Rabbi Mordechai of Neshchiz longed for a tallit katan made of cloth from Israel. When the special wool finally arrived, he asked a student to prepare the tallit for use. Unfortunately, while preparing the tallit, the student accidentally folded the cloth twice and instead of one neckhole he cut two, rendering it unfit for use.

The student was mortified and feared that his teacher would be angry with him.

Rabbi Mordechai did not reprimand his pupil nor exhibit any anger towards him. Instead, he smiled and said, “Good job, my son! You carried out the task perfectly. You see, I really need two tallits; one to fulfil the mitzvah, and the other to put Reb Mordechai to the test, to see if he can overcome his ‘negative inclination’ and not get angry.”

In his classic work, Likutei Torah, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi notes a curious expression the Torah uses when introducing the laws of animal sacrifices. Instead of saying, “a person from (among) you who will offer a sacrifice”, the verse states “a person who will offer from you a sacrifice” implying that the sacrifice is not something extraneous that a person gives to God, but is something we are requested to give of ourselves to God.

And what kind of psycho-spiritual sacrifice are we being encouraged to offer?

The verse continues: “of the domesticated animal, cattle, and sheep”.

There are similarities between certain human and animal characteristics. For instance, some people are born with a temperament that is thick-skinned, stubborn, and domineering like an ox. They have a natural propensity to be controlling and are determined to always be right. Others are meek and conformist like sheep, lacking resolve or the ability to think for themselves when necessary. Yet others are brazen and impudent as the Hebrew word for goat, eiz, connotes.

Whatever animal traits and tendencies we may have, God desires that we overcome them and toil to become more refined.

This idea is beautifully encapsulated in the Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, from the word kiruv, to draw close.

You know how one draws close to God, we are being taught? By engaging in a regimen of inner work and character refinement, by taming our base and egotistical impulses, instincts and appetites. In other words, we become more Godly by becoming more humane.

This, according to the Chasidic masters, is the essential and eternal intention behind the sacrificial enterprise, and the rest is commentary.