BS”D
Truma – Heart to Heart
Dr M Bank
A Guten Erev
Shabbos everyone. This weeks parsha is parshas Truma. It
is a very curious word, and it is very interesting that it comes straight after
parshas Mishpatim, which we discussed was civil laws. Now all of a sudden we
are talking about something completely different which is to tithe – that is
the English word, and there is a much deeper understanding to what this word
means – we have to get to the Shoresh of it. This weeks parsha, some people have asked – how can you talk
about it? It just seems to be a mechanical instruction on how the Mishcan was built – all the nuts and bolts. What is the
relevance to the
thousands of years when the Mishcan
doesn’t exist. Even more than that, even when it does exist, its
built once and then that’s it. Why is it that we learn every year exactly the
nuts and bolts, the wool and the leather, the poles and the structures that
make up the Mishcan. Even more than that, the last 2
So it says at the outset,
So
it seems that in everything that man does, there is a portion that is reserved,
from the very outset, for H’shem. If it isn’t given
over to H’shem, whether he knows it or not, that
means he is trading in Kedusha, which is something
that doesn’t bring him brocho. If he is giving away H’shem’s portion, instead of showing infinite signs of
gratitude and hakaras hatov,
he is like a thief. Like a person that sends a letter to the
post office and resents to put a stamp on it. There is a famous story of
a person that went to the Doar (Post Office) and said, I want to send this to
To
explore this concept we have to voyage, first of all, - what does it mean,
“Take for me a portion from every man whose heart motivates him”. At the outset that, Rashi comments that people should take for the Mishcan purely leshem shamayim – for H’shem’s honour.
Not for social pressure, or looking for honour. Why does the verse say take
instead of give. Sforno
comments that the remark was directed to the leaders who were directed to take
directions from the people, not to put a tax upon them, but to request
voluntary contributions. However, people did not wait to be asked. They flooded
the treasuries with generous contributions from the heart. By contributing to H’shem’s causes a Jew genuinely takes for himself the
personal benefits of his generosity, which is infinitely greater than whatever
was spent on it.
Truma
doesn’t have an English translation. The closest we can get to that is a
portion or donation. It implies a separation of one’s resources to be set aside
for a higher, infinitely important purpose. The root of the word of Truma is רום . According to Rav Hirsch, that
means to uplift aliah – romemu
tzaddikim – “raise up H’shem’s name O you righteous”,
it says in Tehilim.
Thus the efforts of these
contributions is to elevate not the offering but the person who fgives it – is elevated through it. This concept of the
purpose of wealth with which H’shem
has blessed him, is at an infinitely higher level, and not only raises up the
offering to H’shem but he is raised up to H’shem. We see an even greater light by H’shem
and he becomes a light unto the nations through his acts of Chessed.
So this is all intrinsic in the chosen nation. H’shem
raised up this nation, romemu
tzaddikim, with the promise – if you give tzedaka,
you will be raised up. Not for your own honour but for the honour of H’shem. So, we look at this concept – every man’s heart
motivates him. It’s a tremendous curiosity. If I feel like it, it would appear.
I would like to us the moshel (analogy) of a master
craftsmen carving marble. He can craft beautiful pillars and beams and carve
incredible gateways. Such a craftsman would need 2 things for his craft. The tools and the material. The material is the marble. The
tools would be a hammer and chisel. If a master craftsman was carving the
perfect masterpiece, say an Aron
Kodesh for a Beis Knesses, for a Shuil, in the most
magnificent marble, he would chip away very carefully with the hammer and
chisel. He would know the material perfectly, where the weaknesses are and the
strengths of it. He would chip away at it with tremendous care. It would be a
work that couldn’t be rushed, that could be done only moment by moment. He
would chisel away at the excesses until he got to the core – the product that
he was working for – a magnificent Aron Kodesh with a paroches- a
curtain, and this would be a tremendous Kiddush H’shem.
This is a remez – a hint of something. The Sages say, nothing in the physical world comes to the physical world
that does not have a spiritual component. If that is the case, what would be
the spiritual hammer and chisel and what would be that marble? I would like to
say that the hammer is the written Torah, the Torah shebichsav.
The oral Torah is the chisel that provide all the
detail, that carve out the minute details. Then, what would be that marble?
Man’s heart of stone. The hammer and chisel of the oral and written Torah
create a Lev Shalem, a perfect heart. Withoiut the Torah and without the written and oral
instructions it is impossible to have a heart that would wont to serve H’shem. A person would be corrupted. He would think that it
is a chessed to offer all his possessions. To give
100% is not a chessed anymore. It is destructive.
Then, chas veshalom, he
becomes a pauper or a beggar. Certain things have a kedusha
that it is forbidden to share – the sanctity of the home, the responsibility on
Shabbos. In his opinion it might be a very kind act to drive people to Shul on
Shabbos. Really it’s a tragedy. A person might feel like he would like to give
food. So, he donates non-kosher food to the hungry. That is a stumbling block.
