Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov and welcome back to פרשה Parsha Perspectives for today. So good to be together yet again to study the פרשה parsha and to extract from it the lessons that can inspire our contemporary lives. The פרשה parsha, the Torah, the חומש Chumash was not written or given to us for years ago in antiquity, but it is an instruction manual. It is a blueprint for how to live today as well. I want to thank our generous sponsors, my dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in loving memory of Becky's father's יארצייט yahrzeit is this week, Dovid Grossman, דוד בן מנחם מנוש Dovid ben Menachem Menush. Thank you so much for your generosity, and thank you for that sponsorship. I want to acknowledge and thank those who have contributed and given to our campaign, the BRsonline.org Global Campaign, those who listen, who learn, who benefit, who read. I will not be sharing about it in the middle of the פרשה parsha class today. Today we will discuss strictly פרשה parsha, but I do want to thank those who've contributed to the campaign and brought us to 70% of our goal. You can help us get across the finish line if you go to BRsonline.org/global. BRsonline.org/global. Thank you so much for your generosity. Also, if you're listening on YouTube, take a moment and subscribe. If you take a moment to subscribe, you'll be notified every time we go live with new שיעורים shiurim, classes, and learning opportunities.This morning we have the privilege of studying together פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma, page 444 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma. And פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma, פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma is the big transition from the narrative of the story of the Jewish people leaving Egypt, the story of arriving at הר סיני Har Sinai and the experience of receiving the Torah, the most seminal event in all of human history. משפטים Mishpatim, the ו' vav we spoke about last week, the ו' החיבור vav hachibur, ואלה המשפטים v'eileh hamishpatim, that connection of bringing it to, of bringing it to this world and into the world of action, civil, tort, criminal law, how to bring Hashem, דירה בתחתונים dira b'tachtonim, to give him a dwelling place down here, and to connect with him down here in this world. And then we transition from that to תרומה Truma. The רמב\"ן Ramban, we mentioned in his introduction to the book of שמות Shemos, talked about it being the transition from גלות galus to גאולה geulah. We are going from exile, and exile is a place where one is far from God, unsure about God. Exile is a place where you are not as confidential that there is a God in this world and that you connect to him. That is exile. גאולה Geulah is living with God, is feeling his presence, his love, his influence. And therefore, we have now begun the second half of the book and the transition from the story of גלות galus, of living without God, of thinking we're in charge and we're in control, to the story of גאולה geulah, of building Hashem a home, of building a place where he can have a דירה בתחתונים dira b'tachtonim, where he can dwell down here on, down here on Earth. Now, the פסוק pasuk says, דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yikchu li truma. Moshe says God says to Moshe, \"Speak to the Jewish people and take for me a gift.\" מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו Mei'eis kol ish asher yidvenu libo, \"From anyone who has a generous heart, a generous spirit,\" תקחו את תרומתי tikchu es trumasi, \"take that gift.\" וזאת התרומה V'zos hatrumah, and so on and so forth.And wonders רב דרוק Rav Druck, we're going to jump right into our first אש תמיד Eish Tamid of רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druck. We've been learning the ספר sefer on the פרשה parsha among many other thoughts each week. יש לדמוע סדר הציווי Yeish lidmoa seder hatzivui. רב דרוק Rav Druck wonders about the order of this command. I wondered this myself this year when being מעביר סדרה ma'avir sedra, when looking at the פרשה parsha. It's backwards. Who runs a campaign this way? Who does an appeal this way? Normally, you speak about what it is you're trying to raise money for. Normally, you talk about the cause, the institution, the organization, the values, the vision. Here's who we are, what we represent, we need your help. We need your partnership. Please give. And yet here in the פרשה parsha, it works exactly the opposite. Here the Torah is saying, \"Please give.\" \"Oh, you want to know the cause? Oh, by the way, you want to know what we're raising money for? The ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם v'asu li mikdash v'shochanti b'socham.\" So, shouldn't we first state, first we shouldn't we first articulate what it is that money is being raised for, and only afterwards do the appeal? Who's in? Who's giving? Go on the website, go on the campaign site and do it in honor and memory. What kind of a campaign is this? What's going on over here? Wonders רב דרוק Rav Druck. He says you can explain the following. We find similarly when it comes to אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu? What does אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu have to do with the משכן Mishkan, have to do with our storyline here? Says רב דרוק Rav Druck, God, when he introduces himself, or at least the way we see or read God's introduction to Avram, לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך lech lecha mei'artzecha u'mimoladetecha u'mibeis avicha el ha'aretz asher areka. God tells Avram, \"Leave your homeland, leave your home, leave everything you know and go to the land that I am going to, that I am going to show you.\" Now, when he first reaches out, he doesn't tell him where. He doesn't tell him where he's going to. He just says, \"Leave your home, leave everything you know, and I want you to go to the place that I'm going to show you.\" What do you mean the place I'm going to show you? I think we spoke about it this year again, פרשת לך לך Parshas Lech Lecha, we speak about it every year. Why didn't God give him the coordinates? Avram had to plug into Waze or into Google Maps or whichever, I don't know which app he used. But whichever one, he had to plug in the coordinates of where to go. So he knows to leave his homeland, he knows the departure gate, but he doesn't know the destination. Why does God hold back or conceal from him where is the destination? Why not give it upfront? And חז\"ל Chazal tell us because God wanted to give Avram a reward on every step and every step. That rather than know where he was going and how wonderful it would be there, all he knew was, you're on this ride. Hashem says, \"I'm the pilot, I'm the driver. You're the passenger. I will get you to the destination you belong, to the destination you need to be. Come along for this ride.\" And that's our test, that's the challenge. Are we willing to let go and let God? Are we willing to go along for the ride? Was Avram willing to drop and leave everything he knew for a לך לך lech lecha, to start out on a journey even without knowing the destination of that journey. So says רב דרוק Rav Druck, now we can understand similarly in our פרשתנו Parshaseinu. Why does God first announce there's an appeal? Open your wallet, bring your checkbook, Venmo, Zelle, however you want to wire the money, show me the money, bring the money. \"Oh, what's the cause? I'll tell you in a moment.\" And we ask, \"What kind of an appeal is this? First you explain the cause, and then you ask for the money.\" Says רב דרוק Rav Druck, no. Had Hashem explained the cause before the money, then people would have been giving because they believed in the cause. But Hashem wanted to first confirm that people were willing to give because he asked them to give. He said, \"I'm Hashem. You love me? You're devoted? You're dedicated? When I say write a check, you say, how high.\" Even if the Torah then says, and then וזאת התרומה אשר תקחו v'zos hatrumah asher tikchu. That giving would have been just a means towards the result of having the משכן Mishkan. But the giving itself wouldn't have been as impactful, wouldn't have been as transformational, just like the journey of Avram. So God says, \"Give, and through that giving you will be changed. And now what are you giving towards? We can talk about afterwards.\" But just the experience of giving is impactful, is transformational. In fact, the רמב\"ם Rambam, רב דרוק Rav Druck doesn't quote this, but the רמב\"ם Rambam writes, \"If a person has $100 to give, and they can give $1 a hundred times or $100 to one person, what should they do?