Living Emunah

Parashat Vayikra: Offer the Greatest Korban


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The pasuk says in this week's parasha Vayikra , אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה' מן הבהמה מן הבקר ומן הצאן" תקריבו את קרבנכם– when a man brings a korban from amongst you to Hashem, it should come from animals, either cattle or flock." The mefarshim are bothered by the placement of the word מכם – from you. Seemingly, it should have said "אדם מכם כי יקריב קרבן – a person from amongst you who brings a korban ." One explanation given is that Hashem is telling us, when we give a korban, He doesn't just want an animal, rather אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן – He wants us to sacrifice of ourselves as well. How so? מן הבהמה – we need to go against our animalistic natures. מן הבקר – refers to the animals who are bold, we need to go against our bold nature when it comes to avodat Hashem. And מן הצאן refers to animals who are bashful, we need to go against our bashful nature when it comes to avodat Hashem. For example, if someone has the opportunity to help the masses but he feels, "Who am I? It's not my place." That is when he needs to go against his bashful nature and say, "I'm doing the will of Hashem and this is what it calls for me to do." And if someone was wronged or shamed, and he could easily get back at that person who inflicted the harm, that is when he needs to sacrifice his brazen nature and instead act humbly, like Hashem wants, and keep quiet. Although we are not able to physically bring korbanot today in the Beit HaMikdash, we could offer korbanot of ourselves all the time by overcoming our nature to do the will of Hashem. If someone has been praying for something for a long time, and instead of his situation improving, it only got worse, his inclination will tell him, "Why bother? Prayer is not helping anyway." At that moment, he has an opportunity to offer a korban to Hashem and say to himself, " Tefila is what Hashem wants from me. Although I don't feel like doing it, I'm going to go against my inclination and I'm going to continue praying with all of my heart." If someone has been trying to get married for years without success, his inclination will tell him, "There's no point in continuing to try, nothing's working anyway." At that moment, he can offer a korban to Hashem and say, "It's the will of Hashem for me to get married, and therefore I'm never going to stop trying. If someone was having trouble conceiving and then, after a long difficult process, when she was about to give birth to a child, lo alenu , she lost it. Her inclination might tell her, "How can I ever go through that again? I have a few children already and Hashem is making it so hard for me to have more. I might as well just stop. Why do I need all this extra pain for nothing?" At that moment, she can go against her inclination and offer a korban to Hashem and say, "I was trying to do Hashem's will by bringing more children into the world. I know Hashem will reward me for every bit of pain that I went through in trying to do His will. Results are not in my control, but efforts are. Hashem always determines what's best for me. And therefore, I'm going to continue trying to do His will, no matter how difficult it is." Each person, in his or her own circumstances, can offer the greatest korbanot to Hashem all of the time. Shabbat Shalom.
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Living EmunahBy Ashear, Rabbi David

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