By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
ולא תשבית מלח ברית אלקיך מעל מנחתך (פרק ב פסוק יג)
We are commanded to bring salt together with every קרבן מנחה (meal offering). Rashi explains that salt is referred to as “salt of Hashem’s covenant” because when Hashem separated the upper and lower waters at the time of creation the lower waters felt bad as they were demoted. Hashem comforted them by promising that there will always be salt, which comes from the lower waters, brought to Him with the sacrifices. R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky asks, why did Hashem comfort the water through bringing the salt on the מזבח, why not serve with the water itself? He answers that the way salt is made is by the water evaporating and leaving the salt by itself on the ground (see Rashi in כתובות עט:). It could be said that the salt is the lowest part of the lower waters- because even after the rest of the water rises, the salt remains down below. And yet even the salt was chosen to be brought with the מנחה to show that there is קדושה even in the lowest of the low and that not necessarily does it follow that the higher entity is holier. This was an additional comfort to the water and a life lesson to all of us that regardless of who seems “higher”, everyone can access a connection to Hashem.
ואם לא תגיע ידו די שה והביא את אשמו…אחד לחטאת ואחד לעולה (פרק ה פסוק ז)
If one sins and is obligated to bring a קרבן עולה ויורד, their financial status determines what they need to bring as a קרבן. A wealthy individual brings a sheep as an אשם, a poor person brings two birds- one עולה and one חטאת, and a destitute person brings a מנחה. The אבן עזרא is bothered, why does a poor person have to bring two offerings while a wealthy person only brings one? He answers that the poor person brings a חטאת to atone for his sin, and he must also bring an עולה, which atones for improper thoughts, because he may have been jealous that he cannot bring the קרבן of a wealthy person. R’ Elya Baruch Finkel points out that this poor person may have been poor for a while- why only now are we concerned that he became jealous? R’ Finkel answers that we can trust a poor person to work on themselves in overcoming jealousy regarding worldly matters, but here they are looking to serve Hashem in a better way. We are nervous that they will be jealous of how the wealthy person can “give more” to Hashem in their service of Him. Even though their jealousy is in spiritual matters, this is still not the proper approach, and they must atone for this as well. Although we are instructed to utilize jealousy in רוחניות, this is only to push ourselves to work harder, but in the tools that we are given, that is totally from Hashem. One should not be jealous of others that they can serve Hashem with more money, brains, or other assets, because these are all gifts from Hashem. We should be satisfied with our lot and only use jealousy as an impetus to work harder in serving Him.
