In this week’s parsha regarding the korban mincha, the pasuk says: “When a soul (nefesh) will bring a meal-offering to Hashem, his offering shall be of fine flour; he shall pour oil on it and place frankincense on it” (Vayikra 2:1). This is in contradistinction to the expression used at the start of the parsha in connection with the animal offerings: “When a person (adam) from among you will bring an offering to Hashem from the animals...” (Vayikra 1:2).
Rashi comments that by the mincha flour offering, which is the least expensive of all korbanos, the Torah uses the expression “when a soul will bring”. This, Rashi says, is the only offering by which the Torah refers to the one who brings the korban as a nefesh [soul]. Rashi explains that typically poor people bring flour offerings in lieu of more expensive animal sacrifices. The Ribbono Shel Olam therefore emphasizes: “I give him credit as if he offered his soul.”
A rich person pays $1500 for an ox and slaughters it for the mizbayach. The Torah says, “very nice”, but it is not the same as the flour offering of a poor person who may have paid $3.50 for the combination of a little flour and a little oil. The poor person’s offering is treated with greater respect, so to speak. Why is that?
Rav Elya Meir Bloch says the simple interpretation is that the $1500 for the rich person may be a smaller percentage of his net worth or his disposable income than the much smaller amount spent by the poor person is, as a total of the latter’s net worth or disposable income. Relatively speaking, the poor person made a larger contribution of his wealth than the rich person.
But, says Rav Elya Meir, this is not the correct way to interpret these pasukim. Rav Elya Meir sees a deeper interpretation:
The Ramban writes that when a person offers an animal sacrifice, he is really supposed to think that the slaughtered animal on the mizbayach should really be him. As it is with so many mitzvos, the Torah desires one’s heart, not just the hollow act of bringing a sacrifice. The Torah wants the intent of what he is doing to penetrate into the deepest recesses of a person’s personality. The Torah is interested in the person achieving the feeling of what bringing a korban is supposed to be about.
When a wealthy person plunks down his $1500 for his offering, he has the attitude that “I certainly did my share. This animal cost me 1500 bucks! What more do You
