ENOUGH
OR EXTRA: PARSHAT VAYAKHEL
Shira Smiles
shiur – February 16, 2014/I Adar 16, 5774
Summary by
Channie Koplowitz Stein
After devoting
several parshiot to instructions for constructing the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, and its
vessels and implements, the Torah now concludes the instructions and
the work itself begins. Bnei Yisroel had been instructed to donate all
the materials according to the guidance of their hearts, and now there
appears to be a surfeit of material, and the artisans tell Moshe,
“The people are bringing more than enough for the labor and the
work that Hashem has commanded to perform.” Moshe then commands,
“ ‘Man and woman shall not do more work toward the gift for
the Sanctuary!’ And the people were restrained from
bringing.”
This passage
raises three related questions. First, if the people were motivated to
bring, why stop them? Couldn’t the remaining materials be used
for repairs or enhancement of the Sanctuary? Then, if there was enough
material, how could there also be extra, more than enough? Finally, as
it appears there indeed was more than enough, what did they do with the
extra materials?
Rabbi
Weinberger offers an explanation based on an understanding of human
psychology. People often have a herd mentality. They will follow the
crowd because everyone else is doing it. Perhaps some of Bnei Yisroel
were donating materials because everyone else was donating rather than
because they had a deep, innate desire to come closer to Hashem by
being part of this great project. However, by commanding restraint, one
could see their true motivation, for only when one can also restrain
himself can one’s gift be seen as fully from the heart. Further,
continues Rabbi Weinberger, when one observe such a high level of
passion and enthusiasm, it is appropriate to stop and restrain oneself
so that the enthusiasm can be retained and harnessed for future use.
Here Bnei Yisroel were restrained from further giving, and that passion
to give has survived through the generations in donations to worthy
institutions.
But Rabbi
Menachem Benzion Zaks still asks why stop collecting materials. After
all, couldn’t the materials be used to enhance the Mishkan or be
saved for the future, as was done with materials later donated for the
Beit Hamikdosh, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem? The response Rabbi Zaks
offers in Menachem
Zion is a very
practical one. While the Beit Hamikdosh was stationary once it was
built, and materials could ostensibly be stored, the Mishkan was meant
to be portable as Bnei Yisroel traveled through the desert. Adding
materials would have created an unnecessary burden for the Levites
whose job it was to carry the Mishkan wherever Bnei Yisroel traveled.
While it was admirable that the people wanted to continue contributing,
one should not enhance one’s own religiosity at the expense of
another.
Rabbi Dovid
Hofstadter brings a completely new dimension to our discussion. He
informs us that it is this passage that the Gemarrah cites as the
source for the prohibition of carrying from the private domain into the
public domain on Shabbat, as people were doing when they brought their
donations from home to the collection site. Nevertheless, although
Moshe commanded Bnei Yisroel to stop bringing their donations for
Shabbos was approaching, the command extended to the coming week and
future time as well, especially since the simple reading of the text
says that enough had been collected and more. Why did the donations not
resume after Shabbat?
Rabbi
Hofstadter continues by citing the medrashim that recount that the
enthusiasm and alacrity with which Bnei Yisroel brought their donations
was such that all the materials were collected within two days. The
only reason Moshe stopped them was because Shabbos was approaching, and
transporting the materials would be prohibited. But, Rabbi Hofstadter
identifies the enthusiasm itself as the reason Hashem asked Bnei
Yisroel to donate and build the Mishkan. Hashem could certainly have
produced the Mishkan Himself in one moment, but instead He wanted Bnei
Yisroel to feel the love and the desire to donate. Once that goal was
achieved, to donate with alacrity and generosity, it was no longer
necessary to resume donations after Shabbat. In this context, one
realizes that the end goal is not as important an ingredient as the
process, whether it is in building the Holy Tabernacle or the mini
tabernacles of our homes.