In everything we do we have to navigate within the oral and written spiritual
confinements that navigate us through this world. Without it, we are navigating
totally in the dark. Its like a personal spiritual GPS
system. If we are navigating without Torah, its like a
person on a highway at night without the lights on a stormy, rainy, slippery
night, traveling at 150km/hour to a destination that he does not know. Maybe he
is even drunk. Would you like to pick up a lift with this kind of person? Of course not. His kindness is a tragedy. On the contrary,
if a person is a very careful driver, he knows the road. Before he sets out on
the journey he offers you a lift to exactly where your destination is and he is
known to be a kind, dependable and responsible person. Would you accept that
offer? Of course. This is the secret of navigating
through this world. This week’s parsha reveals the secret – from every man
whose heart motivates him. How did his heart motivate him – he was traveling
with the oral and written law. Otherwise it’s a tragedy. Maybe he donates bacon
or stolen produce. Giving a tenth of stolen produce is a tragedy on a tragedy.
Bringing heaven forbid, non-kosher food or nevela to
the Beis HaMikdash is a
catastrophe of a catastrophe. There is a famous story of a great chassid who was invited to the
palace of one of the Kings of Europe. The King knew in advance that the Jews
would not even drink their finest wines. So the Rabbi was invited to the
palace. The King pour out a glass of wine for him, and
said to him, drink to my health. So he said to the King, please spit into this
cup over here. The King spat saliva into the cup and the Rabbi offered to drink
the saliva from that cup. He would rather drink something that was not not kosher than offend the King of Kings. He showed the
King that he was not refusing to drink in order to offend him, and that these
are not laws that we wrote but laws that H’shem gave
us. H’shem commanded us, Hai
Bahem – Live by them. There are many stories of a
similar nature. There is a book shortly to be published about the Prince of the
Netherlands who, on leil Shabbos 2 hours after
Shabbos came in sent his messenger to
the top carpet dealer in the Netherlands and demanded a carpet for the Royal
Banquet due to be held on Shabbos morning in the Royal household. The Baal Habayis was in the middle of zmiros
when the messenger of the Prince came. He
apologized profusely, explained that it was Shabbos and sent him away. He
returned with the seal of the Prince of Holland that they needed it urgently
and immediately. The request stated that it was needed with supreme urgency, otherwise there would be serious consequences. Of
course everyone ion the home panicked. What could they do? Perhaps they should
just give it and worry about the consequences later. The Head of the House said
no, we are commanded not to work on the Sabbath, had it been a few hours before
or after Shabbos we would be more than happy to accommodate the Royal Household
with every request. So Motzei Shabbos the King’s
personal messenger told the man that the King wanted to see him tomorrow. He
went across, trembling. This was a very serious matter. It turned out that the
German King had come to visit that day. They were discussing the various people
in their lands. The German King said that the Jews are money hungry. The Dutch
Prince said that he did not believe him. They waged a bet and the Royal
Household was delighted that in fact they were correct – the Jews will not just
do anything for money. He was very happy and did much more business with this
Royal carpeteer afterwards.
BeKitzur,
to get back to the parsha, this intrinsically shows that those whose hearts
motivate them, shall take My portion – gold, silver, copper, turquoise, purple,
scarlet, wool, linen, goat’s hair, dyed Ram’s skins, Tachash
skins which are an ancient animal which we don’t know what it is any more.
Acacia wood, which we will explore in a short while. So the Mishcan,
the whole of the later part of the book of Shemos is
dedicated to the Mishcan except for the incident of
the Golden Calf. Mishcan literally means a dwelling
place. Even the account of the Golden Calf is related to the Mishcan. According to the Sforno,
the very construction of the Mishcan was made
necessarily only because
We
see that the Mishcan is so close to the Beis Din, the seat of the ritual and the civil law are
totally interrelated as we mentioned last week in Parshas Mishpatim,
that the Beis Din HaGadol
was beside the Beis HaMikdash.
These things are
What
is preventing Moshiach coming today? They asked Eliyahu HaNavi when Moshiach is coming.
He said “Today…”. People went out into the streets to
find him. They went back to Eliyahu and said – he
didn’t come. Eliyahu finished the posuk
from Tehillim – “Today, if you really want him”. This
is what is preventing Moshiach coming today. We hear
the news and think that we can solve things ourselves. Impossible.
We are looking for all the other peace covenants in the world except for the
peace from the King of peace, Adon HaShalom.
