“Command Aaron…” (Vayikra 6:2)

Rashi: “…Rebbe Shimon says: the verse needs to encourage people more regarding mitzvos that one has to spend money on.”

For many years I have been bothered by this Chazal – it was difficult to understand that just because the Kohen doesn’t get anything out of the korbon olah, we have to fortify him and give him strength to execute this service properly. Among the things that bothered me is the term used by Chazal: “chisaron kis” – that there is financial loss. In reality, there is no loss for the Kohen, just there is no gain. Rav Elya Lopian asks a different question, and based on his thought, my question was answered as well.

Chazal tell us that Kohanim are zerizim – alacritous. They are industrious and always ready to do the work of Hashem. In fact, at the golden calf, they were the ones who actually killed their own half-brothers and relatives which showed they were true servants of Hashem. Was it really necessary for such great righteous men to be “beefed up” and prodded forward in their avodas Hashem just because there was no material gain?

I was once speaking to a person about someone with whom we both had been involved. We both knew him when he was of great stature and then he went off the derech. In the course of coming to grips with this, the person told me something astounding. He said, “Don’t you know that Hashem equalizes the playing field? Chazal tell us that the greater the person, the greater the yetzer hara.” In fact, the gemora in Sukkah (52a) relates that Abaya, after observing a man and woman who entered a situation likely to cause sin, yet they didn’t sin, commented, “If I would have been in their situation I probably would have sinned.” The gemora tells us that he was disturbed at this until he was told, “The greater the person, the greater the yetzer hara.” This concept is also reflected in the Torah in the parsha of yefas toar. The Torah permitted the soldiers to take such women in order that they should not sin. Yet, Chazal tell us that in order to become accepted as soldiers they had to be careful about the most minute of halachos.

Yet even the greatest among us must always be alert, as is shown in this story I once heard about the Chofetz Chaim when he was already an elderly man. He was sitting at a table at a roadside inn and the waitress there didn’t have her arms covered properly. The elderly Chaffetz Chaim turned to his host and asked, “What do you think? I don’t have blood in my veins? Why did you allow me to be put in such a predicament?”

I once heard from Rav Mordechai Gifter Z”L the following statement: “Small people are influenced by great actions. Great people are influenced by small actions.” This means that the small steps forward in life make a big difference, and those who gloss over them can fall in a downward spiral into the abyss. The yetzer hara always chisels away at a person, by getting him to neglect the small things.

Going back to the question about the Kohanim who needed encouragement to perform the Olah offering: It is human nature that when given an opportunity to do something with an immediate benefit or something with a delayed benefit, the person will tend to do the thing that gives him the immediate benefit. And, even if he does the thing that comes with no immediate benefit, he will end up doing it lethargically because he will feel like he is missing out on what he could have gained. I don’t think there was the smallest doubt that Aharon would not execute the olah. However, maybe he would not have done it with the same enthusiasm (based on his level) that would be befitting of him. This small infraction (based on his level) could eventually even lead to his leaving the service of Hashem.

I would like to suggest a possible explanation about a famous incident regarding Yochanan Kohen Gadol who served faithfully for 80 years, and then suddenly became an apikorus. Do you think he went immediately to the biggest of sins? It probably started off with something small.

As we wind down after Purim (if you indeed are winding down) and gear ourselves up for Pesach, to many of us some of the customs regarding preparations seem to be purposeless. The yetzer hara has a habit of playing things down when we cannot understand them. If we treat out chukas hapesach as a chok like the red heifer, I hope and pray that our devotion will merit us to bring the korbon Pesach in purity.