Monday, March 4, 2013
Donations and Efforts
10:49 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
Give and receive
“And have
them take for Me… ” (25:2). Rashi: for my sake
We would have
thought that the purpose of mitzvos such as giving charity or donating
objects to hekdesh is fulfilled irrespective of the motives of the
donor, so what is the meaning of the midrash quoted by Rashi? Furthermore,
the commentators wonder about the Torah’s phraseology: why does it say "have them take for Me a
donation” instead of "have them give Me a donation"?
When we
observe the mitzvos of Hashem and donate money for the sake of
His honor, we become worthy of receiving an abundance of blessings and success.
That is why we "take" this Divine bounty in return for our donations,
and the purer our intentions upon voluntarily giving away our possessions for
the sake of Hashem, the greater will be the divine reward.
Rav Sternbuch
was once speaking to a wealthy person and encouraging him to make a donation to
poor talmidei chachomim. The
person responded that he preferred to make a donation for a building
that would commemorate his name for ever. Rav Sternbuch replied by citing Rashi
here. Hashem wants us to give charity for His sake. If we do so, He will provide
us with a heavenly and eternal "monument and memorial better than sons and
daughters” and better than any memorial plaque.
Terumo from money
“…
a donation [terumo]… (ibid)
Separating terumo
is not only a mitzvah in its own right, but we thereby also
"fix" the remaining produce. The possuk refers to terumo
to tell us that the mitzvah of tzedoko may be compared to the act
of separating terumo from produce, since when we make a donation to the mikdosh
or charity we thereby fix and elevate the money remaining in our possession, and
can thereafter legitimately use it as a divine gift. Conversely, when we fail
to set aside appropriate amounts to charity our possessions acquire a status
equivalent to produce which has not been tithed.
Someone who
has internalized the fact that when he gives away "his" possessions,
he is not parting with anything belonging to himself, but rather transferring
an object actually due to the recipient, for example when he makes a donation
to an oni who is entitled to his ma’aser kesofim, will do so with
a totally different attitude and will, in turn, enjoy manifold blessings.
PURE donations
“… from every
person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take My donation” (ibid)
The Zohar hakodosh
on parashas vayakhel says that before the sin of the golden calf
donations to the mishkan were accepted also from the erev rav, as
it says "from every person", whereas after the sin their donations
were no longer accepted, as it says: "Moshe called the whole community of
the bnay yisroel to assemble”, and not "every person".
It may be
assumed that even before the incident of the golden calf the erev rav did
not behave impeccably, but as long as they did not act conspicuously and remained
subservient to the Jewish nation it was permitted to take donations from them.
However, once they actively transgressed and incited the rest of the nation to
do so, their donations were no longer acceptable.
Even when his
yeshiva was in great financial trouble, Rav Moshe Schneider zt”l refused to accept donations from mechalelei Shabbos (people
that don't keep shabbos) arguing that
this would have a detrimental effect on the spiritual level of the students,
and that, to a large extent, the students’ success depended on the purity of
the financial resources supporting the yeshiva, because when we accept
donations from resho’im this increases their power of evil and has
a negative impact on the whole Yeshiva. Instead, the Grodzinski Bakery, which
was owned by religious Jews, agreed to donate all the bread that had not been
sold by the end of the day to the yeshiva.
On another
occasion it became public knowledge that a religious Jew had obtained his
wealth through fraudulent means. When Rav Schneider heard this he was adamant
that no donations would be accepted from this person either. Rav Schneider did
not budge from his principles, and in the end even his opponents had to acknowledge
that he was a man of truth.
Reward based on effort
“And
this is the donation that you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper… Shoham
stones and filling stones for the ephod and for the choshen” (25:3, 7)
The Ohr
Hachayim hakodosh wonders why the Shoham stones, which are more valuable
than gold and silver, are not mentioned first. He replies that these precious stones had been
brought to the Jews miraculously in clouds, and since they had been attained
without any effort or financial sacrifice specifically for the purpose of being
used in the mishkon, the Torah saw fit to enumerate the gold
and silver first, because since they had been obtained from the Egyptians and
the owners donated them with self-sacrifice they were dearer in Hashem’s eyes.
Similarly, the self-sacrifice of a poor man
who donates one dollar to charity may be dearer in Hashem's eyes than the deed
of a wealthy person who donates 1000 dollars effortlessly. It says “from every
person whose heart inspires him to generosity” to emphasize that the jov,
generosity and self-sacrifice accompanying the act of giving are the main
components of the mitzvah of tzedoko.
