Vayikra

The Mishna teaches: It says by the korban olah of animals, and birds and menachos (meal offering) לה’ ריח ניחוח אשה. This is to teach that whether one gives a lot or a little, it is accepted, as long as he intends leshaim shamayim.  The entire animal is sacrificed, a bird is much smaller and less is sacrificed, and a mincha is even less. Hashem accepts the small mincha just as the big animal korban, as a ריח ניחוח to Hashem.

The Chosen Yehoshua says one who needs to work and only learns in his spare time, is as if he learns the whole day.  He gets rewarded even for the hours which he worked. Although it is not exactly the same as learning still in all he receives credit even for all the hours which he didn’t learn, since he is forced to work.

It will come out that if one can learn in his spare time and doesn’t, he is going to lose a lot. Not only for the time which he didn’t learn when he could have, but even for the time which he worked, he will lose that credit. For example, if a person can learn four out of twelve hours, each hour of learning can also get credit for two hours of work as if he learned. If he doesn’t learn one hour then he also loses the two hours of working.

Also, says the Chosen Yehoshua, that which Chazal say “whether one does a lot or a little receives reward as one who does a lot” is only if he can’t do a lot. However, if one could do a lot and doesn’t, he will not get the reward like a lot. This is comparable to one who can afford a bird offering cannot bring a flour offering! So too is with Torah and tzedakah. If one can do better and more, Hashem won’t consider his reward the same as if he did a lot.

May Hashem help us invest our energy, time, and money at our potential to bring aריח ניחוח  to Hashem.