The end of the parashah (ch. 5) discusses the ויורד עולה קרבן, which is a korban chatas, brought for certain aveiros. The korban is one animal, either a sheep or a goat, as it states (5:7) ָהֵבנְק ָאָטח ֶרֲׁשא ָּאתוַֹטח ַלע 'ַהל ָמוֲֹׁשא ֶתא ֵבִיאוְה ִזִּיםע ַתִירְעׂש אוֹ ְבָּהׂכִּש ַצֹּאןה ִןמ , "he shall bring his chatas to Hashem for his sin which he had committed, a female animal from the flock either a sheep or a goat..."
When a poor person brings this korban, he brings two korbanos, an עולה and a חטאת, as it states (5:7) ָמוֲֹׁשא ֶתא ֵבִיאוְה ֶהׂש דֵּי יָדוֹ ַַגִּיעת לֹא ִםוְא ָדֶחוְא ָּאתַטלְח ָדֶחא 'ַהל יוֹנָה בְנֵי ְׁנֵיש אוֹ תֹרִים ֵּיְׁתש ָאָטח ֶרֲׁשא ָהלְעֹל , "If he cannot afford a sheep, he shall bring as his chatas for that sin that he had committed, two turtle doves or two young doves before Hashem, one for a chatas, and one for a korban olah."
The Torah allows the poor person to bring birds, instead of a sheep or goat. This is the reason the korban is called ויורד עולה, because the cost of the korban is according to how much the person who committed the aveirah can afford to pay. However, we still need to understand why a poor person brings two korbanos, an olah and a chatas, while a wealthy person brings solely one korban, a korban chatas?
Ibn Ezra says that since he is poor, he might have had a negative thought (על עלה אולי מחשבה רוחו). The Ibn Ezra doesn't explain the negative thought, but the meforshim clarify that when the poor person sees that he can't bring an animal for a korban like the wealthy do, he might have had a complaint against Hashem, chalilah. He is upset that he can't also afford to bring an animal, like the wealthy people bring. For this negative thought of complaint about his financial situation, he must bring a korban olah, because a korban olah atones for the sins that one commits with his thoughts (as it states in the Yerushalmi Yumah 8:6).
But the question is, Chazal (Kiddushin 39b) say, למעשה מצרפה ה"הקב אין רעה מחשבה, when a person has an evil thought, Hashem doesn't consider it as if it were performed. So, why does he need a korban olah to atone for his negative thoughts?
The answer is that there is one exception. Chazal (ibid.) say that when it comes to avodah zarah, one is punished for thoughts, as well. This poor person was lacking emunah in Hashem. He didn't believe that Hashem was leading him in the best way. He had complaints about Hashem for not making him wealthy like others. He felt that Hashem wasn't treating him correctly. These thoughts are apikorsus, which is a type of avodah zarah. Therefore, he needs atonement for his negative thoughts, which is why he brings a korban olah.
Rebbe Hirsh of Riminov zt'l said before his petirah, "The central point of the holy Torah is to believe that Hashem is אמונה ל"א עול ואין (Devarim 32:4)." This means to believe that Hashem's judgment is true, and that Hashem leads us is in a proper and good way, and there is no reason to have complaints about Hashem, chalilah.
I heard a mashal of a young child who was crying because he was hungry. The child was holding onto his bottle. The father took away the child's bottle so he could fill it with formula to satisfy the child's hunger. When the father takes the bottle away, the child cries even more bitterly. The child doesn't understand that the father is preparing his needs. This is a mashal for what occurs when Hashem takes something away from a person, such as when he loses money and the like. The person thinks he has lost, but it is just preparation for the bounty that Hashem will give him. It is a moment of disappointment, but only good will come from it.
Another example of this concept is a jigsaw puzzle. A puzzle piece has an indentation at its edge, allowing it to connect with other pieces. The nimshal is that when a person lacks something in his life, he feels like he has a hole in his life. He doesn't realize that this deficiency will help him reach the perfection he needs to attain. The lack is a step towards completing the picture that Hashem is creating for him.
Reb Fishel Schachter Shlita, a renowned magid in New York, says that when Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz zt'l first opened his yeshiva and cheder in Torah v'Daas, he spoke to many people, trying to convince them to join the yeshiva or cheder.
He had neighbors who had once been religious, but when they came to America, they stopped observing Torah and mitzvos. They had a child, who wasn't religious, but he would often play with the Jewish children in the neighborhood. Reb Shraga Feivel found an opportunity to speak to this child and told him that it would be good for him to join the cheder. It will be good for him in both this world and the next. The child was convinced and told his parents that he wanted to attend cheder. His parents tried to dissuade the child. They told him that it wouldn’t be good for him, but the child was stubborn; he fought for his rights, and his parents had no choice but to agree to send him to the cheder.
Once a month, Reb Shraga Feivel would test the children, and he would give every child a candy, which was a unique gift in those days (almost a hundred years ago). Once, after testing the children and distributing the candies, he ran out of candies. He was missing just one candy to give to this new student, who had joined the cheder with mesirus nefesh. Reb Shraga Feivel told him that he would give him a candy from his office the next day.
However, the next day, Reb Shraga Feivel forgot to give the child candy, and the child didn't feel comfortable asking him for it. A couple of weeks later, he told his parents what happened. The parents said, "You see, we told you that you won't be happy in the cheder. We told you that it won't be good for you."
But the child didn't take their words to heart, and he continued learning in the cheder. Years passed, and he established a holy Jewish family, who followed the ways of the Torah.
When he was fifty-two years old, he suffered heart problems. He was rushed to the hospital. The doctors in the hospital said that they couldn’t do anything, and that he only had a few hours to live. But shortly afterwards, he opened his eyes and was even able to sit up in bed. He was totally well, as if nothing had occurred. His son, who was in the hospital room, was shocked and asked him what happened. His father told him that he saw his Rebbe, the tzaddik Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz. He was given permission from heaven to keep his promise, to give him the candy that he had promised him. But a candy for a fifty-two-year-old man isn't very much, and not equivalent to the amount he felt he lost when he was a young child. So, in exchange, Reb Shraga Feivel had permission to grant him fifteen years of life.
Reb Fishel Schachter Shlita sums up the story with a lesson we should remember: When someone doesn't receive what others have, he shouldn't ask questions, because he will receive it in the end, and then it will be worth so much more.
