There is a word that appears only 5 times in the text: kamatz – “heaps” or “handful.” There are other words for “plenty” or “lots” in the Torah. Why this one?
The examples are Lev. 2:2, 5:12, 6:8 and N: 5:26 (the sotah). And they all have something in common besides being korbanos (one is a chatas, the others are minchas): each example of kamatz also contains the word zecher, meaning “remembrance.”
What can it mean?
Could the answer be tied to the first time the word kamatz is found? That first example is before the korbanos – it is found in the good years of Joseph:
During the seven years of plenty, the land produced in abundance (l’kamatzim). (G.41:47)
Huh. What might this have to do with the other examples, with Zecher?
Might it be about Joseph? After all, Joseph took care to always give credit to G-d, and he recognized divine blessing and how it connects to us in an ongoing and ever-present way. And perhaps G-d rewards Joseph’s giving of credit with heaps/handfuls of grain?
Joseph took every opportunity to attribute his insights and blessings to G-d. As a result. Joseph gets credit for all time for bringing Gd into our daily thoughts and lives. So perhaps each of these ritual offerings connect back to Joseph for this reason?
Or is it for another, related reason? Joseph famously asks the butler to Zecher him (G. 40:14) – which the butler eventually does (41:9). And then Joseph zechers, remembers, the dreams (42:9). In which case, Joseph is always trying to tie things together, to see G-d’s hand in all the events of his life.
Might the underlying symbolism be that there is reciprocity, an interchange of respect and gratitude and blessing, that we should keep in mind when we give thanks to G-d (in a meal offering), acknowledge our sins in a sin-offering, and even when we link to questions of fidelity in a marriage? That we should always see G-d’s hand in all the events of our lives?