ‘the table of a person atones for him’ (Menachos 97a), therefore, it is quite appropriate that our table where we eat should really be like a Mizbeach, and we must pay attention to how we conduct ourselves when we eat. Of course, we should not forget to speak words of Torah, then the words will go up before Hashem literally like the karbanos, and He will bestow for us atonement and good influences without end.
-Tiv HaTorah - Emor
