Excerpts and Questions: Through the middah of generosity נדיבות
[this is a companion piece to teachings about nedivut, Inner Judaism]
Quick Summary
The people of Israel are asked to contribute items to the building of the Mishkan / Sanctuary / Tabernacle
Metals: Gold, Silver, Copper and materials for the curtains. There is spiritual significance to this.
Moses is given detailed instructions by God for the construction of this dwelling
The ark of Testimony was in the Mishkan’s inner chamber, containing the Aseret Hadibrot (Ten Commandments).
Instructions for the keruvim [cherubim].
The outer chamber contained the 7-branched menorah and the ‘show-bread’ table
The walls of the Mishkan were wooden boards, the holding sockets, silver, while the roof was made of more permeable material
In front of the Mishkan was the copper-plated altar
The verb form of v'yikchoo is "take", not "bring". Is there a significance between "taking an offering to me" and 'bringing me gifts'?
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him.
תְּרוּמָה (n-f) heb
- contribution, offering
- any offering (of grain, money, etc.).
- an offering to God
- contribution, offering
(ג) וְזֹאת֙ הַתְּרוּמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּקְח֖וּ מֵאִתָּ֑ם זָהָ֥ב וָכֶ֖סֶף וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ (ד) וּתְכֵ֧לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָ֛ן וְתוֹלַ֥עַת שָׁנִ֖י וְשֵׁ֥שׁ וְעִזִּֽים׃ (ה) וְעֹרֹ֨ת אֵילִ֧ם מְאׇדָּמִ֛ים וְעֹרֹ֥ת תְּחָשִׁ֖ים וַעֲצֵ֥י שִׁטִּֽים׃ (ו) שֶׁ֖מֶן לַמָּאֹ֑ר בְּשָׂמִים֙ לְשֶׁ֣מֶן הַמִּשְׁחָ֔ה וְלִקְטֹ֖רֶת הַסַּמִּֽים׃ (ז) אַבְנֵי־שֹׁ֕הַם וְאַבְנֵ֖י מִלֻּאִ֑ים לָאֵפֹ֖ד וְלַחֹֽשֶׁן׃ (ח) וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃
(3) And these are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper; (4) blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair; (5) tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; (6) oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; (7) lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.
"Generosity is a trait of the soul and...it can find expression in many ways, including how you share your time, your energy, and your possessions.
When your heart is guided by an open, trusting, voluntary, inspired, internal motivation that overflows from the depth of your caring in response to the needs of, or love for, another, you will always find a way to respond."
Alan Morinis, Founder, The Mussar Institute
וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃
וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃
And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
The Kobriner Rabbi turned to his Chasidim and said: "Do you know where God is?" Then he took a piece of bread, showed it to them, and continued: "God is in this piece of bread. Without God's nurturing power in all nature, this piece of bread would have no existence."
Where is the dwelling of God?", Rabbi Mendl Kotzk asked his students. They laughed: "What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of God's glory?" Then Rabbi Kotzk answered his own question: "God dwells wherever we let God in."
Constructing a Mishkan - Reb Noson
Moshe had the ability to find good even in the least worthy Jew, and used those good points to construct the Mishkan as a tikkun (repair) for their sin of the golden calf.
And so HaShem became favorably disposed towards Moshe as a result of his finding good in every Jew even after the incident of the golden calf. For Moshe was the embodiment of good...and therefore Moshe had the inherent ability to always find the good in everyone—even in the willful sinners of the Jewish people. Through this HaShem was placated, and then He commanded the Jewish people regarding the construction of the Mishkan as a tikkun for their sin. Each Jew was to contribute towards the Mishkan’s construction according to the generosity of his heart. For Moshe would rouse the good in each person, and each person, commensurate with his good, contributed to the construction of the Mishkan according to the generosity of his good heart.
וְנוֹעַדְתִּ֣י לְךָ֮ שָׁם֒ וְדִבַּרְתִּ֨י אִתְּךָ֜ מֵעַ֣ל הַכַּפֹּ֗רֶת מִבֵּין֙ שְׁנֵ֣י הַכְּרֻבִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־אֲר֣וֹן הָעֵדֻ֑ת אֵ֣ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֧ר אֲצַוֶּ֛ה אוֹתְךָ֖ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ {פ}
There I will meet with you, and I will impart to you—from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on top of the Ark of the Pact—all that I will command you concerning the Israelite people.
"...when we would be at odds with G-d and He with us, these two would face away from one another, back to back. But when the two of us would be in harmony, the temple priests would open the curtains and show us the two figurines entwined in embrace. And they would say, “See how cherished you are by your G-d.” ~Rabbi Matmon
And who sustains the world, and causes the Patriarchs to appear? It is the voice of the children, who study the Torah. And the world is sustained for the sake of these children. In deference to them, it is written, "We will make you necklets of gold" (Songs 1:11). This refers to the children, boys and young men, as is written, "And you shall make two Cherubs of gold" (Exodus 25:18).
The Vilna Gaon, as quoted by R. Yitzchak Hutner, made a dramatic statement in this regard. Not only is Shir HaShirim [Song of Songs] sacred like the Temple, not only is it somehow the poetic manifestation of the ethos of that heaven-on-earth in general, but its holiness inheres in its identification with the keruvim [cherubim] in particular. To understand deeply the meaning of the keruvim is therefore to gain insight into the meaning of this song of all songs and vice versa. These two epicenters of sanctity echo against one another......The keruvim can thus be seen, in a sense, as the actors cast to enact the complex dynamic of the relationship that lies at the heart of Shir HaShirim. Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler, Dean of Maharat,
Another approach to the thirteen nuances of the attributes of Love that G’d displays, listed here. According to the Ari z’al, ...the essence of the Creator is beyond any creature’s ability to comprehend. In other words, it is beyond “logic.” All that man can observe when trying to obtain a composite mental image of G’d, is that He possesses the attributes of “greatness,” “strength, heroism,” etc., etc.
My great and revered teacher phrased it thus when he explained the meaning of the Talmud in Sukkah 5 which discusses Exodus 25,18, the figures on the lid of the Holy Ark. The Torah commands: ועשית שנים כרובים זהב, “you are to fashion two cherubs made of gold.” The cryptic comment on this verse by the Talmud is that the word כרובים is the plural mode of the Aramaic כ-רביא, “like a young innocent child.” Rabbi Dov Baer, the author’s teacher, clearly did not understand the Talmud quite in that sense, but saw in the word רביא a reference to the relationship between teacher and pupil. The teacher’s knowledge and understanding is obviously far above that of the student, and in order for the student to understand what the teacher is saying, the teacher must address him in words that are familiar to the student, i.e. he must be מצמם את עצמו, impose restraints upon himself in order for his message to become effective. As a result of the teacher’s restraining himself there will be two intellectually equal people studying. This is the message of the שנים כרובים, the two cherubs mounted on top of the כפורת, the lid of the Holy Ark. The moral lesson of this is that instead of both the minds of teacher and pupil being portrayed as adults in the Torah, they are portrayed as “small children.”
There is something to be discovered in this human-divine relationship, it seems, beyond words and beyond discrete commandments. The revelation from between the keruvim would be one of content, no doubt. But it would also be a revelation of an ineffable, inexpressible presence. This divine communication would represent that most vulnerable and intimate of all communications: the raw, unmediated exposure of one self to another. Inside the embrace of the angel-humans, God would quietly make Godself known. V’noaditi lecha sham
Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler, comment on Terumah.
making forty silver sockets under the twenty planks, two sockets under the one plank for its two tenons and two sockets under each following plank for its two tenons;