\" If I came to you and asked you that advice, what would you advise? $1 to 100 people or $100 to one person? What would you advise? So I might have advised the $100 to the one person. It's much more efficient first of all way of giving. But second of all, it's a much more impactful way of giving. The $100 can make a real difference in someone's life. The $1 to 100 people won't. Writes the רמב\"ם Rambam, $1 to 100 people. Why? Because each time you give, you've changed yourself. The whole notion of giving, we're not going to spend time on now. We've spent time on in the ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim, when we talk about the three things, תשובה, תפילה, וצדקה מעבירין את רוע הגזירה teshuvah, tefillah, u'tzedakah ma'avirin es roah hagezeirah, and we asked, I understand repentance, I change who I am, I'm deserving of a new decree. I understand prayer, prayer I change who I am and how I position and talk to Hashem, I'm deserving of a new decree. But צדקה tzedakah? What, I just write a check to the judge? When I write a check to the judge, I'm basically buying off and bribing the judge, and through that I get a new decree. How does צדקה tzedakah work? But if you understand that when I take my assets, my resources, when I take it and I give it to the right place, I use it and spend it in the right way, that I am transforming myself. It's not an external act, it's an act which transforms who I am. It's an act which affirms my relationship with money, my relationship with things, my relationship with my material possessions and my assets. And when I give them away, each act of giving transforms who I am. So says the רמב\"ם Rambam, $100 to one person is one act of giving. There's one unit of impact. But $1 to 100 people, even though the $1 is much less, but there's a hundred acts of giving, there's a hundred moments of the impact of transformation. So says רב דרוק Rav Druck, that's what God was saying. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li truma, לי לשמי li lishmi, רש\"י Rashi says. God says, לי לשמי li lishmi, \"Do it for me. Do it because I asked you. Oh, what's it going for? What's it towards? I'll tell you later. First, I want to know that you're giving for me.\" If you ever had a close friend or family member who's raising money for something important, you call them and you say, \"I've got a cause I'm working on, something that's really important. I want to know, are you willing to help me out?\" So if they say, \"Does it matter to you? Do you care about it? Is it important? I'm in. Now tell me what it is I'm giving to. To whom do I write the check? Where do I address the wire?\" But if they say, \"Well, first tell me about it and I'll see if it speaks to me.\" So then it's not לשמי lishmi. Then it's not about the person's devotion to you, they're only giving if it's a cause that speaks to them. So Hashem says, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li truma, לי לשמי li lishmi. I want to know you're giving because you are connected to me. I want to know this is an act of devotion to me. I want to know this is a transformational change to you that you're willing to part with your things for me because I asked. What's the cause? I'll tell you in a moment. And that's why the order seems out of order. First, it's ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li truma, and then ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash. It's a perfect example, by the way, at least for me, maybe you've noticed this and know this דבר תורה dvar Torah is obvious to you. I've read the פרשה parsha many times, I never noticed it until this year. I was bothered by this question, and I'm so happy and relieved to see that he offers this, this answer. First, it's all about Hashem, לי לשמי li lishmi, and only afterwards then does Hashem tell us the, the cause and the reason for it. He has a long essay, he develops further ideas here, but we're going to move on. If you have the ספר sefer, I encourage you to read further and to understand more about why it is in this, in this order.Okay, פרק כ\"ה פסוק ג' Perek Kaf Hei, Pasuk Gimel. So, דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yikchu li truma, take תרומה truma, מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו mei'eis kol ish asher yidvenu libo, from anyone who is generous of heart. וזאת התרומה אשר תקחו מאתם V'zos hatrumah asher tikchu mei'itam, and here's the gift I want you to solicit. Here is the appeal. You ready? There's no website, BRsonline.org/global, but rather the material things you have to dedicate. You have to give. I said I wouldn't interrupt the פרשה parsha with a partial, but that's part of the theme of the פרשה parsha, so that's not called an interruption. Here are the materials. Here's what was being solicited from the people: זהב וכסף ונחשת Zahav v'chessef u'nechoshes, gold, silver, and bronze. These are materials. They needed these materials in order to successfully build the משכן Mishkan and the כלים keilim in the משכן Mishkan, and in order to be able to make it happen. Why now? Why now? So I want to first, I'm going to share with you an insight from רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, but before I do, I want to repeat something I've told you before. It comes from the חמרא טבא Chamra Tava. חמרא טבא Chamra Tava is a ספר sefer of רב אברהם שמחה מברנוב Rav Avraham Simcha of Barnov, a great צדיק tzaddik, זכותו יגן עלינו zechuso yagen aleinu. And he writes the following. The מדרש medrash says in תנא דבי אליהו Tanna d'vei Eliyahu, when the Jewish people, at the end of last week's פרשה, משפטים Mishpatim, last week we didn't get into it in the פרשה parsha class last week, but the end of last week's פרשה parsha after we went through the long list and litany of laws, then returns to a narrative. And that narrative, the words נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, we will do and then we will listen, doesn't appear in פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro where the giving of the Torah, but it appears at the end of משפטים Mishpatim. And there's a debate, again we didn't get into it, the end of last week's פרשה parsha chronologically, did that really come before מתן תורה Matan Torah, after מתן תורה Matan Torah? If it really came before, why was it placed after? Maybe next year משפטים Mishpatim we'll deal with it. So the words נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma are at the end of פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim. God says, \"I have an offer,\" and the Jewish people say, \"We're in. We'll do. We'll accept. We're ready. Oh, by the way, what is it you want us to do?\" These are the iconic words, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma. And then you go from that high of נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma last week to ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li truma this week, where God says, \"Okay, you're in? Open your wallet. Open your checkbook.\" So says the הייליגע heilige רב אברהם שמחה Rav Avraham Simcha of Barnov, he says, you know, we have a lot of Jews who they go to the דף יומי Daf Yomi and they listen to the פרשה parsha shiur, the Living with Emunah shiur, the Mitzvos from the Rambam shiur, the afternoon Kollel, they even listen to Behind the Bima. I don't know that they have to say a ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah on Behind the Bima, but there's a lot of people who love learning and they דאווען daven with a minyan and they're outside. Some of you, if you're not in Boca, some of you have been bundling up to go outside in freezing temperatures with enormous מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh, tremendous sacrifice to continue to דאווען daven and to דאווען daven with a minyan. And there are people who are willing to give up their, their comfort to דאווען daven with a minyan. There are people who are willing to give up their time in order to participate in Torah learning. And then you say to them, \"By the way, we're doing an appeal,\" and all of a sudden they shut down, they recoil, they distance themselves and they disappear. Time, they'll give you. Their comfort, convenience, they'll give you. But the money, ooh, the money, there's an allergy. The money, they'd rather give you their liver and their kidneys than they would rather give you than their money. אם כן Im kein, so says רב אברהם שמחה מברנוב Rav Avraham Simcha of Barnov, when they said נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, Hashem said, \"Oh yeah, you're in? Oh yeah, you love me? Oh yeah, you're ready to do whatever I ask? Okay. Cough it over. Write a check. Venmo some money. Because this is the core test.