H’shem gives us Har HaBayis, the Temple Mount, and instructs the building and
construction of the Mishcan immediately after the
Civil Law of Mishpatim, because in Jewish the law of the Temple Offerings and
the Laws of Damages are equally relevant and significant in H’shem’s
world vision. So we see in the 10 Commandments, the laws that are bein Adam le Makom and the laws
that are bein Adam LeHavero,
between Man and his creator and between Man and his fellow Man. To treat Man
less well than his creator is a tragic mistake. Of course, the Torah at times
requires the death sentence. Even that is a Kiddush H’shem,
because through that, many others will tremble and fear H’ rather than ignore
the ideal of Torah. We cannot enforce our ideas upon the world, but the world
will come to the conclusion what a wise nation this is, more blessed than all
the other nations of the world. Why? Not because we are powerful through our
own hands, but because the blessings that this nation will receive when it
walks in the ways of H’shem will be something that
has never been seen before. Already we see these miracles blossoming – the
produce of
The
redemption from
The
Ibn Ezra says that when Moshe was on Har Sinai H’shem commanded him concerning the Mishcan
so that it would be a permanent dwelling place for the people for the glory of H’shem, who had rested on the mountain, so that Moshe would
not be required to ascend Har Sinai whenever H’shem
wished to communicate with Am Yisrael or they wished to communicate with H’shem. ‘They shall make me a Sanctuayr, that I shall
dwell amongst them”. This is a fantastic idea that represents
Many
of the symbolisms of the various components of the Tabernacle provide
tremendous insights. I would like to explore the Acacia wood. Rashi comments, from where did they get the wood in the
dessert? There were no trees. The Tanchuma explains
that Yaakov Avinu saw through Nevua that Am Yisrael
would need to build the Mishcan in the desert. So, he
brought Cedar Trees to the dessert and planted them there. He commanded his
sons and the generations after him, that when the time for Yetzias
Mitzrayim would come, they would take these trees
with them. They would chop them and take the wood with them. Why couldn’t they
buy the wood from traders (Yoma 75b)? Surely Cedars
also grew in
The young men were Ishmael
and Eliezer.
This
was, of course, the Akeidas Yitzhak. Really, when we
look at it, the fire and the wood symbolically was from Yitzhak Avinu. So we
see, that the Akeidas Yitzhak – the Pachad Yitzhak – that a man plans and H’shem
laughs. Through our efforts and Avodas H’shem, H’shem laughs with joy.
When we go after the ratzon H’shem
with joy, with celebration, then it says “ein Simcha belo basr veyayin”,
there can be no Simcha without meat and wine. A person says, great, eat, drink
and be merry, for tomorrow you die. No. that is the absolute
antithesis of Torah. The Torah concept is the Korbanos
in the Beis HaMikdash and
the wine libations to H’shem. There can be no greater
happiness mitzvah gedola lihyot
besimcha, Simcha gedola lihyot bemitzva. Tamid besimcha lihyot bemitzva, tamid bemitzva lihyot besimcha. Whenever you are happy, it’s a mitzvah. Whenever
you are doing a mitzvah, there is an infinite happiness that comes with it. So
I would like to suggest a higher meaning of this sentence. The first offering
in the morning and the last offering in the evening, after which no other
offering was given, are known as the tamid offerings.
The first is given first thing in the morning and the last, the last thing at
nightfall. All the other offerings are sandwiched between them. The tamid offering that we are offering to H’shem
always makes us happy. What does H’shem need from us?
Absolutely nothing. What can we give H’shem? Whatever we give, we have to do it with all our
hearts, because by doing it with all our hearts it becomes a shleimmut with the heart of H’shem.
The heart of man and the heart of H’shem become one.
Then we experience a revelation of what was created at the outset of creation,
that there will be heaven on earth and may all the illnesses, plagues, wars and
jealousies would be eradicated. We see that our purpose in this world as to
perform Avodas H’shem, not Avodas Atem – to acquire for H’shem. Then we are reaching up and we can understand “Shema Yisrael, H’ Elokeinu, H’ Ehad”. Then we are at the level as at Matan
Torah. Bechol Levavcha, with all your heart, bechol nafshecha – with all your soul
uvechol meodehah – with all
your wealth. The next stage, we become Lev Ehad
BeGuf Ehad, we come back to the Unity that existed in the world at the
time of Adam HaRishon, before his het.
He was in Gad Eden – Lev Ehad veGuf
Ehad. Am Yisrael at Har Sinai said Naase Venishma, we will do
anything You command us, H’shem.
The question is not what does H’shem
want from us, but what we want. If we make our ratzon
his ratzon then we are guaranteed that it will be
fulfilled. When that happens, surely, it will be a time of Geulah
Shleima, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, the Beis Hamikdash Bimheira Veyameinu, Tehiyas HaMeisim, Moshe Rabbeinu and
Aaron HaCohen will come back on to Har HaMoria, and you will see the Mishcan
again, the kodesh kedoshim
and the miracles that the world existed and experienced constantly, that will
be kemo Shomayim al Ha’aretz, and we will experience, Be Ezras
H’, a Geula Shleima and
Shabbat Shalom to the whole world.