The author of Avodas Yisrael, the heiligeh Maggid of Kozhnitz, Rebbe Yisrael Hopstein, zt’l, learned with the greatest tzaddikim of the generation, was the prized talmid of the Maggid of Mezritch, and was a close friend and colleague of the Alter Rebbe. Respected as a successor to the pathway of the Baal Shem Tov, the Kozhnitzer Maggid was known for his selflessness and love of Yidden, including the countless petitioners who would arrive at his doorstep for blessings.
One such petitioner, for years desperate for a yeshuah, had travelled to the Koznitzer Maggid as her final hope. “Please, Rebbe,” the poor woman cried, bursting into the Maggid’s study, “bless me and my husband with a child!” The tzaddik listened kindly to her whole story and then responded: “I will happily bless you…on condition that you bring a pidyon of one hundred gold coins.” The woman was taken aback. She had not expected such an enormous price tag for a blessing! She began to plead with the Rebbe. “How can I possibly come up with anything close to that amount! I can barely make ends meet as it is, and I have no more strength. Please, please, I beg you, have mercy on me!” Despite her entreaties, the Maggid flatly insisted that his condition be met: one hundred gold coins or no blessing.
The woman left the Kozhnitzer beis midrash in shock. Was this the holy man she had heard so much about? But what choice did she have? For years, she had visited every tzaddik she had heard of, alive or in the grave; she had tried every segulah and treatment and prayer. Yet she refused to give up and was set on securing the blessing and the yeshuah.
A few months later the woman returned, utterly exhausted, to Kozhnitz, and placed a satchel containing eighty gold coins on the table of the tzaddik. “I have spent days and nights wearing down the souls of my shoes knocking on doors collecting perutah after perutah. I have sacrificed everything to come up with this pidyon. Please Rebbe, consider this sufficient to receive your berachah.”
The Kozhnitzer rose from his chair. “Absolutely not,” he frowned. “Was I not clear enough about my conditions? You have wasted your time in coming back here.”
This was the final straw. The woman nearly fainted. Could this be the behavior of a holy man? A rebbe is supposed to be generous, kind, and considerate! How incomprehensibly cruel! She melted into tears of exasperation, but then, after a few moments, somehow summoned one last bit of life-force. “Oh, I see,” she whispered, yet with fire in her eyes. “If that’s how it is, I will manage without you and your overly-expensive pidyon! I’ll go home and the Ribbono shel Olam, the Ozer Dalim, the Helper of the Poor, He will help me! Beiana rachitz, in Him alone do I trust!”
Hearing this prayerful outpouring and this intense emunah, the Kozhnitzer Maggid’s heart was touched and his frown was immediately replaced with a warm, sweet smile. “Ah,” he said, tenderly, “this is exactly what I was hoping to hear! You see, when you arrived in Kozhnitz, I sensed that you were placing all of your faith and hope for salvation in me, mere flesh and blood. Oy! I so badly wanted to help you, but a Yid can only receive a true berachah when he acknowledges Who the real Source of Blessing and Salvation is! So please forgive me for causing you more pain. I never really wanted any money from you; I deliberately asked the impossible and put on a frown, but this was only to help you realize that we can only rely on Hashem… I humbly offer you my blessing. Please, if you would, come back next year with your dear husband to share the news of Hashem’s eternal kindness….”
If a person brings an unspecified grain-offering to G-d, his offering must be of fine flour. He must pour oil over it and place frankincense upon it (2:1).
Nefesh ki takriv, “If a person (soul) brings…” refers specifically to a poor person who lacks the means to bring a korban of value. They are to bring a meal offering of unbaked wheat flour. Rashi clarifies the intent of the word nefesh in this pasuk: Regarding a poor person’s effort, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is saying that it is k’ilu hikriv nafsho, “as if he offers his very soul.” Even by giving the most basic of offerings, he gives all he has—including himself.
As the Lubavitcher Rebbe notes, the Torah affirms another level of significance to the poor man’s offering, for when someone brings a beautiful, expensive sacrifice of fattened animals, he can’t help but be filled with some pride and self-satisfaction. When one brings the humblest of offerings, he himself is humbled, and this greatly magnifies the effect of the offering. In fact, the tefillas oni, the prayer of a “poor” or humble person, touches G-d’s heart, sweetens judgments, and brings salvation more directly than that of an ashir, a “wealthy” or proud, satiated person:
“A prayer of the poor man when he is faint and pours forth his plea before Hashem… Hashem beholds the earth from Heaven, to hear the groans of the prisoner, to release those condemned to death, so that the fame of Hashem may be recounted in Zion, His praises in Jerusalem…” (Tehillim 102:1, 20-22).
In contrasting the different forms of offering, the Gemara (Menachos 110a), too, derives a lesson. It is not the expense, pomp, or ceremony in the offering of a korban that matters as much as the kavanah, the intentionality and heartfulness of one’s service that defines the worthiness of our offering. The Torah calls both the korban of the wealthy man and the korban of the destitute man “a pleasing fragrance.” Quantity and expense are basically irrelevant—what matters is our inner intention: “One who brings a substantial offering and one who brings a meager offering have equal merit, provided that he directs his heart toward Heaven.”
Indeed, salvation does not depend on funding or a spectacular show, but rather on nefesh ki takriv, “offering one’s nefesh,” bringing our full self, with humility and emunah, into a relationship with HaKadoshBaruch Hu. May each of our prayers, wishes, hopes, and humble offerings be received as a rei’ach nicho’ach laHashem, bringing nachas to the Ribono shel Olam, bringing Him a “warm smile” and unleashing salvation upon Am Yisrael…
“You will surely arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to Her; the appointed time has come!” (Tehillim 102:14)
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the founder of Tzama Nafshi and the author of the “Baderech” series. Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife Ora and their family.
