When I was in Middle School, I learned an important lesson from my mother. We were getting ready to go to davening one Friday night, so my mother told me to put on a nice, white button-up shirt. Being that I was a teenager, I refused to wear dress clothes. I argued back that my New Jersey Devils hockey jersey cost more money than this button-up shirt, so shouldn’t I wear the jersey. My mother responded with a very important lesson: just because it is more expensive does not mean that it is nicer. The $50 jersey, although it might be expensive clothing, is inappropriate to wear on Shabbos.

This week’s parsha begins with a discussion of a Karbon Oleh – a burnt offering that was brought during the time the Temple stood in Jerusalem. The Torah mentions three types of Karbon Oleh that may be brought: from an animal (like a cow or a sheep), from a bird, or from a meal offering. The meal offering is brought by those who are poor and cannot bring the more expensive types of offerings. This type of person might think “why should I even bother bringing this? The meal offering is worth nothing anyway. Why should I even bother?” This type of thinking is totally wrong though. Think about it: does Hashem need these offerings? Does Hashem really gain anything from a person that brings him an expensive cow? Hashem created every single cow that exists – he can get cows anytime he wants. The offering of an expensive cow to Hashem is like giving Bill Gates a plastic fork – only many, many times greater. It is silly to think Hashem needs our cow.

What Hashem wants with the offerings is for a person to give all he can from himself. Hashem does not look at what is being placed on the altar, but what the person is thinking inside and the effort he needs to go through to bring the offering.

In last’s week’s parsha, it mentions the gifts brought to build the Mishkan in order from the greater to the less great. It begins with gold, silver, and copper, and works down to rams’ skins, wood, oil, and spices, but then ends with the beautiful stones used in the Ephod and Choshen. These stones were extremely expensive, even more expensive than gold, so why are they placed last on the list? The commentators answer the reason is because they fell from Heaven and did not take any effort on the part of the people that brought them. In Hashem’s Book, the most important thing is NOT the cost of the item, but the effort in giving the item. Something which is difficult to give away, but is given to charity, is seen in Hashem’s eyes as the most holy donation.

So the next time you are at an appeal and you hear people screaming out numbers that are way out of your league, do not feel bad if all you can give is a small amount. Be happy, because it could be your donation, although smaller, is really worth a lot to Hashem.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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