Commentary for Menachot 219:24

<br><br><big><strong>הדרן עלך הרי עלי עשרון וסליקא לה מסכת מנחות</strong></big><br><br>

Neither el<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. and , meaning God. For these terms are also used in connection with idols (Maharsha) .');">²⁷</span> nor elohim<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. and , meaning God. For these terms are also used in connection with idols (Maharsha) .');">²⁷</span> is found there, but only the Lord, so as not to give sectarians any occasion to rebel.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By finding support in Scripture for their heretical belief in the plurality of deities.');">²⁸</span> Furthermore, it is said of a large ox, 'An offering made by fire of a sweet savour'; of a small bird, ' offering made by fire of a sweet savour'; and of a meal-offering, 'An offering made by fire of a sweet savour': to teach you that it is the same whether a man offers much or little, so long as he directs his heart to heaven. And lest you say, He needs it for food, the text therefore states, If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for world is Mine and the fulness thereof.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. L, 12.');">²⁹</span> And it also says, For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattl upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 10, 11, 13.');">³⁰</span> I did not bid you to sacrifice so that you should say, I will do His will that He may do my will.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The ritual of sacrifice was an ordinance of God which was to be performed not in order to obtain a reciprocal favour from Him, but simply because He had willed it so.');">³¹</span> You do not sacrifice for My sake, but for your own sakes, as it is written, Ye shall sacrifice it at your will.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XIX, 5.');">³²</span> Another interpretation is: 'Ye shall sacrifice it at your will': sacrifice it of your own free will, sacrifice it with the proper intention. As Samuel once enquired of R'Huna, Whence do we know that the offering is invalid if the act [of slaughtering] was performed incidentally?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If, e.g., a man was handling a knife, when it accidentally fell from his hand and it slaughtered an offering.');">³³</span> [He replied,] Because it is written, And he shall slaughter the bullock,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. I, 5.');">³⁴</span> thus teaching that the slaughtering should be intended for the bullock. Said the other, This we already know;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'this is in our hands'.');">³⁵</span> but whence do we know that this rule is indispensable? [He replied,] Because it is written, 'Ye shall sacrifice it at your will', that is t sacrifice it with the proper intention.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since we have two verses each directing that the slaughtering of the sacrifice must be intentional, this rule becomes indispensable, in accordance with the Rabbinic dictum: Wherever Scripture repeats an injunction in connection with holy things it is meant to be indispensable. ');">³⁶</span>

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