Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
וְכָל־חֲכַם־לֵב בָּכֶם יָבֹאוּ וְיַעֲשׂוּ אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה':
And let all hakham-lev among you come and make all that God commanded.
The term hakham-lev, which also appeared in last week’s parashah, is interesting. The word “hakham” means “wise,” and the word “lev” means “heart.”
What makes a person “heart-wise,” and why was this term used to describe the people who helped build the mishkan?
דְּאֲפִילּוּ מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ לוֹמֵד תּוֹרָה אֶלָּא שֶׁהוּא חֲכַם לֵב הַיְינוּ חָכְמַת יִרְאַת ה'.
This included even those who were not Torah scholars, but who still had the wisdom that is fearing God.
שֶׁמִּי שֶׁמְּלָאוֹ לִבּוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֵיזֶה דָּבָר מִן הַמְּלָאכָה הַזֹּאת יָבוֹא וְיִתְנַדֵּב עַצְמוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹתָם.
Any person whose heart desired to do a part of the work for the mishkan could come and volunteer to do it.
מלבי"ם
יָדוּעַ דְּכֹחַ הַשֵּׂכֶל הוּא שׁוֹרֶה בַּמֹּחַ, וְהוּא הַיּוֹדֵעַ, הַשּׁוֹמֵר וְהַזּוֹכֵר, וּמְחַשֵּׁב כָּל דְּבַר שֵׂכֶל. וְהוּא הַנִּקְרָא חָכְמָה מְקוּבֶּלֶת, הַנִּקְנֵית לְכָל אָדָם מֵרַבּוֹתָיו.
אַךְ מַעֲלַת הַלֵּב הוּא שֶׁמֵּבִין דָּבָר מִתּוֹךְ דָּבָר...
Malbim (Eastern Europe, 200 years ago)
The power of thinking is in the brain, which is what knows, stores, remembers, and calculates information. This is what is called, “received wisdom,” the kind that we gain from our teachers.
But the superiority of the heart is that it is able to understand one thing from another on its own…
Who is a hakham-lev?
Netziv: Someone who fears God in their heart
Abarbanel: Someone with real desire in their heart to do the work
Malbim: Someone who understands things in their heart beyond what they learned from other people
- What other kinds of intelligence are there?
- Which kind of hakham-lev would be most qualified to contribute to the mishkan?
- What kinds of intelligence do different grown-ups value? How about your friends? How about you?
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