Enduring Merit of the Korbanos

במצות הרמת הדשן שהי' נבלע אצל המזבח להראות שזכות הקרבנות נשאר קיים לדורות.

Concerning the mitzvah of Terumas HaDeshen (the removal of the ashes), [a portion] of which would be absorbed beside the Mizbeach — to show that the merit (zechus) of the korbanos remains enduring for [all] generations.

Each day a portion of the altar's ashes was set down beside the Mizbeach and miraculously absorbed into the ground. The Sefas Emes explains the symbolism: it demonstrates that the zechus generated by the korbanos is never lost — it endures permanently, for every generation.

וזה שכתוב יזכור כל מנחותיך ועולתך ידשנה סלה.

And this is the meaning of what is written: "May He remember all your meal-offerings, and may He find your olah (burnt-offering) rich in ashes (yedashneh), selah" (Tehillim 20:4).

The Sefas Emes anchors his point in this pasuk, which speaks of Hashem "remembering" the offerings and of the olah being made "rich in ashes" — connecting the lasting remembrance to the very deshen (ashes) of the offering.

שדשן העולה שנבלע.

That the ash of the olah which was absorbed [into the ground].

The "yedashneh" of the pasuk alludes to that absorbed ash of the burnt-offering — the deshen that sank into the earth beside the altar.

נשאר הזכות קיים לדורות:

— its merit remains enduring for [all] generations.

Just as that ash was permanently absorbed and never swept away, so the zechus of the korbanos remains fixed and everlasting, a merit that continues to stand for Bnei Yisrael throughout the generations.

Summary: The daily setting-aside of ashes beside the Mizbeach, which were absorbed into the ground, symbolizes that the merit of the korbanos is never lost but endures permanently for all generations. The Sefas Emes finds this hinted in "May He remember all your meal-offerings, and find your olah rich in ashes" — the absorbed deshen represents the lasting, ever-present zechus of the offerings.