\" There are three ways that a person, you want to know the essence of someone? Don't follow their lip service. Don't listen to what they say. Watch what they do. If you want to understand somebody, don't just listen to what they say, but watch what they do. And we know בכיסו, בכוסו, ובכעסו b'kiso, b'koso, u'v'kaaso. When a person gets angry, first of all, what did they get outraged and angry over? And what did they act like when they get angry, you learn everything about somebody. בְּכוֹסוֹ B'koso, somebody drinks, becomes inebriated, intoxicated, what comes out? נכנס יין יצא סוד Nichnas yayin yatza sod. You learn a lot about somebody. But says the גמרא Gemara, the third one is בכיסו b'kiso, the wallet. You want to know about somebody? Check the credit card statement. I wrote an article last week, imagine somebody found your credit card statement. You lost it. The mail blew away, someone stole your mail. Imagine someone went through your credit card statement. What would they conclude about you? If they followed what you spend money on, what would they conclude about your priorities? So the notion of giving צדקה tzedakah is, it's מצות הבורא mitzvas HaBorei. Hashem says give, and we say, how much? We say how much. ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li truma. So a thought of a fascinating insight where he says, why is נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma followed from ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li truma? It's sort of anti-climactic. We go from this romantic נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, love and romance and spirituality, and then God says, \"Okay, how much are you willing to give?\" Because we measure the love not by the words, but by the action. If you really appreciate, if you're really committed, if you've benefited and you're really grateful, it's nice when you get beautiful emails, but it's about making the contribution to be able to show that appreciation and continue that project and that effort. Rav Soloveitchik also has a comment here on these words, זהב וכסף ונחשת zahav v'chessef u'nechoshes. And says the Rav the following. He says you have to understand and remember who are these people and where are they coming from when God turns to them and says, \"Cough it over. Contribute. Share. We're doing an appeal.\" Who are these people? What's their mentality? What has been their life experience until now? Where are they coming from? So writes the Rav, the slaves in Egypt had no property rights. Slaves are not compensated. By definition, if you're a slave, you're not paid, you're not compensated. There's no 401k, no pension contribution, there's no mileage reimbursement. When you're a slave, forget the actual money, health insurance, גורנישט gornisht, you get nothing. The Jewish people would pass an Egyptian woman and see her beautiful clothing while the Israelites had, all they had were rags. So they'd see the beautiful clothing and the wonderful spread of food and the home and the luxury car and the nice watch. And the Jewish people as slaves to the Egyptians had גורנישט gornisht, had nothing. Suddenly, they were liberated and given so many gifts. All of a sudden the Jewish people on the way out, we know the the um, the um the booty, the the spoils of the war that wash up on the shore after the ים סוף Yam Suf, we know they collected it and they got great wealth. Moshe ran to get the bones of Yosef, but they ran to collect all the wealth that was on the chariots of these Egyptians that washed up on the shore. So here you have a nation who for 210 years lived in poverty. 210 years had nothing. And now they discover wealth. They've won the lottery. Now they have beautiful clothing and gold and silver. They have great wealth. When one undergoes privation, it is natural to want to be compensated for the years of poverty and destitution when the period of privation ends. So when a person goes from being a slave to a free person, they want compensation. They want to collect. We all know the debate between Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, when the Germans and paying the um what was it called? Retribution, not paying uh restitution to the Jews, to the people in Israel. There was a big debate in the Knesset. Do you take the restitution, or do you assume that it's, are you letting the Germans off the hook if you, if you accept it? So a person goes free and they want to be compensated by their former, by their former master, by their persecutor. But when then Hashem makes an announcement, and he says, okay, you've discovered gold and silver, you're now wealthy, you've won the lottery, you've landed on money. The people's willingness to give up these hard earned possessions that they received from the Egyptians is precisely what hallowed and sanctified the sanctuary. Such a beautiful insight. It means that what gave the קדושה kedusha to the מקדש Miktash? What gave the holiness to the משכן Mishkan were the contributions of the people who made it up. And why were those contributions so holy? Because they didn't come easy. And it's not just that they didn't come easy financially. You know, every time one does an appeal, this is not my timing. We didn't sit down and time BRsonline.org/global campaign with פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma. Just happens to work out perfectly. No, I'm not bringing it up in the middle of the פרשה parsha shiur. But when one runs a campaign, there are people for whom writing that check means little. It won't impact their lives. And there are others who go to their savings. There are others who consider what could we live without this year in order to make sure the shul or the yeshiva or the kollel or the mikvah or the eruv or the kashrus has, or our brothers and sisters in Israel, in order to make sure that the soldiers in the Israeli army, what am I willing to live without in order that they have? So financially, the holiness of the צדקה tzedakah we give is proportional to how much it hurt to give it. But the hurt to give it is not only true in terms of our bank account. The hurt to give it is not only true in terms of the number that it goes down because we've given and shared. The hurt to give is also the mentality. There are people who are magnanimous, they are naturally generous, they are eager to share and and be generous with others, and there are others who are allergic to giving away. There are others that it's painful. It's like you're extracting a limb or an organ to take money. And these slaves were exactly that people. They had come out of Egypt, they had nothing, and they were afraid of the future. What would it bring? Think about the last generation, the survivors. The survivors who walked out of the camps as skeletons and they had nothing and they worked tirelessly just to be able to have a roof over their head and food in their mouth. And then it was time to rebuild in America. And they came and said, \"We need money for the shul, for the yeshiva, for the eruv, for the mikvah.\" And these survivors who didn't know where their next meal would come from, nevertheless took the little they had in order to build the Jewish future. That was the same thing as these slaves. That's the slaves. That's the holiness. The institutions that we have today, we have to remember where they're from. And the holiness that went into building them was the sacrifice on the backs of the people of what they gave up for us to have and to live with what we have. During Corona in the past 12 months, we lost two of the founding members of BRS, two founding members, Izzy Brook and Tamar Nawi, עליהם השלום alehem hashalom. And, you know, our shul, our community, it's flourishing, it's thriving, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, בלי עין הרע bli ayin hara. But not everybody knows the story of the founders and what they gave up to be 10 people who came together to דאווען daven in a living room and start from there. So here too, זהב וכסף ונחשת zahav v'chessef u'nechoshes. Hashem asks it not of a wealthy, settled, comfortable people. He asks of a people in transit, a people who are on the run, a people who have not yet discovered comfort, a people who a moment ago were slaves for 210 years. He says, nevertheless, please give זהב וכסף ונחשת zahav v'chessef u'nechoshes. They do so readily and generously, and that is the holiness upon which our מקדש Miktash and משכן Mishkan were built.Continuing right along, פרק כ\"ה פסוק ז' perek kaf hei pasuk zayin, still on page 444. Among the materials that Moshe recruits, that Moshe asks for are אבני שהם ואבני מלואים לאפוד ולחושן avnei shoham v'avnei miluim l'eifod v'lachoshen. Shoham stones and stones for the מלואים miluim, setting stones, stones that you're going to set in the breastplate, לאפוד ולחושן l'eifod v'lachoshen, for the אפוד eifod and the חושן choshen, for the breastplate. So I want to look at two pieces by Rav Druck on these words, on the notion of the אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham and avnei miluim. Says Rav Druck the following. If you looked at all the materials and you had to assign a value, if you were going to list them in the