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דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה

Sruly Schnair
In Terumah, 5780

Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them take for Me a portion. (25:2)

“Them” refers to the people, to those in charge of collecting funds. It definitely does not refer to Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen. They could not be the collectors, because If Moshe and Aharon were to come knocking on someone’s door and state that they were going door-to-door collecting money, would anyone be so audacious as to say, “no!”? Certainly not. One does not turn his back on the leaders of Klal Yisrael. This is not the way Hashem wanted the Mishkan to be built. It had to be the product of free-will contributions. Furthermore, as Horav Reuven Karlinsky, zl,…

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Home -> 5779 -> Terumah

ועשית מנרת זהב טהור מקשה תיעשה המנורה

Sruly Schnair
In Terumah, 5779

You shall make a Menorah of pure gold, hammered out shall the Menorah be made. (25:31)

All of the Menorah’s varied shapes and forms had to be hammered out of one large ingot of gold. Nothing could be made separately and later attached. Chazal (Midrash Tanchuma) teach that this feat (the making of the Menorah) proved to be difficult for Moshe Rabbeinu to conceptualize. He simply could not visualize how the Menorah should appear. Hashem showed Moshe a Menorah made of fire. Still, our leader and Rebbe could not properly create the Menorah. Hashem instructed Moshe to fling the ingot into fire, and a completed Menorah emerged. This miracle is alluded to by the words, “shall…

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Home -> 5779 -> Terumah

ועשית מנרת זהב טהור מקשה תיעשה המנורה

Sruly Schnair
In Terumah, 5779

You shall make a Menorah of pure gold, hammered out shall the Menorah be made. (25:31)

Chazal (Midrash Tanchuma) teach that Moshe Rabbeinu had difficulty visualizing the completed Menorah. Hashem showed him a Menorah of fire. Moshe still had difficulty in making it. Hashem then instructed Moshe to hurl an ingot of gold into the fire – and a completed Menorah emerged. This Midrash is laden with commentary addressing Moshe’s difficulty, in as much as we only find two other places in the Torah in which Moshe experienced difficulty understanding Hashem’s command. Obviously, the idea of a Menorah fashioned of fire has a profound message. I came across an inspiring story concerning Chanukah which I think…

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Home -> 5779 -> Terumah

וצפית אתו זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ תצפנו ועשית עליו זר זהב סביב

Sruly Schnair
In Terumah, 5779

You shall cover it with pure gold, from inside and from outside you shall cover it, and you shall make on it a golden diadem all around. (25:11)

Rashi explains that the zer, diadem, was a sort of crown, going all the way around to the top of the Aron, above its edge… This zer, crown, is a symbol for the Kesser Torah, Crown of the Torah. In Pirkei Avos 4:13, Rabbi Shimon says: “There are three crowns: the crown of Torah; the crown of Kehunah, the Priesthood; the crown of Malchus, Kingship; and the crown of a shem tov, a good name, goes above them.” The question is obvious. The Mishnah states that there are three crowns, and then mentions a fourth crown, the crown of a good…

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Home -> 5779 -> Terumah

דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה

Sruly Schnair
In Terumah, 5779

Speak to Bnei Yisrael, and they shall take for Me a portion. (25:2)

Shlomo Hamelech says in Sefer Koheles (12:1), U’z’chor es Borecha b’yimei bacharusecha, ad asher lo yavou yimei ha’raah, v’higiu shanim asher tomar ein li bahem cheifetz, “So remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the end days come, and those years arrive of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’” Mar Ukva says (Kesubos 67b), “Bring me my charity records… my provisions are light and the way is long…” He went ahead and lavished half his assets on charity. The Maharasha explains that tzedakah, giving charity (as in v’yikchu li terumah, “Take for Me…

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Home -> 5778 -> Terumah

ויקחו לי תרומה

Roberto Szerer
In Terumah, 5778

And they shall take for Me a terumah/tithing portion. (25:2)

The command to build the Mishkan was not a one-time command, but rather, it is relevant to every Jew, every day of his life, at every juncture in history. The command begins with an ambiguous term, v’yikchu, “and they shall take,” when the correct vernacular should have been v’nasnu, “and they shall give.” Obviously, we can derive much from this. We will focus on the Midrash that equates the v’yikchu in this pasuk with the v’yikchu in the pasuk in Mishlei (4:2), Ki lekach tov nasati lachem, Torasi al taazovu, “For I have given you a good deal – My…

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Home -> 5778 -> Terumah

דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו

Roberto Szerer
In Terumah, 5778

Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them take for Me a terumah/tithing/portion, from every man whose heart motivates him. (25:2)

Nedivas ha’lev, a donation from the sincerity of one’s heart, is the loftiest level of generosity. It is easy to write a check – if one has the money to back it. Easy come – easy go. Generosity of the heart demands sincerity; it is not about the amount of money that one gives. It is how much of himself he gives with that money. The purity of money is based upon the sincerity behind it. When one seeks to establish an abode for Hashem, a place where the Divine Presence will repose, it must be the result of funds…

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Home -> 5778 -> Terumah

ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי

Roberto Szerer
In Terumah, 5778

And they shall take for Me a terumah/tithing/portion from every man whose heart motivates him, you shall take My portion. (25:2)

As mentioned earlier, the question on this pasuk is: Why does the Torah use the word v’yikchu, rather than v’yitnu? Would it not have been more correct had the Torah asked them to give a donation? After all, is this not what they were being asked to do? Horav Shlomo Wolbe, zl, explains this by applying the well-known Chazal in Meseches Kiddushin (7a) concerning the obligation that (in order to make a kinyan, halachic acquisition) the man must give the woman either a perutah, penny, or shavah perutah, value of a penny. By accepting the money, she becomes makneh, gives…

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Home -> 5778 -> Terumah

ועשית את הקרשים למשכן עצי שטים עמדים

Roberto Szerer
In Terumah, 5778

You shall make the planks of the Mishkan of shittim (Acacia) wood, standing erect. (26:15)

The Midrash observes that atzei shittim refers to wood derived from a tree that does not bear fruit. Chazal explain that, if in the future, a person would want to build a house of wood from a fruit-bearing tree, he would be prevented from doing so by applying a simple logic. If the King of Kings, Hashem, to Whom everything in this world belongs, said that His Mishkan should only be built from wood from a type that does not bear fruit, how can a human being make a different decision? We derive from here that whatever we do, regardless…

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Home -> 5778 -> Terumah

מקבץ נדחי עמו ישראל

Roberto Szerer
In Terumah, 5778

Mekabeitz nidchei amo Yisrael. Who gathers together the dispersed of His nation Yisrael?

Each and every Jew has spiritual potential. These spiritual energies or sparks of holiness, nitzozos, are mischanelled when we do not use our spiritual potential properly. Thus, we are unable to experience the full experience of life due to a limited supply of spiritual energy. We pray to Hashem that He gathers our personal sparks and brings back all of the spiritual energies to their proper potential. Similarly, when Adam HaRishon sinned, he caused the tzinoros hashpaah, Heavenly channels of holiness, to shatter, thereby spreading sparks of holiness throughout the world, where they are not imprisoned inside klipos ha’tumah, shells…

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