This week’s parashah, Vayikra, the first in the Book of Leviticus, introduces our forebears’ manual for creating and sustaining holiness among the Israelites—beginning with a discussion of ritual animal sacrifice. The parashah discusses five different types of offerings including the minchah, often known as the meal offering. When discussing the meal offering, the Torah remarks:
“You shall season your every offering of meal with salt; you shall not omit from your meal offering the salt of your covenant with God; with all your offerings you must offer salt.” (Lev 2:13).
Clearly, the Israelites believed in the import of salt! According to the medieval sage, Rashi, the salt represents the oceans, a symbol of creation. Ibn Ezra, meanwhile, suggests that salt symbolizes destruction, as stated within the 130th Psalm:
“God turns the rivers into a wilderness, springs of water into thirsty land, fruitful land into a salt marsh, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.” (Psalm 107:33-34).
If Rashi is correct, then the use of salt highlights the blessings of creation, set aside for the purpose of sacrifice. If Ibn Ezra is correct, then the use of salt emphasizes the destruction of God’s creations to fashion this opportunity to draw closer to God through sacrifice.
When we salt our food—a challah, or perhaps even a soup or chicken—we unconsciously reenact this multivalent ritual. When we eat, we consume a nourishing component of Divine creation. That deserves our gratitude. Likewise, when we eat, we destroy a nourishing component of Divine creation. That deserves our commitment to replenish what we have taken.
The act of eating entails both life and death, something our tradition asks us to remember before we pass the salt.
—Rabbi Josh Knobel