order of what they were worth, then אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim should have come first. Before זהב וכסף ונחשת zahav v'chessef u'nechoshes, before the acacia wood, the עצי שיטים atzei shittim. Why are אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim at the end when arguably they are of the greatest value and they should have been listed at first? This is the question, as right רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druck, this is the question of the אש תמיד Eish Tamid. And he quotes the אור החיים הקדוש Or HaChaim HaKadosh who says the following. The אור החיים Or HaChaim says, quote, \"These are of greater value, these are more precious. You know why they're at the end? Even though objectively they are of more value, you know why they're placed here at the end? Who gave them? Who gave them? We know the מדרש medrash tells us the נשיאים nesi'im, the princes, the leadership, waited to see what everyone else would give. There's a campaign and there's you need a certain number to reach that campaign. So they were waiting. Let's see what everyone else gives first, and then we'll fill in the gap. Those are heroes of campaigns, by the way. A lot of these online matching campaigns right now you see, they have one minute left to the campaign and suddenly it fill in the last million and a half dollars. Where'd that come from? They had someone they knew, they set aside, we may need you to bail us out to hit that magic number at the end. But is that right? Is that righteous? Should you be the hero who says, I'm going to come in at the end and help you meet the goal, or with alacrity and zeal, should you be out front? I'm going to be one of the first ones. You ask to give, I'm going to run to give and not wait to see what's missing, but I want to be among those. So the נשיאים nesi'im waited. And what looked like a very noble gesture to say we will fill in what's missing, we'll fill in the deficit, in fact Hashem holds them accountable. You're waiting. You're only going to give based on the deficit of what's there? You should have run to give. You should have been out front, you should have been the first. And because of that, Hashem spells the name חסר chaser. The word נשיאים nesi'im appears without a yud. It's missing one of the yuds. Why? Because they're essentially being punished, it's a פשט pshat. They're missing a yud because they were missing the alacrity of running to give at first. They delayed, they procrastinated, they waited to only give the deficit. Therefore, what they ultimately gave were these stones, the stones are listed last, correlated with the fact that the נשיאים nesi'im gave last. And wonders Rav Druck, I don't understand. Isn't this a great thing the נשיאים nesi'im did? I would love it if someone stepped up right now and said, \"The global campaign stated a goal of 100,000. They're at 70,000.\" I don't know what people are giving right now during this shiur, I'm not looking because we're learning the parsha together. But if somebody stepped up like the נשיאים nesi'im and said, \"Whatever you're missing, Rabbi, in the BRS global campaign, I'll cut that check. Whatever you're missing, I'll make up that difference and get you to that goal.\" I would give you the biggest virtual hug. A huge ישר כח yashar koach. So why are the נשיאים nesi'im criticized for this? What did they do wrong? Where did they go wrong? So says Rav Druck the following. When Hashem says we're doing an appeal, a campaign, it's not a time to start doing חשבונות cheshbonos. Shall I be at first? Shall we make up the deficit? How much should we give? Right away you have to say, I want to be listed, I want to be counted among those who give. The very fact that you pause and hesitate to make a calculation is in itself a procrastination that reflects poorly. When Hashem is recruiting and soliciting, when Hashem is asking, appealing, you say, \"I'm in.\" You need זריזות zrizus when it comes to the honor of Hashem. And immediately to give everything you can. And that's why there's a disappointment and there is a criticism that they waited until the end to give. And you see this by a מאמר חז\"ל ma'amar Chazal. The מכילתא Mechilta in פרשת בא Parshas Bo, I don't want to scare anyone about פסח Pesach and how close we are to it. מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה Mitzvah ha'ba'ah l'yadcha al tachmitzena. It says ושמרתם את המצות u'shmartem es ha'matzos, that you have to safeguard the matzah. We know this, we pay a very hefty price for שמורה מצה shmurah matzah, matzah which is guarded, guarded from the time of what? That's a big debate. What is the definition of שמירה shmirah? From when does it need to be guarded? Different חומרות chumras and different price points. But our rabbi say don't read it ושמרתם את המצות u'shmartem es ha'matzos, read it ושמרתם את המצות u'shmartem es ha'mitzvos. Safeguard the mitzvos. From which Chazal understand, מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה mitzvah ha'ba'ah l'yadcha al tachmitzena. When you have the opportunity to do a mitzvah, don't turn it into חמץ chametz. Just like if you delay, the only difference, flour and water, the only difference between מצה matzah and חמץ chametz are not the ingredients, flour and water. The only difference between מצה matzah and חמץ chametz in fact are is time. The amount of time it takes. If you allow time to impact the flour and water, חמץ chametz. If you move with alacrity and zeal, מצה matzah. So similarly when you're, when you're presented with a mitzvah opportunity, don't turn that mitzvah into חמץ chametz. But wait, חמץ chametz is better than מצה matzah. מצה matzah is לחם עוני lechem oni, מצה matzah is the bread of the poor person. חמץ chametz is the bread of the rich person. So isn't חמץ chametz what we strive for and crave? חמץ chametz is the bread of the rich person who has time for the bread to rise and who is prepared for it to spoil because he'll just get more. But the מצה matzah is for the poor person who both doesn't have time for it to rise and needs it to be something that never grows stale because he has to stretch it out to last as long as possible. So if חמץ chametz is better, then why do we say אל תחמיצנה al tachmitzena? Listen to this חידוש chiddush. Give you a וורט vort for ניסן Nissan and פסח Pesach, so write it down for פסח Pesach already now. Listen to this. Again, I never thought of this, this is why I love Rav Druck's varim. I love these svarim. Trying to arrange a special opportunity for Rav Druck to come on our parsha shiur and to introduce him to you, to share some of these divrei Torah live. So please God we'll be able to to arrange that. So Rav Druck says, now we understand מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה mitzvah ha'ba'ah l'yadcha al tachmitzena. But wait, חמץ chametz is better than מצה matzah. מצה matzah is לחם עוני lechem oni. מצה matzah is the bread of the poor person. חמץ chametz is the bread of the rich person. What do you mean don't turn it into חמץ chametz? Shouldn't I want to turn it into חמץ chametz? What do you see from here? That even if you delay to do the mitzvah, it means you could do the mitzvah better, still do the mitzvah right now. You have חמץ chametz is better than מצה matzah. מצה matzah we only eat one week a year, the other 51 weeks we're eating the חמץ chametz. חמץ chametz is better, it's the bread of the poor person, it's the bread of the rich person. Yet, what do you see from here? Just like חמץ chametz is better, but don't wait and turn something into חמץ chametz, even if the mitzvah would be better if you wait, don't wait to do the mitzvah better, better to do it. right now. Better to do it right now. And that was the mistake of the חשבון cheshbon of the of the נשיאים nesiim. They shouldn't have made this חשבון cheshbon. Just the calculation, we'll come in and we'll finish and we'll complete the deficit. And whatever is missing, we'll make up for it and won't that be amazing? Just that חשבון cheshbon, just that חשבון cheshbon was their mistake. Why the letter יוד yud? בזה יש לומר מפני מה נענשו דוקא בזה שיחזירו עליהם חסר משמם B'zeh yesh lomar mipnei ma na'ansu davka b'zeh she'yachziru aleihem chaser mi'shmam. And why is the punishment of the נשיאים nesiim, remember that these stones, the אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim that they donated, they come at the end, punishing the נשיאים nesiim. But the other punishment is that the נשיאים nesiim is spelled חסר chaser, it's missing the letter יוד yud. Why is it spelled missing the letter יוד yud? How is that a punishment? So listen what Rav Druk says. כי האות שיחזירו משמם היה אות יוד Ki ha'ot she'yachziru mishmam haya ot yud. It's an אות נעלמת ot ne'elemes. ואפשר לקרוא תיבה גם בלעדיה V'efshar likro teiva gam biladeha. You could read the word נשיאים nesiim without the יוד yud. It's