Parshas Vayikra - Poor Man's Sacrifice | Rabbi Uren Reich

My dear Vayimaen friends, when we think of previous generations, when we hear of the greatness of the Gedolim and the Tzaddikim and even the simple Yidden, the Emunah Pshuta, the Yiras Shomayim, how many people said Tikkun Chatzos בדמעות, and then we look at our generation and what we are and who we are, we come to a certain level of despair. We are a דור עני, we are so poor, we are so destitute, we are so impoverished. And what I think we can learn from this week's Parsha, Rashi reveals to us that in a certain sense, paradoxically, a דור עני has an advantage over all previous generations. The Torah at the beginning of Vayikra talks about three different levels of Korbanos. The highest is the one who brings a beautiful Beheimah as a Korban to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, עולת בהמה. The next is someone who only brings an עולת העוף. And then comes Mincha. Mincha is not a fat Beheimah, it's not even a thin עוף, it doesn't have any Chaim at all. It's just flour. And the Mishna in Menachos says about all three that the Torah says ריח ניחוח, All three are basically the same concept of a Korban, one's מרבה, one's ממעיט. But if you look at Rashi, Rashi seems to have a different גרסא in Chazal, maybe in the Toras Kohanim. No, the first two have the same ריח ניחוח, because אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט. An עוף and Beheimah are in the same league. The person who, nebech, can only bring a Mincha, he's not even a ממעיט. And, therefore, the question is why does he have a ריח ניחוח? And Rashi says something incredible Beshem Chazal. Who is the one who can only, nebech, bring a Mincha? He can't even afford an עוף. A poor man. In a certain sense, paradoxically, the עני is being מקריב more than the עשיר who brings the Beheimah, or the one who brings the עוף. They are bringing a Nefesh and a Ru’ach Chaim of an animal. What is he being מקריב, through bringing this flour, that cost so much for him and takes so much sacrifice? He's being מקריב himself. His sacrifice is a sacrifice of his very essence. Dear friends, previous generations, people gave up incredible amounts of their money, of their time, of their energy for Avodas Hashem. We are a דור עני. But for us, the little bit that we give is so difficult sometimes, and so much part of what we really are. We live in a world, in a culture, that's so pervasive, and we stand up and we say no. When we live with the credo of Vayimaen, we're giving up a little bit of ourselves. And to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, our דור עני allows Hashem Yisborach to say, What I see is not the little bit that you're doing. It's the הקרבה, it's the sacrifice of your very Nefesh. What an uplifting thought to elevate our Ko’ach to be עומד בניסיון מדי יום ביומו.