Terumah  

The sicha for parshas Terumah is in Vol. I of Likkutei Sichos.

The beginning of this week’s sedra mentions the word Terumah three times - first it says “ v’likruli terumah,”, that they should bring the terumah, the offering to Me, to G-d, and then in the second verse it says “asher hitvenu libo tikru es terumasi”, everyone whose heart moves him to donate the offering, and then the third posuk, “ v’zos haterumah asher tikru m’item …” and this is the offering that you should take from the people, gold, silver, brass etc. fifteen different things. The Gemarrah says that because the word Terumah is mentioned three times, we know that there are three donations, three terumahs.

One terumah was for the adonim, the brass plates at the bottom of the beams of the walls of the Mishkan for which every Jew had to give a half shekel. The second terumah was given to buy the sacrifices for the mizbeach, the altar. Here also each person gave a half shekel. And the third terumah was for the Mishkan itself, for the vessels and the upkeep, for which every one gave as much as they wanted.

The question is why for the terumah for the sacrifices and the terumah for the adonim, the amount was a half shekel and yet for the terumah for the Mishkan it was up to the individual?

It is understandable that the terumah for buying the sacrifices was the same for everyone because the purpose of the sacrifices was to bring forgiveness for sins, and primarily the sin of the Golden Calf. Since the sin was committed by the entire people, and it affected the entire people, therefore, to rectify it, it also has to come from the entire Jewish people. And so everyone brings the same amount to buy the sacrifices that will bring the forgiveness for the sin.

To understand this better, it is known that the sin of the Golden Calf is connected in some way to the sin of the eating of the Etz Hadaas, the Tree of Knowledge. It is through the Tree of Knowledge that unholiness came into the world, which lasted until the Giving of the Torah when the unholiness was lifted. It then returned when they made the Golden Calf. The unholiness of the Golden Calf is like a repeat of the sin of the eating of the Tree of Knowledge. So if we understand better the unholiness of the chet Etz Hadaas, we will understand better the sin of the Golden Calf.

When G-d created the world in the beginning of the creation, the world was perfect and a dwelling place for G-d. But then came the sin of the Etz Hadaas, and an unholiness came down into the world. Because of this unholiness, the world was no longer receptive to G-dliness. As is known, the mitzvas that the Patriarchs fulfilled and the Torah they studied, even though the commandments had not yet been given, those mitzvas did not permeate the physical object and make the physical world G-dly, because the world was not  receptive  and  was  not  able to absorb and retain the G-dliness that the mitzva brought to it.

The Giving of the Torah changed that. The unholiness was removed from the world and the physical world became refined and receptive enough so that the holiness of the mitzva that is performed with the physical object, remains permanently, and becomes an object of holiness. Then with the sin of the Golden Calf, that unholiness was brought back and once again, the physical world became resistant to the G-dliness that was introduced to it, although it didn’t completely remove the ability of the world to absorb the mitzvah. That’s why since Matan Torah the mitzvas that we fulfill do have an effect on the physical world, but to some degree the physical world is not processing the G-dliness thoroughly enough to become permanently holy because of this unholiness that the Golden Calf introduced.

And so to rectify that, we have the mitzva of machzi hashekel, the half shekel which every Jew has to give. It says concerning machzi hashekel, “this is what each one should give,” where it says “this ” it means G-d pointed to it and said, this is the half-coin that every Jew should give. As the Gemarrah says, every one should be able to point with his finger and say, “this is my G-d and I will glorify Him”. With the machzi hashekel it says “this” because  the  purpose  of  the machzi  hashekel  is  to  make G-dliness obvious and recognizable, so that we would be able to point to it with our finger and say, this is it. This is the tikkun, the correction, for the unholiness that the Golden Calf brought into the world, where the physical world can hear about G-d, can know about G-d, but can’t yet point and say, this is it.

And so it’s understandable now that the korban that was bought with the machzi hashekel, had to belong to the community because it was a sin that affected the entire community and so the tikkun and the rectification of it has to come from the community.