just that יוד yud is the holiest level. יוד Yud is a יהודי Yid. יוד Yud is a Jew. יוד Yud is contributes to the name of השם Hashem. So you could read the word without the יוד yud, even though the יוד yud there would make it better, and that's exactly their mistake. You could do it without it, even though having it there would make it better. געוואלדיג Gevaldig, no? What a גשמאק פשט geshmak pshat in this whole story about why the נשיאים nesiim are criticized, why the אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim are listed at the end, why the punishment is removing the יוד yud, and why אל תחמיצנה al tachmitzena is a bad thing even though חמץ chametz is better than מצה matzah, all wrapped into one, namely, don't procrastinate and wait because even though you could do it better later, the very fact that you waited and delayed makes it worse even if it looks better. Always do it immediately. I love it. What a גשמאק פשט geshmak pshat. And then he has another one. צורך ביאור מדוע אבני שהם ואבני מלואים כתובים באחרונה Tzorech biur madua avnei shoham v'avnei miluim ktuvim ba'acharona. Again, the question why it's at the end. And he quotes a second interpretation of the אור החיים הקדוש Orach Chaim HaKadosh, who says הלא מהיכן הביאו הנשיאים את אבני שהם halo me'heichan hevi'u hanesiim et avnei shoham. אם כן משלחן גבוה הביאום Im kein mi'shulchan gavoah hevi'um. Where did these stones come from? These precious stones that were placed in the garments of the כהנים kohanim, where did they come from? They descended from heaven. They came from השם Hashem. They took no effort, לא חסרון כיס lo chisaron kis. So the נשיאים nesiim didn't have to actually empty their bank account. They came from heaven. They came from השם Hashem, the אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim. They took no effort, no toil, and they were no took no sacrifice. So you see from השם Hashem that that which came without the sacrifice and effort, it goes at the end. It goes at the end. What you did with sacrifice and effort, what you did when you worked harder is more precious and gets listed at the beginning. So even though objectively, even though objectively, אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim, these precious jewels are more valuable than the other materials, and they should have been listed first, but because the mechanism of retrieval, because the way that we got them took no effort and took no sacrifice, they're listed at the end. That which we do without sacrifice and effort is not nearly as valuable. is not nearly as valuable that which takes work. I always say with my kids when they tell me about their grade in school, ברוך השם baruch Hashem my kids get good grades, they have a smart mother, but I always ask them, did you try your hardest? Does it represent your best effort? I don't care about the grade. So two kids will report on their midterm simultaneously, and one got a 92 and the other got an 85. But if the one who got the 85 says, yes, I worked tirelessly, I studied harder than I ever did. And the one who got the 92 said, honestly, I winged it. I didn't really put in my best effort. Then I'll give better feedback. I will be more supportive in responding to the one with the lower grade, but it took more effort. Because even though objectively, the 92 is higher than the 85, but the one who had to work harder, the one who put more of themselves into it, that's of greater value. That's a greater value, and they deserve the greater reward. He quotes Rav Druk the חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim. The great חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim said this of course on אנחנו עמלים והם עמלים anachnu ameilim v'hem ameilim. When a person makes a סיום siyum, we say, we toil and they toil. אנחנו עמלים ומקבלים שכר והם עמלים ואינם מקבלים שכר Anachnu ameilim u'mekablim schar v'hem ameilim v'einam mekablim schar. So asks everybody, אי אפשר להשוות שכר של לומדי תורה, שכר הנצחי לעולם הבא, לשכר שיש פה בעולם הזה i efshar le'hashvot schar shel lomdei Torah, schar hanitzchi l'olam haba, la'schar she'yesh po ba'olam hazeh. What do you mean we get reward and they and they don't get reward? Our reward is in the world to come. What are you comparing rewards for? How can you begin to compare? So the חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim explains, שהרי בשכר מקבלים חלף עבודתם, שכר מרוכז רק על התוצאה בלבד sheharei be'schar mekablim chelef avodatam, schar merukaz rak al ha'totza'ah bilvad. See, in this world, the reward is only for the result. But in our estimation, the reward is for the effort. They give the example. If you give someone a final on math and you have to solve math equations and you couldn't solve them, you get a bad grade. I don't care if you spent six hours on the math equations. If at the end of the day you couldn't solve them, there is no reward. You failed the test. But if you're struggling with a difficult תוספות Tosfos, you're trying to break your teeth on a difficult, on a difficult רב חיים Rav Chaim, and you struggle and toil for six hours and you know what, in the end, you don't understand it. In the end, you still don't have, you don't have a grasp on the תוספות Tosfos. Do you get reward? Yes. Because for us, the reward is the effort, the toil, the sacrifice. It's of course the result, we care about the result, not to suggest that we care about the result. We care about the result, we care about the result, we care also about the effort that went in. And since the אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim didn't take nearly the same effort, that's why they're listed at the end. I want to share with you another insight on אבני שהם ואבני מלואים avnei shoham v'avnei miluim, a third insight. This comes from the ספר אוהל משה sefer Ohel Moshe. And the ספר אוהל משה sefer Ohel Moshe says, שמעתי ממורנו shamati mimoreinu, הגאון רב שלמה בירנבוים זצ\"ל ha'gaon Rav Shlomo Birnbaum zatzal. מדוע התורה קורא לאבנים אלו אבני מלואים Madua ha'Torah koreh la'avanim eilu avnei miluim. אבני שהם Avnei shoham are שהם shoham stones. שהם Shoham stones, I know a family שהם Shoham, precious like jewels, name jewel, jewel שהם Shoham. So אבני שהם avnei shoham, שהם shoham are precious stones. What are אבני מלואים avnei miluim? אבני מלואים Avnei miluim, what does the word מלואים miluim mean? Listen to this. If you haven't listened to anything until now, this is the best פשט pshat today. Listen to this insight. They're all great, but listen to this. אבני מלואים Avnei miluim, למלאות lemalot, מלא malei, means to fill. They fill a void. On the breastplate, there were empty slots and these stones filled the slot. So what do we call the stone? Not a ruby, and not a diamond, and not a, I just listed all the names of gems that I know. We don't call them by their name, even though that would really reflect their identity and their value. They're אבני מלואים avnei miluim. What are they? Oh, the stones that you put in the spot to fill the spot. Kind of a name is that, he wonders. משתמע פחיתות ערכן שלא באו אלא למלאות Mishtamea pchitut erchan she'lo ba'u ela le'malot. Is that their only value? All you care about these stones, their only value is that they fill the gaping hole? That's all you care about? What about the inherent or intrinsic value? הלא לאבנים אלו יש ערך גדול כשלהעצמן והתורה היתה צריכה לכתוב אבנים לאפוד ולחושן Halo la'avanim eilu yesh erech gadol k'she'le'atzman ve'ha'Torah hayta tzricha lichtov avanim la'eifod ve'la'choshen. It should have said stones for the ephod and the choshen. What do you mean אבני מלואים avnei miluim? We're denigrating, we're diminishing these, these stones by saying that their only value, their only worth is that they fill the slot. אמר בזה רב שלמה בירנבוים זצ\"ל, ביאור נפלא ונורא Amar b'zeh Rav Shlomo Birnbaum zatzal, biur nifla v'nora. Listen to this insight. שהתורה קראה אבני מלואים ללמדנו שיש חשיבות גדולה יותר מחשיבות עצמן She'ha'Torah kar'a avnei miluim le'lamdeinu she'yesh chashivut gedola yoter me'chashivut atzman. Listen to what the Torah is telling us. The אבני מלואים avnei miluim, these אבנים avanim, these gems, they are, these are stones, are extraordinary, and they are inherently and intrinsically of an inestimable value. But גדולה יותר מהערך העצמי, הוא למלא את חסרון הזולת gedola yoter me'ha'erech ha'atzmi, hu le'male et chisaron ha'zulat. You know what your biggest value is? Not who you are inherently or intrinsically. Your biggest value is what service you are to the other. How do you fill a role in someone else's life? What your value is to you, ah, that doesn't impress us. But your real value is, what do you fill, what role do you fill in someone else's life? That's the message of אבני מלואים avnei miluim. They're called אבני מלואים avnei miluim, not אבנים avanim of their precious inherent value, because the greater value is not what they're worth