Jewish parents
seem to know this intuitively. As Chinuch
Ohel Miriam,
based on the lectures of Rabbi Pincus points out, the first things we
teach our children to say once they can talk is, “Torah
tzivah lonu Moshe,” and
the “Shema,” and
even before they can speak, we train them to love Hashem and the Torah,
to kiss the fallen siddur and the mezuzah on the doorpost.
But we are
still left with the question raised by the Torah that it was enough and
yet there was extra. The Tov
Hapeninim observes that although
everyone seems to have donated toward the project, not everyone donated
with equal purity of thought and intention. Hashem, however, gave the
artisans unique insight, and they understood the emotional and
spiritual motivation behind each donation. With this insight, they were
able to designate the purest donations to vessels of greater spiritual
essence while designating the materials donated with less enthusiasm to
secondary vessels, or indeed to be saved for repairs.
Perhaps Rabbi
Munk’s observation is most logical, that Hashem was concerned
about the character of Bnei Yisroel. Lest someone say, “It was my
contribution that completed the total necessary for God’s
presence to descend into the Sanctuary,” Hashem allowed extra
materials to be donated. That way, no one would know whose contribution
was used and whose was left over. However, The Manchester Rav, Rabbi
Yehudah Zev Segal, cites the Ohr Hachaim in claiming a miracle
occurred here, that although too much had been donated, everything was
in fact used in the construction.
Along these
lines, Rabbi Kofman of Gateshead writes in Mishchat
Shemen that everything contributed
and dedicated to the service of Hashem, no matter how small it appears
to be, has immense value. As proof, he cites that the rich man’s
ox offering and the poor man’s offering of flour and oil (mincha) are equally
accepted and beloved by Hashem. Rabbi Kofman continues by teaching us
never to minimize our personal contributions, for it is the spirit with
which you contribute of your wealth or of your talent that makes it
beloved to Hashem. Further, writes Rabbi Kofman, don’t become
discouraged because you feel your contribution is so minimal. Just as
every donation, large and small, was important in constructing the
Tabernacle, so too every prayer we utter and every action we take can
create holiness well beyond our awareness, and Hashem records it
forever. As an example there is a story of a teenager who
witnessed a ten year old leaving an exciting baseball game to prepare
for afternoon prayers. That something was more important to a ten year
old that a game made such an impression on the teenager that he began
studying his Jewish religion, started practicing, and eventually became
a rabbi influencing many students. As the verse says, one who plants
righteousness, grows salvations.
Now if we
assume our final possibility, that the donations were in fact beyond
what was necessary, what were they used for? Rabbi Schwab, in Maayan Beit
Hashoeva cites the Medrash that says
the extra materials were used to build a Mishkan
haeidus,
a sanctuary of testimony. Since there was no additional structure, how
are we to understand this term? Rabbi Schwab posits that this refers to
the Tablets of Testimony within the Ark. He explains: While the
Sanctuary’s main purpose was as a place of service to God, the Luchot, the Tablets
refer to Torah study. Service and prayer have set times, but Torah
study is ongoing, and one can keep adding to it. In fact, the letters
for “extra”, hotar, when
reconfigured, spell out Torah. This aspect
of clinging to God can always be added to.
There is yet
another way of interpreting the extra, a way which echoes to the
beginning of our discussion. That left over desire to continue to give
was a testimony transmitted to future generations. Rabbi Bunim of
Pesischa writes in Kol Mevaser that this sanctuary of
testimony must be built in our hearts to maintain the passion and love
for Hashem even when we no longer have a Sanctuary or a Temple. Bring
that desire into your homes, use it to support Torah institutions, adds
the Modzitzer Rebbe in Divrei
Yisroel.
There is never
anything extra or superfluous in one’s dedication to Hashem and
to His Torah. The initial process of giving of ourselves and our
possessions for a spiritual cause may have begun with our ancestors,
but it continues to this day as we teach our children love for Hashem
and for His Torah, and dedicate our lives in a continuing process to
live in His service.