With this, we will also understand some of the details of the machzi hashekel.

The half shekels that were given became community property. The Rambam says in his introduction to Mishnayos, that there are four kinds of sacrifices: the korban that belongs to the community, the korban that belongs to the individual, the korban of the community that is similar to the korban of the individual, and the korban of the individual that is similar to the community korban.

The community korban consists of those korbanos that had to be brought at a certain time, and had to be offered up as a community, for example the daily sacrifices or the musaf sacrifices on Yom Tov. The korban yachid, the individual korban, are those korbanos that don’t have any particular time, that are brought by the individual on occasion, when something happens to the individual. There is no preset time for this korban. Then there is a korban that is a community korban, but it is similar to the individual korban, which is the korban that is brought by the community but doesn’t have a particular time. For example, if an entire community sins, because they didn’t know the halacha, or forgot the halacha then the entire community has to bring a korban. But it doesn’t have any set time; it is brought only if something happens, when it happens. So it has a similarity to the individual’s korban which is also brought on occasion. Then there is the individual korban which is similar to the community korban which is one that belongs to the individual but does have a predetermined time. For example, the korban Pesach; it has to be brought by each individual, and yet it has to be brought at a preset time - on Pesach.

The individual korban, and also the individual korban that is similar to the community korban could not be paid for by the money from the machzi hashekel. Even the community korban that is similar to the individual korban is not paid for by the machzi hashekel. Only that which is an actual community korban could be taken from that fund.The reason is that because the machzi hashekel is community property, it therefore had to be used only for a community korban. That is why the terumah for the mizbeach, was a half-shekel for every person - because it was a community offering.

But concerning the adonim why was that given as a half-shekel, a fixed amount for all people? The adonim were one of the parts, one of the kelim of the Mishkan. Why aren’t they included in the fund for the Mishkan in general? Why are they set apart as a separate fund?

The Gemarrah Yerushalmi tells us the three verses where the word terumah is mentioned, from which we derive that there are three different donations. The posuk that says “this is the terumah you should take from them, gold, silver… ” referring to the money that was for the Mishkan. “ Tikru es terumasi,” refers to the terumas for the mizbeach, and “v’yekruli terumah,” refers to the terumah for the adonim. So we see from this that the posuk in which the word “ li ” is mentioned, “ v’yekruli terumah,” that the terumah is taken for G-d, directly for G-dliness, refers to the donation of the plates - not to the mizbeach, not to the Mishkan in general, but to the plates.

Now, on a deeper level, the word “ li ” refers to all the terumahs, and it even refers to all of Torah, as the Zohar says, that through doing mitzvas “v’yekruli,” - you take not only to Me, but you take Me. Every mitzva contains a little piece of G-d, and by doing the mitzva, you are taking G-d, you’re in touch with G-d. The simple meaning of the word “li ” is related to the donation for the adonim.

The difference between the plates of the Mishkan and the rest of the Mishkan, will be understood when we think about the Mishkan in the human form. A human being is also a mishkan, and that’s why it says, “build Me a Mishkan and I will live in them,” in the people. People are a living mishkan. The boards that make up the walls of the Mishkan had to be ten cubits high, in the living being that refers to the ten powers of the neshama, the intelligence and the emotions. The spreads over the Mishkan that served as the roof, they are the koachs makifim, the transcendent koachs of ratzon and taanug. The plates at the bottom of the boards represent bitul, humility. So the plates are lower than any particular kind of service which is the idea of bitul and the acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. Even though it is very low, on the other hand, it is the entire foundation on which the Mishkan rests. As we say in the davening, “I should feel my will should be as it is dust before all people,” - humility - and through that the result will be “my heart will be open to Torah and my soul will pursue mitzvas.” So we see that all of Torah and all of mitzvas are basically based on the foundation of humility - my will should be as dust before all people.

