Our Mishna on Amud Beis describes the process by which the Mincha offering was broken into pieces, as per the verse in Vayikra (2:6), “pasos osah pittim—break it into pieces.” The Mishna adds that the pieces were a kzayis (volume of an olive).

The process of breaking the Mincha into pieces, like other sacrificial rituals we have discussed throughout Zevachim and Menachos, can be seen symbolically. In a broad sense, breaking a whole into parts, of which are fully or partially offered on the altar or eaten, represents the process of self-analysis and self-confrontation—facing one’s deficits but also strengths, and refining them so that what needs to be sacrificed and directly dedicated to God is done so, and what needs to be co-opted into continued human process and sustenance is also appropriately assigned. There is a famous saying of the Kotzker: “There is nothing more whole than a broken heart.”

Degel Machane Ephraim (Vayikra 13) expands on this idea from two opposite perspectives, ultimately unifying them. A kzayis often represents a minimum amount of food to be considered halachically substantial for forbidden foods, as well as mitzvos of consumption (Makkos 16b, Mishna Challah 1:2). Therefore, by extension, a kzayis represents a unit of life force, and since God is the source of all life, each kzayis can represent a unit of Godly emanation. According to Degel Machane Ephraim, breaking the Mincha into kzayis pieces represents a mindful process of discerning the Godly life force in the material world. I believe he is referring to different drives and personality qualities that we, who are made in God’s image, tap into and utilize. However, Degel Machane Ephraim also reads it from the opposite direction. “Pasos osah pittim” can also come from the Aramaic root “Y-F-S,” meaning to spread (see Onkelos Devarim 12:20). This is symbolic of an expansive, inspired state of mind where the person is experiencing the totality of God, and so his comprehension of everything as unified is represented in the breaking of the pieces, which are then unified in an offering.

The process of finding God in our lives can be both general and particular. Our inspiration might come from seeing one piece or aspect in our lives, or from an overwhelming intuitive sense of presence.