Riddles of the Week

Riddles of the Week

(For answers see inside)

1. In this week’s parsha we learn that korbanos can be brought from animals and birds (1:2, 1:14), however, we don’t find that korbanos can be brought from fish, what is the reason for this – why can’t korbanos be brought from fish?
2. Rashi on the pasuk 1:17, brings from Chazal, that even though the feathers of a bird give off a bad odour when being burnt, when it comes to the korban of a poor person, we still offer up the feathers, so that the mizbayach gets satisfied from the korban of the poor person. I.e. we offer up the feathers to make the korban look bigger.
   The Medrash Rabbah relates a story which highlights the importance of the korban of a poor person: “One day King Agrifas wanted to bring 1,000 oilois. He sent a message to the Kohen Gadol that on that day no other korbanos should be brought. A poor person then came with two birds and asked the Kohen Gadol to offer them up. The Kohen Gadol told him, that he was told not to bring any korbanos that day. The poor person then said, “My master the Kohen Gadol, I hunt four birds every day, and I offer up two of them, and the other two provide me with what I need. If you don’t offer them up, you will be cutting off my source of sustenance (as in the merit of bringing two korbanos Hashem provides for me), the Kohen Gadol then took them and offered them up.
   That night Agrifas had a dream, and he saw that the korban of the poor person was more desired than his 1,000 oilois. The next day he called the Kohen Gadol and said, “Did I not tell you to not allow any other korbanos that day?” The Kohen Gadol then said: My master the king, a poor person came to me with two birds and said, “bring these up”, and I told him that the king said not to bring any korbanos that day, however, he then told me “If I don’t bring up his two birds I will be cutting off his source of income” and I couldn’t not bring them. Agrifas then said: “It’s good all that you did.”
   The question is, how was the poor man allowed to give away half his income every day, surely it says in Kesubos (50a): “One isn’t allowed to give to tzedokah more than a fifth of his money”?
3. When the Beis HaMikdosh is rebuilt speedily in our days, will we be obligated to bring all the korbanos that we never brought during the time we were in galus, or will we say, עבר זמנו בטל קרבנו - “the time has passed and it’s now to late”?
4. One of the workers in a matzah bakery called out, “All that I am doing today with the matzos – is for the sake of making money”, what is the status of these matzos?
5. When is it permissible to eat matzah on erev Pesach?