This is also the reason that the terumah for the plates, was done only the first year and wasn’t repeated the next years, whereas the terumah for the mizbeach and the Mishkan were. The idea is that this bitul, being the foundation on which the entire avodah is built, has to come first, has to be established right at the start, and then once it is established, then the construction of the rest of the building can go on - the individual detailed services of avodah for each person.

This is why at the beginning of the day we start with Modeh Ani and Hodu L’Shem, because modeh and hodu are expressions of humility, of acknowledgement which comes from humility. That has to be the foundation of each day, then after that, we go on to the Pesuchei D’Zimra and to the brachos before the Shema and to the reading of the Shema, etc.

With this we will understand the two details concerning the adonim and how they are different from the rest of the Mishkan.

In all the other parts of the Mishkan, the boards and the coverings, here every Jew is different. The boards and the covering refer to the inner faculties and the transcendent faculties of the person, the koach pnimiyum and the koach makifim. Here every person is different: every person has to serve G-d according to his nature, according to the makeup, to the combination of his koachs and of his talents that his neshama carries. No two people can be alike - one person is stronger in certain midos, in certain emotion, ahava or yirah, another person will be stronger in intelligence and sechel. And even in sechel, there are differences between one person and another, one excels in chochma, one excels in binah, the other one in daas. So each person is going to serve G-d differently, and will be unique in his avodah.

But when it comes to the bitul and the kabalos ol, here all people are equal. It is not coming from your individual faculties, from your individual talents - on the contrary - you put aside the makeup and the properties of your neshama and your serve G-d by transcending yourself and your abilities. Here all people are equal because they have put aside that which makes them different - they’ve put aside their individualities - and therefore it is a tzibor, it is a community, not an individual.

How do we reach to the essence of G-d, to the core, which is the “li” - that through our mitzvas we should be able to come in contact with G-d Himself? Here we are told that it happens only through this humility, through the bitul. Because “lo ba aish Hashem,” G-d is not in the fire, “lo ba rash Hashem,” G-d is not in the thunder, “ lo ba ruach Hashem,” G-d is not in the wind, in the storm, rather it is the still, small voice, in the humility. That’s where we find the essence of G-d.

Now although the foundation of all service of G-d is this bitul, as we said before, it is only the foundation, it is only beginning. The complete avodah is when a person can devote himself to the mitzva with all his faculties, with all his koach, with the sechel and his midos, with his intelligence and his emotions.

That’s why when the terumah was given for the sacrifices, the rich man who brings a poor man’s offering has not fulfilled his obligation. Even in sacrifices, every person has to bring according to the maximum of his ability. He has to give to G-d, he has to put in to the mitzva, all of his intelligence and all his emotions. So if a rich man brings a poor man’s sacrifice, which means, he doesn’t give himself completely, his sechel and his midos, then he hasn’t fulfilled the mitzva. On the other hand, if a poor man brings a rich man’s offering, he is does fulfill obligation, and in fact, “toveh alav bracha,” the Gemarrah says, it should bring him a blessing, more power to him.

In the spiritual, this means, a poor person, which means poor in knowledge, he hasn’t learnt Torah, he doesn’t understand Torah, even such a person is expected to study Chassidus, the pnimiyus of Torah, which is really a rich man’s offering.

It used to be that pnimiyus haTorah was studied only by someone who was already rich in all the other areas of Torah and only then was he allowed to engage in the study of Kabbalah or pnimiyus haTorah. But now we are told that even a poor man who brings a rich man’s sacrifice, is “ toveh alav bracha,” if he starts by learning Chassidus, he will become rich, because “ aser,” makes yourself rich, “ beshweel she tisasher,” so that you will actually become rich. When a person starts to learn Chassidus, and he starts to delve into the pnimiyus of Torah, it will bring him bracha, blessings that he will actually become rich b’ruchnius, and that translates also into gashmius that he becomes blessed and becomes rich in children, in health and in wealth. 

Shopping cart

0 Product(s) in cart

Total $0.00

» Checkout

It's Good News