The Deep Pan and the Shallow Pan as a Parable for Guarding the Soul

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 450:2

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"And if your offering is a meal-offering on a griddle" (Leviticus 2:5-6, written in remez 487). The deep pan is hollow and its contents seethe. How so? If a person has words of Torah in him, let him be careful with himself not to come to transgression and to something disgraceful; and should it arise in his mind and he say, "I will go and bring a meal-offering, lest iniquity and sin have come about by my hand," the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: "My son, why did you not blend your deeds with oil?" — and oil means nothing other than Torah and good deeds, as it is said, "For fragrance your oils are good" (Song of Songs 1:3). The shallow pan is flat and its contents are firm. How so? If a person has words of Torah in him, let him be careful with himself not to come to transgression and to something disgraceful; and should it arise in his mind and he say, "I will go and bring a meal-offering out of my love, because I have loved the Omnipresent," the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: "My son, blessed are you; may there be contentment of spirit for you in the world, and may words of Torah be stored in your mouth forever." Of him it says, "Counsel in the heart of a man is deep water" (Proverbs 20:5), and it says, "Out of the depths I have called You, O LORD" (Psalms 130:1). "And if a meal-offering on a griddle" teaches that it requires a vessel. "Your offering, your offering" forms a verbal analogy: just as the offering stated here requires pouring and blending, so the offering stated below requires pouring and blending; and just as your offering stated below requires the placing of oil in a vessel before they are made, so your offering stated here requires the placing of oil in a vessel before they are made.

Themes

RepentanceEthicsTorah

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