LEV22 Bring the flour offering according to its law. The minchah offering is made of various flours. It is not an animal offering. As explained earlier (Mitzvah 95 [i.e., Exodus 25:8 - AJL]), man is physically not very different from animals. As a result, when a man sins and offers an animal for atonement, he sees a body similar to his being burned. The sight makes him take to heart that if he continues to sin and does not put his unique human intelligence in control of his actions, then that which happened to the animal could happen to him. He sees the animal’s body consumed in flames, so he is moved to subdue his animal urges and avoid sin lest his soul be consumed. He realizes that the animal aspect of his being is the source of his failing. Although a flour offering is not an animal, bringing this offering also helps a person to subdue his animal desires, for some of his monetary assets are burned and destroyed before his eyes. Nevertheless, the imagery of an animal offering is considerably stronger. In terms of its monetary value and its effect on the person who brings it, the flour offering is “smaller” than an animal offering. For this reason, it is called a minchah, for “minchah” means “gift” (see Bereishis 33:10). More often than not, people give small gifts, not large ones. In addition, many flour offerings are voluntary, so by their nature they are “gifts.”