His question was: why is the Korban Omer brought from barley?
Barley is not a high quality grain and is a grain that is often used as animal feed. If we are giving something as a gift for Hashem, shouldn't we give Him the very best?! Why are we giving a korban of animal food? Why not use wheat for the korban -- a high quality grain -- like we do on Shavuos?
Rabbi Glasser's answer was, yes, ideally would want to bring the best of the best -- the choicest wheat in the field. But reality has it that the barley is the first thing to sprout. We have to bring barley because the only grain that's growing is barley! When barley's all you've got, then barley is what you give.
The point here, is that our situation isn't always the absolute ideal. As far as how it applies to now: summer might be hard time to stay on track, or you might not be with your usual chevra, or you just might have a field full of barley. But we have to know that when Hashem gives us barley, He's not expecting us to give back wheat. Hashem wants us to acknowledge and be grateful for what we have been given, and if it's barley, then we must take that and use it for Hashem. We shouldn't spend our lives waiting for the wheat, because sometimes the "less than ideal" barley is precisely what Hashem wants from us!
Beautiful Sarina, thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt’s so important to remember that Hashem gives me כל צרכי, whatever it is that I need to serve Him.
A similar idea: When it comes to korbanos, the Torah calls all of them ריח ניחוח - whether it’s an expensive cow, or a small, little bird. As long as a person’s intentions are לשם שמים, Hashem loves it!! And when a person doesn’t have the money to bring any type of animal, and instead brings a korban mincha made from flour, Hashem considers it as if he brought his soul! (Check out Rashi at the end of perek א/ beginning of perek ב in Vayikra)
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