[Dean's World] Naftali: All the fat (best) is G-d's. (Leviticus 3:16)

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Posted by Naftali:
All the fat (best) is G-d's. (Leviticus 3:16)
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1191967792.shtml


   Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

   In process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of
   the ground an offering to the Lord.

   Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it.

   The Lord had respect for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and
   for his offering he did not have respect.
   (Leviticus 4:3-5)

   "from the fruit of the ground"-It was poor in quality. But we have a
   tradition stating that it was linen.([1]Rashi)

   Some say that Rashi quotes the tradition stating that Cain brought
   linen, which is considered by Torah to be a most prestigious specie of
   the vegetable kingdom, in order to explain how Cain thought his
   offering would be well accepted notwithstanding it's being of poor
   quality.

   Cain thought, for spiritual reasons that I may post later, that the
   quality of the specie being offered was the only critical factor
   governing the acceptability of an offering to G-d; he didn't give much
   weight to the quality of the specimen itself.

   Whereas Abel thought that what mattered most was the quality of the
   specimen, rather than the quality of the specie constituting his
   offering. So while Abel only brought sheep, which is considered by
   Torah rather less prestigious than cattle, he brought "the firstlings
   of his flock" and "the fat of it."

   We learn from G-d's reaction that Abel was correct.

   This idea is found as well in [2]Rambam : One who wishes to be
   meritorious should force himself and bring [to G-d] from the very best
   of whatever specie he happens to be offering.

   The Rambam implies that one should choose the best specimen of the
   specie he is offering to G-d, but he need not necessarily bring of the
   best specie. There is ample reason to suggest that he learned this
   from our episode.

   The reasoning behind the idea is thus: the purpose of Torah's
   directive that "all the fat(best) is G-d's" is to express Man's
   recognition in G-d's ownership over the whole creation: "The whole
   world and everything in it is G-d's." (Psalms 24:1)

   And since "the world and everything in it" includes both prestigious
   species and not, the concept of "all the fat (best) is G-d's." needs
   to be expressed in all species in the creation. Therefore, one needs
   always to bring "from the very best of whatever specie he happens to
   be offering."

References

   1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambam