Leviticus 2:12-15
12 There are, indeed, two instances in which you are required to bring offerings of leavening agents and sweet fruits to God, each of which is an offering of the first of your produce: (a) the first offering from the annual wheat harvest must be the two loaves of leavened bread brought by the community on Shavuot, and (b) the first fruits of the seven types of plants mentioned as distinguishing the Land of Israel—which include figs and dates, whose juice is sweet—must be brought by each individual farmer. Nevertheless, as you will see when the laws of these offerings are given in detail, these offerings do not ascend the Altar in order to be burned up as fire-offerings to please God.
13 You must salt every one of your grain-offering sacrifices. You must not omit the salt of your God’s covenant (which He made with salt on the second day of Creation) from being offered on your grain-offerings. On all your sacrifices, you must offer salt.
Chasidic Insights
13 You must offer up salt on all your sacrifices: The process of offering up a sacrifice, i.e., coming close to God, must incorporate the various properties of salt:
- Taste: Salt often brings out the taste in otherwise tasteless foods. Thus, salt is compared to the inner dimension of the Torah, which we must study in order to add vitality and “taste” to our observance of the Torah’s laws.
- Permanence: Salt is a preservative; it itself never decays. Similarly, our attempts to come close to God must be serious and earnest; they should not be transient affairs. This is possible only when we stir the essence of our soul and reveal our super-rational love for God.
- Cleansing: Salt is a cleanser and disinfectant. Similarly, our sacrifices and attempts to come close to God must be accompanied by our attempt to purge our lives of all negative forces.
- Healing: The prophet Elisha healed the waters of Jericho with salt. Similarly, our sacrifices and attempts to come close to God must serve to “heal” our animal drives by eliminating their materialistic orientation and directing them toward Divinity.
You must offer up salt on all your sacrifices: With salt, the offering incorporates all four kingdoms of creation: mineral, plant, animal, and human. Salt is the mineral element; the oil, wine, and flour are the vegetative element; the animal itself is the animal element; the person offering the sacrifice and the priest officiating at the sacrifice are the human element. Together with these representatives, the sacrifice elevates all four kingdoms of creation into holiness.
Our tables are compared to the Altar, since the food we eat becomes the fuel that enables us to fulfill God’s commandments and is thereby elevated from mundaneness to holiness. Traditionally, at the beginning of a meal the bread is eaten with salt. In this way, all four elements of creation are present at the table, just as they are at a sacrifice.
Inner Dimensions
Salt: Salt embodies the concept of “sweetening”—i.e., ameliorating or neutralizing—the forces of judgment and severity (המתקת הדינים). Salt stems from the Divine attribute of judgment (gevurah); hence, when applied correctly, it destroys the evil and destructive elements of any entity with which it comes in contact. For example, salting meat removes the non-kosher blood, neutralizing its potentially spiritually debilitating effect on the people who will eat the meat. At the same time, the fact that salt heals and enhances taste indicates that the severity of its source has been attenuated and made subordinate to sweetness. Similarly, Nachmanides explains that since salt is formed by the heat of the sun’s fire beating down on the water, salt is a combination of water and fire, the symbols of kindness (chesed) and judgment (gevurah).
