This mitzvah commands that every korban offered on the Mizbeach must be salted, as it states: “With all your offerings you shall offer salt… the salt of the covenant of your G-d” (Vayikra 2:13). Salt is not merely an additive—it is an essential component of the avodah, without which the offering is incomplete.

The Torah calls this requirement a “bris melach” (covenant of salt), teaching that salt represents endurance, preservation, and eternal connection. Unlike other substances, salt does not decay; it preserves and stabilizes. So too, the covenant between Hashem and Israel is unchanging and everlasting.

Rambam codifies this as a universal law: all korbanot—animal, bird, and meal offerings—require salt (Hilchot Issurei Mizbeach 5:7). This establishes that salt is not symbolic alone but an intrinsic part of the halachic structure of korbanot.

Chazal deepen this idea through the Midrash: when the waters were divided at Creation, the lower waters “cried out” over their distance from holiness. Hashem promised that they would ascend through salt on the altar and through the water libation. Thus, every salted korban fulfills a primordial covenant embedded in Creation itself.

Ramban explains that salt embodies duality and balance—it preserves and enhances, yet in excess can destroy. Because a covenant must contain both chesed and din, salt becomes the perfect symbol of the Divine relationship: enduring, powerful, and binding.

The act of salting therefore transforms the korban into more than an offering—it becomes a testimony of permanence, a physical expression that what is brought before Hashem is meant to endure.

Rambam

• Sefer HaMitzvos, Aseh 99; Hilchot Issurei Mizbeach 5:7
• All offerings require salt without exception.
• This is a binding halachic requirement; a korban without salt is deficient in its fulfillment.

Sefer HaChinuch

• Mitzvah 119
• Salt symbolizes permanence and incorruptibility.
• Just as salt preserves food, the covenant between Hashem and Israel is preserved through mitzvos.

Rashi

• On “מֶלַח בְּרִית אֱלֹקֶיךָ” (Vayikra 2:13)
• The covenant of salt traces back to Creation, when the lower waters were promised elevation through the altar.
• Every korban fulfills this ancient promise.

Ramban

• On Vayikra 2:13
• Salt embodies opposing forces—preservation and destruction—reflecting the balance of Divine attributes.
• A covenant must endure under all conditions; salt represents that permanence.

Talmud

• Menachot 20a
• Establishes that all offerings require salt by Torah law.
• This is not symbolic—it is an essential component of the korban.

Midrash & Chazal

• Bereishis Rabbah 5:4; Vayikra Rabbah 2:13
• The lower waters’ yearning for closeness to Hashem is fulfilled through salt on the Mizbeach.
• Salt represents elevation of the physical into the sacred.

Acharonim & Machshavah

• Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:46): Salt distinguishes Jewish avodah from idolatrous practices.
• Maharal: Salt represents preservation and the stabilization of existence.
• Sfas Emes: Salt symbolizes the elevation of the physical world into holiness.

Chassidic & Mussar Reflection — The Inner “Salt”

• Chassidus understands melach (salt) as the nekudah pnimis—the inner point within a person that preserves and gives life to all avodah. Just as salt is not the substance itself but what sustains and completes it, so too the inner commitment to Hashem gives endurance to every mitzvah. Mussar teaches that true growth is not built on fleeting inspiration but on what remains steady beneath the surface—clarity, consistency, and inner truth. The mitzvah of salting the korban thus reflects an inner avodah: to cultivate a core that preserves one’s connection to Hashem through all circumstances, ensuring that one’s service is not temporary or reactive, but enduring and real.
• Chassidus further notes a deep remez in the very word melach (מֶלַח), whose gematria is 78—corresponding to three times the value of the Divine Name (26 × 3). This connection is reflected in the minhag to dip bread into salt, often three times, symbolically drawing Divine shefa into sustenance. Notably, lechem (לֶחֶם), bread itself, shares the same gematria (78), highlighting the harmony between physical nourishment and Divine presence. Salt thus becomes not only a preservative, but a subtle expression that all sustenance is rooted in Hashem’s ongoing providence.

Contrast with Mitzvah 347 — Not to burn honey or yeast on the altar

• Mitzvah 347 prohibits substances that ferment and decay.
• Mitzvah 348 requires salt, which preserves and endures.
• Together they teach that korbanot must reflect permanence, not deterioration.

Parallel to Mitzvah 365 — Not to Bake a Meal Offering as Leavened Bread

• Both mitzvos regulate what may accompany a korban.
• Chametz represents expansion, fermentation, and instability, while salt represents preservation, balance, and endurance.
• The Torah shapes avodah through elements that reflect spiritual integrity—excluding what decays and requiring what preserves.