G-d instructed Moshe to convey His command to the Jews that they contribute towards the construction of His Temple.
While we would expect the Torah to use the word, V’Yitnu – they should give a contribution, instead, the Torah uses the word, ‘V’Yikchu Li – they should take for Me a contribution.
The question is obvious, why is this giving referred to as taking?
An answer offered is that the Jews, at this point, were basking in a spiritually heightened level and they understood that all the wealth that they accumulated (from the Egyptians) was a gift from the Almighty. Therefore, when they were asked to give towards G-d’s Temple, their parting from their wealth was not considered as they were giving of themselves. Rather, they considered themselves as merely taking it and transferring back to the Almighty.
In fact, we are taught, when we give to charity, we are essentially taking for ourselves, since any money that we contribute, somehow finds its way back to – the giver. Hence, the Torah is teaching us that giving is actually taking.
G-d commands, “Make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell within them.” The question raised is, why does the verse begin with a singular instruction to create a sanctuary and then concludes in the plural – amongst them?
An answer offered by our Sages is that G-d is telling us that when we create a Sanctuary for G-d, He will not only confine His presence to the physical Sanctuary – He will spread His Holiness and dwell within the heart of every single Jew! Every Jew is a repository of G-d’s Shechina – presence.
When G-d instructed Moshe to create the Ark of Testimony which contained a Torah scroll and the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, He uses the word, V’Asu – and they should make. This plural term – and they should make – only appears regarding the directives for the Ark of Testimony. While in reference to the other components, G-d commands Moshe as a personal directive – V’Asisa – and you should make.
Why did G-d command Moshe to create the Ark of Testimony by many?
An answer offered is, as we mentioned, the Ark of Testimony represents our Torah. G-d is conveying to us that Torah is not the possession of any single individual. Torah is given to every single Jew and each Jew has a right and privilege to access it, study it and acquire Torah knowledge and wisdom.
G-d instructed Moshe to create a solid Golden Menorah that must emerge from chiseling it out of one block of gold. Meaning, that the individual components were not to be bonded together. Moshe tried and tried and it didn’t go. Finally, G-d told Moshe to cast the block of gold into a fire and a completed Menorah with all the ornaments emerged!
The question begs, if G-d knew that it was impossible for Moshe to create the Menorah why did He command him to try in the first place? The answer offered is that G-d did this to teach us that He wants us to put in the effort to serve Him even though we may feel that it is impossible for us to fully achieve. G-d rewards us for the effort we sincerely put into His service even when for some reason we could not complete it.
The illumination of the Menorah represents the spiritual light of our Torah. But, doesn’t the Ark of Testimony represent the Torah? An answer offered is that there are two characteristics of Torah, its study and observance; the private and the public. The Ark of Testimony was housed in the partitioned off Holy of Holies, where the High Priest entered only one day a year – on Yom Kippur. The Ark of Testimony represents the Torah that one personally studies, the observances he does privately and out of the public eye. The Menorah and its illumination represent the Torah that one teaches and shares with others and the Mitzvos that one performs openly and as a congregation. The illumination of the Menorah also represents the spiritual aura that great scholars of Torah exude.
We are witness to the inspiring stories that our brothers and sisters, who were held hostage by the wicked Hamas, shared with us. It was their holding onto their belief in G-d that got them through the harrowing ordeal. How they and their families back home had adapted to and embraced Mitzvos more intently, whether it was Shabbos, prayers, Tefilin or being careful not to speak ill of others, as a merit that G-d send a salvation. All the spiritual advances that the hostages, their families and we, their brothers and sisters, throughout the world did and continue to do, illuminates the world like the Menorah and certainly brings clarity to all – that G-d dwells within each one of us!