The
same holds true with regard to any mitzvah. Hashem investigates the hidden
recesses of every person’s heart and mind to determine the extent to which he
has had to overcome difficulties in order to succeed in his Torah learning or observance
of mitzvos. The genuine importance of each yid depends on the extent to which he has been successful in overcoming such
trials.
outreach
“And
they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst” (25:8)
Nothing is
more elevated than Hashem, and yet He still "lowered Himself" so that
the shechino could kivyochol dwell in the mishkon. We too
should learn from this by way of a kal vachomer not to find it beneath
ourselves to interact with those who have not been fortunate enough to receive a
Torah education or with people who do not comport themselves the way they
should despite having received a good education. Instead of denigrating them we
should endeavor to bring them closer to avodas Hashem.
talmidei chachomim
“And
you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and from outside you shall
overlay it” (25:11)
The gemara
(Masseches Yomo 72b) says that this possuk teaches us that a talmid
chachom whose external wisdom
belies his character (literally: whose inside is not as his outside) is
not a real talmid chachom. However,
since the oron itself was made
of wood and covered with gold, so that its interior was also not the same as
its exterior, this gemara seems difficult to understand.
Someone who
knows that people consider him to be a talmid chachom is obligated to sanctify the divine name by
behaving in the way described by the Rambam (Hilchos Dei’os, beginning
of chapter 5). All his private and public actions as well as his speech will be
in conformity with the elevated status expected of him. People expect him to
behave in a superior manner, symbolized by the external gold covering, and also
to be replete with yiras shomayim and midos tovos, symbolized by
the internal gold covering.
However, in his private thoughts he lives with
the awareness that he is nothing more than wood, since his deeds, speech and
thoughts are still in need of much improvement in light of his true potential
for greatness. Such a person is indeed following the path of a true talmid chachom:
although his
internal dialogue with the Creator is “wooden”, and reflects a genuine anovo, his external behavior, which is witnessed
by onlookers, is appropriately gilded. His inside is like his outside in the
sense that both of them are in conformity with the path a genuine talmid chachom
is supposed to follow.
who supports who?
“And
you shall bring the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the
ark with them” (25:15)
Chazal tell us
(Masseches Sosto 35a) that notwithstanding the poles, the oron miraculously carried its bearers on its own.
This teaches us that although it appears as if the donors for Torah
causes support the Torah, in reality the reverse is the case: the Torah
supports them, and their donation is the catalyst for receiving blessings from Hakodosh
Boruch Hu.
Similarly, the
yisroel appears to be supporting the kohen with terumos
and ma’asros, but Hashem instructed the kohanim to bless the nation in order to teach us that all the
abundance enjoyed by the rest of the nation is in fact received via the kohanim.
Nowadays, too,
bnei Torah enjoy the same status as kohanim (see the Rambam at
the end of Hilchos Shmita Veyovel) and those who support them are in
reality supported by the bnei Torah. If our erring brethren realized
that their material welfare stems from the lomdei Torah we would not be
in the situation we are currently in.
In any case,
it is clear that instead of priding himself for his generosity, a person who
makes donations to Torah causes should rather be grateful for the opportunities
presented to him for receiving Hashem’s bounty.
Tampering with the Torah
“And
you shall place the ark cover over the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of
Holies” (26:34)
It seems
difficult to understand how the luchos inside the oron could have served as a testimony when they
were stored in the kodesh hakodoshim, which everyone except the kohen godol on Yom Kippur was forbidden to enter.
Throughout our history there have been people
who have argued that the Torah has to be adapted to the times. Sometimes such people
really appreciate and honor the Torah, and feel that by adapting it to the
needs of their generation they are protecting it, so to speak. However, their
actions lead to very grave changes in such areas as the laws of conversion, chupa and kidushin.
The Torah is kept in the kodesh hakodoshim as a reminder that we cannot begin to fathom its holiness, and any
attempts to tamper with it are likely to have dire consequences.
toil to receive siyata
dishmaya
“The menorah shall be made of
hammered work” (25:31) Rashi: “By itself”.
This Rashi may
be understood in light of the Vilna Gaon’s explanation of the statement
"if you have toiled and found, then believe”. He says that this does not
mean that a person enjoys the fruits of his labor, as is the case in other
areas, but rather that even after a person has toiled in Torah he can only
acquire a proper understanding of it the way one finds a lost object [meziah
– yogato umozoso], by way of a divine gift.
On the other
hand, a precondition for meriting such siyata dishmaya is to first toil
in one’s studies. That is why the menorah, which symbolizes the Torah and mitzvos,
first had to be made of hammered work, and, then, after all the toiling,
was constructed by itself.
A yeshiva bochur upon first entering his yeshiva, or a ba’al teshuva who
sees a talmid chachom, may
become disheartened at the magnitude of the task facing them. How can they
possibly begin to master the whole Torah? The answer is that if they utilize
their abilities to the utmost, that is all that Hashem asks for, and He will
reward them with corresponding siyata dishmaya to complete the
task.
*****
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