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Yes, it’s true, the Jews seemed to be eating a lot of “corbs” in the time of the Temple. The Rambam puts it this way (end of Hilchot Mechusrei Capara): “[If] a wealthy person declares ‘the corbon offering of this recovered metzora is on me’ and the metzora is poor, [the wealthy man] must bring a rich person’s corbon, since he is capable of doing so. And if a poor person declares ‘the corbon offering of this recovered metzora is on me’ and the metzora is wealthy, [the poor person] must bring on account of him a rich person’s offering since he voluntarily obligated himself on behalf of the wealthy man.”
You could analyze the Rambam’s language and ask the following questions:
1. In the first section, what difference does it make if the wealthy man is capable of bringing a more expensive rich man’s offering? The one who is obligated in the offering, for whom the rich man is voluntarily bringing a sacrifice, is poor, so why should the wealthy volunteer have to bring anything other than a poor man’s offering?
2. In the second section, the Rambam states “since [the poor man] voluntarily obligated himself.” Why did he not just say, “since the metzora is wealthy”? Why is the emphasis upon the volunteer rather than upon he who is obligated in the corbon – the metzora?
Furthermore, the Rambam brings the same halacha in a different section (Hilchot Ma’aseh HaKorbonot 14:9), and there he says, “One who declares ‘the corbon of this recovered metzora or woman who gave birth is on me,’ and the metzora or woman were poor, must bring a poor person’s offering. And if they were wealthy, the volunteer must bring a rich offering even if he himself is poor.” Here, we see a contradiction; in the previous halacha the Rambam differentiated between a rich and a poor volunteer who would bring the corbon for a poor person. Here, though the Rambam states that one who would volunteer to bring the poor person’s corbon need only bring a poor offering, without differentiating whether the volunteer himself was wealthy or not. Why does he deviate from the previous halacha in which he says that if the volunteer is wealthy, he should bring a rich offering even for the poor person?
The explanation may lie in the two different contexts in which the Rambam was writing. In the context of the laws of “Ma’aseh HaKorbonot” (the procedures of sacrifices), the Rambam wishes to explain the requirements of the offerings, without regard to the people involved. In that context, the Rambam is not concerned with the relative economic level of the volunteer. Since the one who needs the corbon is himself poor, even the wealthy volunteer need only bring a poor person’s offering to free him of his obligations.
However, the section on “Mechusrei Capara” (lit: those in need of atonement by sacrifice) deals with the person who requires atonement and he who volunteers to bring it on his behalf. In this context, the Rambam wishes to emphasize another principle – that all Jews are responsible and guarantors for one another. Therefore, he says that a rich person who volunteers to bring a corbon for a poor person must bring a rich corbon, “since he is capableŔ Why? Because the power of volunteering on behalf of another Jew is so powerful that it actually transforms one Jew’s obligations into another’s. The wealthy volunteer’s act is so powerful that he makes the poor man’s obligation into his own, and the requirement of a poor man’s corbon becomes transformed into a rich man’s corbon. Since the volunteer is wealthy, he takes the obligations of the poor man on as if they were his own, and he must bring a rich man’s corbon.
The principle of responsibility and reciprocity is not just a detail in the laws mentioned above. It pervades all of the laws of sacrifices and indeed, of the Torah in general (for example; saying blessings). In the same section as above, (“Ma’aseh Hakorbonot,” Halacha 8), the Rambam states, “Guilt offerings are not in the category of promises and donations. [An innocent person] who voluntarily says ‘I will bring a guilt offering’ … is as if he said nothingŔ However, if he stipulates, “the guilt offering of so-and-so is on me’ [and that person is obligated in the guilt offering], and the person agrees, the volunteer brings the guilt offering and atones for him.”
From this, we see the unbelievable power of the principle of responsibility and reciprocity. It is so powerful that one Jew can even bring an offering and atone for another Jew. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter whether the Jew is rich or poor; not only can a wealthy person atone for a poor person, but a poor person can bring a corbon on behalf of a rich person. And he (the poor person) becomes so involved in the mitzvah, that the responsibility of the rich man (to bring a rich corbon) actually devolves upon the poor man, who must bring a rich corbon, even though he himself is poor. Such is the power of Jewish unity and love for a fellow Jew, that we are as one body, and one Jew’s lacking becomes the responsibility of another Jew as well.
Adapted from Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ztz’l, v. 27, p. 101-106
Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos, Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection
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