How Torah Scholars Become Israel's Atonement in Exile

(Leviticus 2:14) "And if you bring a meal offering of firstfruits." It is written "and the LORD God formed the man, dust from the ground" (Genesis 2:7), and it says "an altar of earth you shall make for Me" (Exodus 20:24). Man was created from the place of his atonement. So long as the Temple stands, the altar within it is atonement for Israel; outside the Land, the sages and their disciples are atonement for Israel, as it says "and if you bring a meal offering of firstfruits." And it says "and a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought to the man of God" (II Kings 4:42) and so on. But was there neither Jerusalem nor Temple there? Rather, there was Elisha the prophet and his disciples. From this you have learned that whoever attaches himself to the sages and their disciples, Scripture credits it to him as though he performs the will of his Father in heaven. He said to him: Rabbi, why is it that the nations of the world eat in this present time? I said to him: as a reward, because the Holy One, blessed be He, set Israel apart from among them. A parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who found one man from a lowly family, and that man would do his will; the king sent many gifts to the members of that family for his sake. Even if a man has in his hand neither Scripture nor Mishnah, but sits and reads all day long "and the sister of Lotan was Timna" (Genesis 36:22), the reward of Torah is in his hand. "And if you bring" is an obligation. (Rabbi Yishmael says) "and if you bring a meal offering of firstfruits," Scripture speaks of the Omer meal offering. From what does it come? From barley. Or is it only from wheat? Rabbi Eliezer says: "aviv" is said regarding Egypt, and "aviv" is said for the generations; just as the "aviv" stated regarding Egypt was barley, so the "aviv" stated for the generations is barley. Rabbi Akiva says: we find that an individual brings his obligation from wheat and his obligation from barley, and the community brings its obligation from wheat and its obligation from barley; if you say the Omer comes from wheat, we would not find a community that brings its obligation from barley.