OU TORAH YU TORAH NAALEH.COM Elevating the Experience By Shira Smiles
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
For the purpose of building the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, Hashem tells Moshe to speak to the people and “let them take for Me a terumah, a portion, from every man whose heart motivates him you shall take My portion.”
Rashi, noting the awkward language and the repetition, observes that there seem to be three different portions, or gifts, being separated and dedicated to Hashem in this command. Sandwiched between two commands of, “Take,” implying that this is obligatory, is the phrase, “From every man whose heart motivates him.” This additional phrase, notes the Kli Yakar, implies not obligatory but optional gifts. Based on this threefold terminology, our Sages deduce that three different separations, or gifts, are alluded to in this command. The first and second of these phrases, where the Torah uses the word “take”, refer to the obligatory half shekels that Bnei Yisroel must give. The first is for the adanim, the sockets into which the beams will be placed and which will serve as the foundation for the Mishkan. The end phrase refers to the obligatory half shekels that will be used for the communal sacrifices. But the latter phrase refers to the optional, voluntary donations that each person will give based on his own heart’s motivation.
Rav Dovid Hofstedter asks a simple question. Why not take one offering and then divide the proceeds as needed? Further, why use the obligatory donation for the practical sockets as opposed to what we could consider more spiritual, something like the Ark itself?
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
For the purpose of building the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, Hashem tells Moshe to speak to the people and “let them take for Me a terumah, a portion, from every man whose heart motivates him you shall take My portion.”
Rashi, noting the awkward language and the repetition, observes that there seem to be three different portions, or gifts, being separated and dedicated to Hashem in this command. Sandwiched between two commands of, “Take,” implying that this is obligatory, is the phrase, “From every man whose heart motivates him.” This additional phrase, notes the Kli Yakar, implies not obligatory but optional gifts. Based on this threefold terminology, our Sages deduce that three different separations, or gifts, are alluded to in this command. The first and second of these phrases, where the Torah uses the word “take”, refer to the obligatory half shekels that Bnei Yisroel must give. The first is for the adanim, the sockets into which the beams will be placed and which will serve as the foundation for the Mishkan. The end phrase refers to the obligatory half shekels that will be used for the communal sacrifices. But the latter phrase refers to the optional, voluntary donations that each person will give based on his own heart’s motivation.
Rav Dovid Hofstedter asks a simple question. Why not take one offering and then divide the proceeds as needed? Further, why use the obligatory donation for the practical sockets as opposed to what we could consider more spiritual, something like the Ark itself?
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