The Torah, “Leviticus” (VaYikra), 2:1: And when any one bringeth a meal-offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon.

“Bread” and “bread-offering gifts” represent human food. One of the most important parts of The Book of Zohar (“Safrah de Tzniyutah” – “The Book of the Modest” or “The Hidden Book”) speaks about this issue.

The word “book” stands for the revelation. “The Hidden Book” denotes a disclosed mystery.

Long before Charles Darwin, the Ari’s Book of Zohar explained that the developmental process consistently unfolds from inanimate, vegetative, and animate, and steps to the speaking level. It’s true that in the course of evolution humans originated from monkeys.

More than anything else, humans differ from animals because of the food they consume. This fact is described in the Torah. Wheat grains are suitable for animals, for example, donkeys. We associate our ego with a donkey that carries a heavy load.

If we want to rise above our animate level, we shouldn’t eat grains. We have to clean the shells off on a threshing floor and blow the husk in the wind. This action symbolizes what happens to our desires in spirituality.

Then, pure grains should be ground on millstones; the flour that we receive has to be mixed with water. After that, we should add salt and various ingredients to the dough and then bake it. No animal is capable of doing it; it is feasible only for a human being. After all these steps are complete, our major food, bread, is ready for us.

All of these actions symbolize a transition from egoistic desires to altruistic. We “grind” our egoism, make flour out of it and then dissolve it in the water.

Water is the property of bestowal and mercy (Bina). “Grains” denote the will to receive (egoism.) We grind grains, add water to them, and bake the bread, i.e., turn our egoistic qualities that are associated with the animate level into altruistic desires. We do it with the help of the properties of Bina. Only after we do all of this, we transition to the human level.

In other words, those who eat bread have already attained the speaking level. It is the level of our desire that must be sacrificed.

In fact, it is not a sacrifice at all! Rather, it is about getting closer to the property of the Creator, the attribute of absolute bestowal and love. The word “kurban” (victim) derives from the word “karov” (getting closer.)
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/27/13

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