inherently, the greater value is מלואים miluim. How are you מלא malei, in what way do you fill the needs of others? מאחר שכל תכליתם של אבנים אלו היה למלא מקום הגומא, שנותנים שם אבן למלאות הגומא, קרואים אבני מלואים וחשיבות זאת מבטלת לגמרי את חשיבותם העצמית Me'achar she'kol tachlisam shel avanim eilu haya le'male makom ha'guma, she'notnim sham even le'malot ha'guma, kruim avnei miluim v'chashivut zot mevetelet legamrei et chashivutam ha'atzmit. Greater than the intrinsic value is the value in the role that they play for the other, and that's why they're called אבני מלואים avnei miluim. So two insights into why the אבני מלואים אבני שהם avnei miluim avnei shoham are listed at the end. Two אור החיים Orach Chaims and a רב דרוק Rav Druk, three insights, and the beautiful insight here of רב שלמה בירנבוים Rav Shlomo Birnbaum, why they're called מלואים miluim, which really is in some ways demeaning to these precious stones that have an intrinsic value. Now we get to the famous פסוק pasuk. פרק כ\"ה פסוק ח Perek kaf hey pasuk chet. ועשו לי מקדש, ושכנתי בתוכם V'asu li mikdash, v'shachanti b'tocham. Everybody knows the famous פסוק pasuk of פרשת תרומה parshat trumah, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם v'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham. How is it possible nobody made a song out of these words yet? Somebody's got to make a song out of these words. ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם V'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham. השם Hashem says make for me a מקדש mikdash and dwell where, in them. And everybody knows the נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim. Everybody knows the נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim of רב חיים מוולוז'ין Rav Chaim of Volozhin, the great student of the הגאון מוילנא Vilna Gaon, who tells us about the grammatical shift. ועשו לי מקדש V'asu li mikdash in the singular, ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham in the plural. Says the נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim, the answer is that השם Hashem was not telling us just to make a building of bricks and stone, of mortar, and that he would dwell there. Ultimately, where does he really dwell? Not in the physical architecture alone, but he dwells metaphysically inside each and every one of us. In fact, the מדרש תנחומא Midrash Tanchuma in פרשת פקודי parshat pekudei tells us that the משכן mishkan corresponds to the creation of man, because man is a world in miniature. So the משכן mishkan corresponds with בראשית breishit, the creation of man, because each person is a world in miniature. And the מדרש midrash goes on to say the מנורה menorah is the eye, and the שולחן shulchan is the mouth, and the מזבח הקטורת mizbeach ha'ketoret is the nose, and it goes on and on and on. Each one of us is that מקדש מעט mikdash me'at, and we all know that's the song of the 16th century מקובל mekubal, רבי אלעזר אזקרי Rabbi Elazar Azkari, בלבבי משכן אבנה להדר כבודו b'levavi mishkan evneh le'hadar kvodo. We all know this, the magnificent song בלבבי bilvavi, that was put as a song. בלבבי משכן אבנה להדר כבודו Bilvavi mishkan evneh le'hadar kvodo. In my heart, I'll make a משכן mishkan and honor and in a sanctuary, I'll place an altar and to serve השם Hashem, we are. And and this beautiful נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim, which we all know, takes on particular meaning, I think this year even more than normal. Why? Because this year, ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash, in the singular, we have one shul, but there are many people who couldn't and still can't go to that shul. So they shouldn't be disheartened. If a person can't daven in shul, if a person can't come to any classes that are in person, if a person can't yet attend live, they shouldn't become disheartened. They shouldn't become despondent, because they have to realize that even though ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash in the singular there's the shul, but ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham. Even when we are denied the מקדש mikdash, we still have the בתוכם b'tocham. There is the מקדש mikdash in our homes. There's the מקדש mikdash in our lives. There's the מקדש mikdash in ourselves. We still have that within ourselves. The שם משמואל, הסוכטשאבר רבה Shem MiShmuel, the Sochatchover Rebbe, in פרשת תרומה parshat trumah writes the following. Says the הייליגע סוכטשאבער heilige sochatchover. He says, ענין המשכן שהיה במדבר כשבאו לארץ לא הספיק המשכן ונתחלף למקדש inyan ha'mishkan she'haya ba'midbar k'she'ba'u la'aretz lo hispik ha'mishkan v'nitchalef le'mikdash. We know that we have the משכן mishkan, and the משכן mishkan we have takes us through our journey in the desert, and when we begin to enter the land, and then we transition from the משכן mishkan to the מקדש mikdash. We we then the משכן mishkan is disassembled and we move into, when שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech builds the מקדש mikdash. שמעתי Shamati, says the שם משמואל Shem MiShmuel, I heard from my father, דמשכן נקרא על שם השרת השכינה ומקדש על שם הקדושה והפרישה מעולם הזה d'mishkan nikra al shem hashrat ha'shchina u'mikdash al shem ha'kedusha v'ha'prisha me'olam hazeh. The edifice, each has a different name. Now the edifice serves the same purpose. Both were to bring קרבנות korbanot, both were to bring sacrifices. So if the similar עבודה avodah is done there and the same people serve there, why are they given different names? Either even once we settle in the land, שלמה Shlomo should have built a permanent משכן mishkan, or even while we traveled through the desert, we should have assembled and disassembled a transportable מקדש mikdash. Why do we change from a משכן mishkan to a מקדש mikdash? So says the הייליגע שם משמואל heilige Shem MiShmuel, that a משכן mishkan is called a מקדש mikdash, a משכן mishkan because of השרת השכינה hashrat ha'shchina. What we're supposed to feel when you go into the משכן mishkan is the divine dwelling, the intensity of השם Hashem being there. Rabbi Lord Sacks, זכרונו לברכה zichrono l'vracha, explained that the nature of the word שכינה shechina is שכן shachen, a neighbor. It's השם Hashem not as distant and abstract, not the השם Hashem of far away and mighty and powerful, but it's the השם Hashem who's my neighbor, who's accessible, who I can talk to and confide in and lean on. It's the השם Hashem who's always there. So the משכן mishkan projected what this slave nation needed coming out of Egypt is to know that no matter how challenging or difficult things got, השרת השכינה hashrat ha'shchina. If you needed a neighbor to lean on, long before progressive, is that the one who's the neighbor? No. I forgot who it is. Long before like a good neighbor, השם Hashem was there. If you needed a good neighbor, a good שכן shachen, then you turned to the שכינה shchina, השרת השכינה hashrat ha'shchina in the משכן mishkan. The מקדש mikdash, however, connotes something different. The מקדש mikdash is when you are living out there in the mundane, profane, base world of materialism, and you strive contact with holiness, come to the מקדש mikdash. Because the מקדש mikdash is all about קדושה kedusha. It's about holiness. It's about פרישות prishut. We're learning in מסילת ישרים Mesilat Yesharim now, we're up to the פרק perek, the מידת הפרישות midat ha'prishut, the מידה midah of how we can transcend the physical, how we can live with some sense of abstinence מעולם הזה me'olam hazeh, from this world. So here's the thing, but why the change? So now is where he says, מקדש יקרא משכן ומשכן יקרא מקדש שאין זה בלא זה mikdash yikarei mishkan u'mishkan yikarei mikdash she'ein zeh b'lo zeh. It's true that the name changed, but both have both components. The משכן mishkan was also a מקדש mikdash, and the מקדש mikdash is also a משכן mishkan. And one can use the names interchangeably, because I think both edifices had both qualities, and therefore we looked to get both from both. Sometimes you needed to a neighbor, even with the מקדש mikdash, and you treated the מקדש mikdash as a משכן mishkan. Sometimes you needed contact with holiness, and therefore you treated the משכן mishkan as a מקדש mikdash. Each one is called the other because both contain both components, and and we, in our shul, the goal of a shul, the goal of a community is to strive to provide both as well, to strive to provide a place which is a contact, a portal to holiness, and a place that can to provide a contact with השם Hashem as the neighbor. When you want to feel a good, reliable neighbor, a dependable neighbor, to feel connected to השם Hashem, that you can go there as well. פרק כ\"ה פסוק י\"א Perek kaf hey pasuk yud alef, now we start to get into the כלים keilim of the מקדש mikdash. פרק כ\"ה פסוק י\"א Perek kaf hey pasuk yud alef, the first is the ארון aron. ועשו ארון עצי שיטים V'asu