The portion- parasha of Vayikra deals with the offerings and sacrifices
brought in the tabernacle and temple. The offerings were brought as a way to
get close to God- Hashem and dedicating oneself totally to the divine will and
essence. The person has to see the animal as representing himself. He should be
on the alter as the sacrifice and offering.
Verse 1:2 says –אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה' מן הבהמה ........' that when a ' man' among you brings an
offering to God- Hashem from animals. In contrast the verse 2:1 when speaking
about a poor man's meal offering made from flour , it uses the words – ונפש כי
תקריב קרבן מנחה לה' סולת יהיה קרבנו .... when a ' soul'- ( a
poor person) offers a meal offering. The simple explanation
is that when we take into account the 'net worth ' of the poor and wealthier
person , the poor person has made a bigger sacrifice and contribution, and it could be that the flour is the only thing he had, so
it is as if he has offered his soul.
The Telze Rabbi – Rav Elya Meier Bloch has a deeper explanation. He says
there are 2 elements involved in bringing the sacrifice and offering – the monetary
expense involved in bringing the offering and the emotional and spiritual
effort involved in offering and dedicating one's soul to becoming one with God.
The wealthy person feels emotionally uplifted because
he has spent a lot of money on spirituality and that leaves little space for
real work of dedicating one's soul. The poor man feels that his meal offering
of flour does not count for much so all he has to give is his soul. It seems
that the ' external ' elements of the offering get in the way or make it more difficult for a
person to focus on what God really wants – for man to dedicate his soul to Him
, and in so doing reconnect with God and atone for his sins. Rav Elya Meier Bloch is saying that the bigger
the extrinsic / monetary sacrifice, the smaller the emotional commitment and
investment. Instead of reinforcing the
spiritual and internal part of a person, the external and physical element
undermines the internal and spiritual.
S.D.T – Self Determination theory of human motivation shows how extrinsic
motivation can often get in the way of intrinsic motivation, internalization and
commitment to values. We know that one should not reprimand a kid using anger
in order to show how serious the offence was, as the only message the kid comes
away is you are angry - you have an anger problem – and that gets in the way of
a kid reflecting on what he did. The focus is on the parent or teacher. The same goes for punishment – instead of it
reinforcing the severity of the offence and encouraging the kid to feel sorry
for what he did and empathize with a kid he hurt, he now feels sorry for himself.
The focus is no longer on what he did, but on the punishment, how unfair the
adult is and his mistake of getting caught.
Bribes and threats can be very effective at getting ' behaviors ' but
not at helping kids internalize and make a commitment to values. An experiment tested
this with kindergarten kids. 2 groups were told by their teacher not to play
with toys while she was out of the room. One group's compliance was reinforced with a threat of punishment. Both groups did not play with the toys when
the teacher was not in the room. However,
the kids who did not get the threat of punishment internalized much better the
teacher's disapproval of them playing with the toys than the kids who received
a threat of punishment. Interventions may be effective, but we need to ask –
effective at what ?
HaRav Osher Weiss tells a similar
story about himself when he was a young kid. He and his fellow pupils were
supposed to attend morning prayers in a synagogue and to cover a certain amount
of learning material. Parents would sign that the kid had studied the required
material and attended prayers in the synagogue. Rav Osher Weiss said that he so
much wanted the prize that he started forging his mother's signature. He was called
to the principal's office. His mother and principal stood before him and the
principal holding the sheet of paper - asked if this was his mother's signature.
Before he could answer he was told to leave. That was the last he heard of that
incident. He said that the way the incident was handled had an incredible
impact on him and the internalization of the message his mother and principal
wished to convey.
If we want kids to help kids internalize and make a commitment to values,
focus on the message without the drama. Help them reflect on them and how they
can become part of their values and who they are.
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