aron atzei shittim. You make the ארון aron out of acacia wood, and if you go back and listen to previous פרשה שיעורים parsha shiurim, we've gone in depth into each of these. Really beautiful, the dimensions and the materials and the names, magnificent כלי יקר Kli Yakars on these פרשיות parshios. I encourage you if that interests you to go back and look. So the ארון aron is made out of עצי שיטים atzei shittim. And why by the way the ארון aron is the one כלי kli that is listed in the singular. All the other כלים keilim are described in the plural. This כלי kli is listed in the singular. And the dimensions are only partial, they're fractions, rather than whole numbers. Why? All of these are lessons, all of these are deep and profound ideas. First of all, they are fractions, integers, not whole numbers, why? To tell us that every Jew, when it comes to Torah, you're never whole, you're never complete, you're never done. You finish ש\"ס Shas? At the סיום siyum, you start the next מסיכתא masechta. You're never done. You're never done learning, we're never done growing. And therefore it's a fraction because each of us is a fraction when it comes to Torah. You can never put a check and say I'm done, I'm complete, it's over. So the ארון aron which held the לוחות luchos, the ארון aron which held the original ספר תורה sefer Torah, the ארון aron which represented Torah is in a fraction, not a whole number because each of us is a fraction, not a whole number. It's written in the singular because it depends on the entire community. When it comes to Torah, it is the entire, it is the entire community. So this ארון aron is covered, is layered, וצפית אותו זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ תצפנו ועשית עליו זר זהב סביב v'tzipita oto zahav tahor mi'bayit umi'chutz tetzapenu v'asita alav zer zahav saviv. You cover it with pure gold from within and from without, and there's a gold crown that surrounds it. Again, there's some beautiful כלי יקר Kli Yakars about the crown that went around the ארון aron, the crown around the שולחן shulchan, the the beautiful symbolism of each of these things. So back to the back to רב דרוק Rav Druk, and רב דרוק Rav Druk says the following on this notion of the ארון aron being layered with gold outside and inside. Says רב דרוק Rav Druk the following. I skipped the רב דרוק Rav Druk. Okay, I'll go back and tell you this רב דרוק Rav Druk. ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם V'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham. If the goal is ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham, if the goal is for God to dwell in and through each and every one of us, then why is it connected to the first part of the פסוק pasuk, ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash. It should be two separate independent ideas. One is build me a home, give me a דירה בתחתונים dira b'tachtonim, one is build me a dwelling place. Make me a מקדש mikdash, separate and parallel and independent from it, God should say ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham, I want to dwell in it. Why is it connected and why is it in this order? And says רב דרוק Rav Druk, בית המקדש הוא כצינור שעל ידו יכולה השכינה לשרות בכל אחד ואחד מישראל Beis HaMikdash hu ke'tzinor she'al yado yechola ha'shchina lishrot b'chol echad v'echad mi'Yisrael. ולכך רק אחרי ועשו לי מקדש יוכל להיות ושכנתי בתוכם U'lekach rak acharei v'asu li mikdash yuchal liyot v'shachanti b'tocham. בלא דיה מקדש אין השכינה שורה בכל אחד ואחד Biladeha mikdash ein ha'shchina shora b'chol echad v'echad. First everyone has to be united by a sense of one common מקדש mikdash. There is one capital spiritually of the Jewish people. And when it unites us, then the holiness can flow down from it into and through us to be that sense of ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham. First we have to be connected to מקדש mikdash, and then ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham. Just like אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim v'natan lanu et Torato. First in the ברכת התורה birkat ha'Torah, first he made us a nation, then he gave us the Torah. First we have to be united, and then we can pursue our mission. First we have to be connected through ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash, and then we can be that mission charge driven people of ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham. Okay, back to the ארון aron. So the ארון aron is וצפית אותו זהב טהור v'tzipita oto zahav tahor, it is layered with gold, מבית ומחוץ mi'bayit umi'chutz, on the inside and outside you have to layer it. Says the גמרא יומא דף ע\"ב Gemara Yoma daf ayin beis, what do you learn from here? Why in the world is the gold layered on the inside? If I were running this campaign, I'd say save some money. We were interrupted. We were in the middle of a capital campaign for our shul to expand ברוך השם baruch Hashem we were bursting at the seams when Corona so rudely interrupted. So if we were looking at our budget and tightening our belts and figuring out where we can save and where we can shrink our budget, our expenses, I'd say just have the gold on the outside. That's the part that people see. The inside, nobody sees. You don't need the gold on the inside, you only need the gold on the outside. So say the rabbis, what do you learn from here? אמר רבא מכאן לתלמיד חכם שאין תוכו כברו אינו תלמיד חכם Amar Rava, mikan l'talmid chacham she'ein tocho k'varo, eino talmid chacham. A righteous person whose outside and inside don't match, if you have gold, if you're flashing ostentatious on the outside and yet you're poor and simple on the inside, then you're duplicitous, you're hypocritical, you're a fraud. To be a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, your outside and your inside have to match. If you want to glow on the outside, you better be glowing on the inside. כהנהגת החיצונית שלו והנה גם כן הנהגתו המוסתרת כהנהגתו המפורסמת שלו K'hanhagato ha'chitzonit shelo v'hinei gam kein hanhagato ha'mistara k'hanhagato ha'mefursemet shelo. A person has to be matching. What do we say in our davening in the morning? לעולם יהא אדם ירא שמים בסתר ובגלוי L'olam yehei adam yerei shamayim b'seter u'va'galui. Sometimes it's easier to be a ירא שמים yerei shamayim externally. You'll get the accolades and you'll get the praise and you get the acknowledgement. But to be a ירא שמים yerei shamayim internally בסתר b'seter, when no one's watching, to be matching our insides to our outsides. ולמדנו כן מהארון V'lamadnu kein mei'ha'aron. And we learned this from the ארון aron, which was layered with gold inside and out. יש להוסיף, says רב דרוק, you can add, שכן היה הארון עומד על שוליו ולא היו לו רגלים she'kein haya ha'aron omed al shulav v'lo hayu lo raglaim. The ארון aron sat on its base, it didn't have legs. The ארון aron didn't have a stand, it didn't have legs. כשיש רגלים אין תוכו כברו K'she'yesh raglaim ein tocho k'varo. הרגלים מראים כאילו יש גובה יותר בארון Ha'raglaim mar'im k'ilu yesh govah yoter ba'aron, ועושה רושם יותר גדול v'oseh roshem yoter gadol. It's giving an impression like it's bigger and more than it is, and that's not consistent, that's not humble. And the ארון aron is the model of Torah, and the model of Torah is our insides and our outsides matching. It's the model of humility. It's being the same. And then he quotes his father, the דרש מרדכי Drash Mordechai, of רב מרדכי דרוק Rav Mordechai Druk. מדוע השתמשו חז\"ל בלשון תוכו כברו ולא ברו כתוכו Madua hishtamshu chazal b'lashon tocho k'varo v'lo baro k'tocho. Why do we say that the inside have to match the outside? Why don't we say the outside have to match the inside? ביאר שאין תלמיד חכם ברו כתוכו, כי כמה שהיה נראה עליו בחוץ כמה שהיה בתוכו הרי זה נורא ואיום Biur she'ein talmid chacham baro k'tocho, ki kama she'haya nir'eh alav ba'chutz kama she'haya b'tocho, harei zeh nora v'ayom. החפץ חיים היה גדול ונהור עולם. מישהו ראה בחוץ, הוא עמוק כהר להסתיר את מעשיו Chafetz Chaim haya gadol v'nehor olam. Mishehu ra'ah ba'chutz, hu amok ke'har lehastir et ma'asav. The reason that we aspire that the inside should match the outside is because we can't even, the outside should match the inside rather, is because there are people so great, we can't even begin to imagine inside. גדולי ישראל Gedolei Yisrael, נשים צדקניות nashim tzidkanios, the greatest people we have, we can't begin to scratch the surface of what's going on inside. So we say, הלוואי halevai if their outside matched their inside, what we would learn and see of them would be absolutely mind-boggling, would be incredible, would be incredible. Okay, moving right along. פרק כ\"ה פסוק י\"ב Perek kaf hey pasuk yud beis. Still sticking with the ארון aron. The ארון aron had a very unusual feature. והיו בטבעות הארון בדים, לא יסורו ממנו V'hayu b'tab'ot ha'aron badim, lo yasuru mimenu. The ארון aron had holes on the side, and there were poles, there were staves that were put through the holes in order to transport the ארון aron. The ארון aron wasn't unique or alone, it wasn't singular in the sense. The other כלים keilim also needed to be transported and had a similar mechanism of transport, poles that would sit on the shoulders of those who transported them. But the difference of the ארון aron, the ארון aron's an outlier in בטבעות הארון יהיו הבדים לא יסורו ממנו b'tab'ot ha'aron yihyu ha'badim lo yasuru mimenu. The poles in the ארון aron have to go in and they have to remain. They go in and they remain and they stay there. Why do they have to stay there? Rashi says, forever, לעולם le'olam, forever. Forever and wherever. לא יסורו Lo yasuru, you can't take them out. Why not? Once you arrive at the destination and once they lower the ארון aron and put it down, so take the poles out. How is it different and why is it different than the other כלים keilim? If the other כלים keilim you could remove the poles once you've arrived, why must the poles of the ארון aron be perpetually present? Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch says a magnificent insight, so powerful for us today. Again, during this pandemic time, much like the ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li mikdash, maybe there's one shul I can't get there, but ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'tocham, know wherever you are, השם Hashem is still with you. So the ארון aron contains the לוחות הברית luchos habrit, the Torah and its messages, the Torah and its directives, the Torah and its insight. And Rabbi Hirsch suggests that the presence of the poles indicates the portability of Torah always. Torah does never settles in one place. Torah is not only relevant ever in one time. Torah is not relevant to one geographical location. Torah is portable. It's viable, it's relevant wherever and whenever. So the poles remain in the ארון aron to tell us that the Torah never settles down, that the Torah is constantly ready to inform and inspire our lives wherever and whenever. It's not that the ארון aron when it when it arrives in the משכן mishkan or in the מקדש mikdash, take the poles out now you're done, now it's set. The Torah is ready to go with us wherever we go. It travels with us wherever we travel. The Torah is our faithful companion. The Torah is our guide, it's our instruction manual, it's our blueprint. It's so powerful. Now we don't have a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash and we don't have a משכן mishkan. And the בדים badim of the Torah are symbolic of these כלים keilim that they come with us wherever we go. And again, we don't have the משכן mishkan, we don't have the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, but the Torah is as relevant, as important for us today as it's ever been. We can't necessarily go to shul. Some of you, some of those with us right now, still can't go to shul, can't look at the ארון aron, can't listen to the Torah being read, but know that the Torah never removed its poles. The Torah is with you in your home. The Torah is with us wherever and whenever we are. It continues to inform and it continues to inspire our lives. It continues to inform and continues to inspire our lives. Now Rav Druk has another comment. Says Rav Druk, יש לאיין מה בא לרמז הדבר הזה שאסור להסיר הבדים yesh le'ayen ma ba le'ramez ha'davar ha'zeh she'asur le'hasir ha'badim. Why can't you remove them? ונראה לומר בזה דבר נפלא V'nireh lomar b'zeh davar nifla. He says, I want to tell you an amazing idea. כי ארון הוא סמל תורה Ki aron hu semel Torah. The ארון aron represents Torah. ארון העדות והבדים המדומים הם מחזיקים Aron ha'edut v'ha'badim ha'medumim hem machzikim. What is the role of these poles? The roles of the poles is to support the ארון aron. It lifts the ארון aron. So the Torah is teaching us a very important lesson. שמחזיקי אותו הוא חלק בלתי נפרד ממנו She'machzikei oto hu chelek bilti nifrad mimenu. Just like the poles are a permanent fixture and a permanent part of the ארון aron and never removed, the one who supports Torah is a permanent part and permanent fixture of the Torah that's being learned. מחזיקי תורה נמצאים מחוברים תמיד עם התלמיד חכם שהוא לומד את התורה Machzikei Torah nimtza'im mechubarim tamid im ha'talmid chacham she'hu lomed et ha'Torah. When you donate to a shul, to a ישיבה yeshiva, when you enter יששכר וזבולון Yissachar u'Zvulun with a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, when you give, whether it's to our global campaign or you give to any Torah institution, you are inseparable. Just like the poles are not removed to that which it's being supported, supporting it, so too, those who support Torah are never separate or apart or never removed from that whom they're supporting. גם כשאינו נוסע את הארון, תמיד הוא נשאר מחובר עליו וכל מה שלומד התלמיד חכם מלמדים גם כן את אותו שהחזיק ותמך בו Gam k'she'eino nosea et ha'aron, tamid hu nish'ar mechubar alav v'chol ma she'lomed ha'talmid chacham melamdim gam kein et oto she'hechzik v'tamach bo. When you hear him the חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim. עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה Etz chaim hi la'machazikim ba. The חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim says the following. We sing when we put the Torah away, עץ חיים היא etz chaim hi, I'm not going to torture you by singing it, but we sing עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה etz chaim hi la'machazikim ba. Says the חפץ חיים Chafetz Chaim, why does it say למחזיקים בה la'machazikim ba? It should say למחזיקים אותה la'machazikim osa. עץ חיים היא etz chaim hi, a living tree, it should say למחזיקים אותה la'machazikim osa, to those who are supporting it. But it doesn't say that. It says למחזיקים בה la'machazikim ba, not אותה osa. המדבר על אותם שמחזיקים את התורה, אלא התורה לעולם אינה צריכה סעד ותמיכה כלל Ha'medaber al otam she'machzikim et ha'Torah, ela ha'Torah l'olam einah tzricha sa'ad u'tmicha klal. The truth is Torah doesn't need our support. אין איש יכול לומר הוא מחזיק את התורה Ein ish yachol lomar hu machzik et ha'Torah. Nobody can so arrogantly and presumptuously say, I support Torah. You support Torah? Torah doesn't need your help. Yes, the Torah needs your financial contributions, but make no mistake, when you give to Torah, the Torah is supporting you. The Torah is supporting you, you're not supporting Torah. And that's why it's it's it's an עץ חיים למחזיקים בה etz chaim la'machazikim ba, not an עץ חיים למחזיקים אותה etz chaim la'machazikim osa. כל מחזיקי התורה צריכים תמיד לזכור ולדעת אין הם מחזיקים את התורה Kol machzikei ha'Torah tzrichim tamid lizkor v'ladaat, ein hem machzikim et ha'Torah, that they're not in fact supporting Torah, supported, Torah is supporting them. The גמרא Gemara says in סוטה דף ל\"ה Sotah daf lamed hey, הארון נושא את נושאיו ha'aron nose et nos'av. The ארון aron is carrying those who carry it. The ארון aron is carrying those who carry it. And that's why the poles remain in place to remind us that when we support Torah, we think we're supporting Torah, but through the act of supporting Torah, in fact, the Torah is supporting us. So why were the poles never removed from the ארון aron even when it got to the location? According to Rabbi Hirsch a beautiful insight, Torah is transportable, it's relevant, it's timeless. It comes with us as our companion wherever we go or even when we are quarantined at home, the Torah is still there. It has the poles. It travels with us wherever we go. And the second insight of Rav Druk, that the poles are there to remember, we think we're supporting Torah, Torah is supporting us. The Torah is what is supporting us. הארון נושא את נושאיו Ha'aron nose et nos'av, עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה etz chaim hi la'machazikim ba, not למחזיקים אותה la'machazikim osa. Thank you for learning with me again on Tuesday morning. I want to invite you to learn with me tomorrow morning. First at 8:15 when we do 15 minutes of מסילת ישרים Mesilat Yesharim, and then living with אמונה emunah at 8:45. If you want to be notified when we go live for all the learning opportunities, simply subscribe on YouTube, press subscribe on YouTube and you'll be notified when we go live and when you can learn join us to learn. If you've not yet contributed to the BRS Global campaign and you enjoy our Parsha shiur and you've benefited from it and from all the דברי תורה divrei Torah we shared this morning about the importance of giving and expressing gratitude and supporting Torah, which will support you, then visit brsonline.org/global, brsonline.org/global. We're going to publish a list of all those who've joined our global community and gave, add your name to that list now. I thank you in advance and I invite you to continue to learn together until next time. Stay happy, stay healthy.
