Educational Insights from Parashat Terumah — The “Tool” Is Within Me, but How Far Does It Go? Astonishing!
One of the faith-based perceptions that must serve as a cornerstone for every parent and educator is that he has — and has been given — the tools and the strength to cope with the challenges at hand. On the contrary: the more he gives of himself, the more additional tools and strength he will receive.
The foundation of this matter is found in our parashah.
“And Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them take for Me a contribution; from every man whose heart moves him willingly, you shall take My contribution” (Shemot 25:1–2).
The well-known and famous question is: why did Scripture use the expression “ let them take for Me a contribution”? Does one take a contribution? A contribution is given! Seemingly, it would have been more correct to say, “ let them give to Me”?
Moreover, what is the meaning of taking a contribution for the Holy One, blessed be He? Does He need our contribution?!
Give Him from What Is His
An examination of the words of the Midrash will provide an answer. “‘Let them take for Me’ — it is written: ‘Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says Hashem of Hosts’ (Chaggai 2:8). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Donate and make the Mishkan, and do not say that you are giving anything from your own pocket, for everything is Mine. Therefore He said, ‘let them take for Me’ — from what is Mine” (Shemot Rabbah, ch. 30).
So too the Mishnah teaches (Avot 3:7): “Give Him from what is His, for you and yours are His; and so David says: ‘For everything is from You, and from Your hand we have given to You.’”
When a person gives tzedakah to a poor person or makes a donation to a charitable organization, what does he feel afterward?
He may feel satisfaction — and perhaps even a sense of self-pride — that he gave of his property and wealth to another. Or perhaps the opposite: if he is a person whose eye is not generous, he will indeed give, but he will not truly be accompanied by satisfaction, and certainly not by joy of heart. Both of these thoughts, belonging to two types of people, do not reach the true, correct, and proper perception. The tanna comes and teaches us: “Give Him from what is His” — when you give tzedakah, you must know that you are not giving from your own, but from that of the Holy One, blessed be He. The poor person is not benefiting from your money, but from Hashem’s money. Certainly, do not be distressed that others are “eating” your money, for they are not benefiting from what is yours, but from what the Creator of the world entrusted to your hands.
In fact, everything you have belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. “Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says Hashem” (Chaggai 2:8). Everything belongs to the Master of all. By His will He gave you the property, and by His will He will take it from you and give it to your fellow who is better than you; therefore you must be wise and use it intelligently.
Giving Is for Our Benefit
The holy Alshich raised a difficulty:
According to the law, the husband must give the woman the money of kiddushin — and in our times, a ring. If she gave it to him and said to him, “Behold, I am betrothed to you with this ring,” all her words are null and void, and she is not betrothed.
But with an important person, even if she gave the money to the husband, she is betrothed, “for in that benefit that he accepts a gift from her, she resolves and transfers herself” (meaning: in this case, when the husband is an important person, even though the woman is the one giving the money to the husband, she is betrothed, because she is the one who benefits from the very act of giving the gift! For an important person does not accept a gift from just anyone, and if he accepted it from her, she is honored by this and benefits from the very act of giving, which he accepted from her; therefore it is as though the husband betroths her with this benefit, which is worth a perutah).
Therefore, when the Creator, blessed be He, accepts from us a voluntary contribution for the Mishkan, this giving is considered as though we have taken; therefore it says, “let them take for Me.” For in essence, all our giving falls under the category of taking. Accordingly, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to the people of Israel: You are consecrated to Me like a bride who is consecrated to her husband. But we do not have the ability to give the Holy One, blessed be He, anything at all, for He is Master of all; rather, we have pleasure from the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted our contribution for the Mishkan, and from this we receive honor. Therefore it says, “let them take.”
“Compensation” for a “Contribution”
By way of allusion, one may further say that the words of Chazal appearing in Tractate Ta’anit (9a) are hinted to here: Rabbi Yochanan met the child of Reish Lakish. He said to him: Tell me your verse — meaning, tell me the verse you learned today.
He said to him: “עשר תעשר” — “You shall surely tithe.”
He said to him: And what is the meaning of “עשר תעשר” — “You shall surely tithe”?
He said to him: Tithe so that you will become wealthy.
He said to him: From where do you know this?
He said to him: Go and test it.
He said to him: Is it permitted to test the Holy One, blessed be He? But it is written: “לא תנסו את ה'” — “You shall not test Hashem!”
He said to him: So said Rabbi Hoshaya: except for this — that is, in all matters it is forbidden to test the Holy One, blessed be He, except regarding the matter of ma’aser, the tithe, where it is permitted to test and see that indeed one who tithes becomes wealthy — as it is stated: “הביאו את כל המעשר אל בית האוצר ויהי טרף בביתי, ובחנוני נא בזאת אמר ה' צבאות אם לא אפתח לכם את ארובות השמים והריקותי לכם ברכה עד בלי די” — “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house; and test Me now with this, says Hashem of Hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing beyond measure.”
It emerges that giving a contribution acts upon a person so that he receives Divine abundance from Heaven; if so, one can also say, “let them take for Me a contribution,” for the person who gives also becomes a receiver — a taker.
The Desire to Give Adds Strength
The Holy One, blessed be He, will ensure that a person has everything required in order to fulfill his role properly. Therefore, when a person gives of his own, he takes upon himself an additional mission: to help and assist others as well — either the poor and needy, or the kohanim and Levi’im, those who study Torah and serve Hashem in the Mikdash. If so, it is only natural that the Holy One, blessed be He, will send him additional abundance, to fill and strengthen his hands in the many missions he takes upon himself.
This is true not only regarding material abundance of monetary wealth, but also regarding spiritual wealth and great spiritual strengths: when a person takes upon himself a spiritual mission, it enriches him with the strengths appropriate for fulfilling his mission. A person who accepts upon himself to study Torah is given by the Holy One, blessed be He, the strength needed for it. A person who dedicates himself and mobilizes the abilities with which he was endowed and blessed in order to spread Torah and disseminate faith also receives the strength needed for that.
Through the words “let them take for Me,” the Torah comes to teach us that in giving tzedakah, more than we give to another, we take for ourselves; and this is expressed in a range of areas — whether in money, talents, or other matters.
And since we are dealing with education, these matters are certainly and most certainly even more relevant.
Sometimes, in the field of education, Divine Providence brings about unexpected situations, yet precisely from them one can learn and grow wiser, acquire tools, and connect.
I will share a difficult incident that expresses this:
This was two years ago. The administration of a certain Talmud Torah received notice that one of the students was very ill and that his condition was critical, may the Merciful One protect us. I was asked by the principal of the institution to accompany him on a visit to the student in the hospital.
We saw broken and crushed parents, crying and not knowing what to do with themselves. The child had contracted the “flesh-eating” bacteria, may the Merciful One protect us, and now bleeding had been discovered in his internal organs.
When we arrived, the child was taken out of intensive care and rushed to surgery in the catheterization room, entirely blue and connected to tubes.
I stepped aside and recited several chapters of Tehillim from the depths of my heart. At the same time, I asked several friends to pass his name on to avreichim in kollelim so that they would learn for his recovery, and I also turned to the household of the gaon Rav Shimon Baadani zatzal to ask him to pray on his behalf.
After the hospital visit, I delivered a strengthening talk to all the students of the Talmud Torah. But our thoughts are not His thoughts, and an hour later, to the heartbreak of all, the pure child returned his soul to his Creator.
I immediately called his brothers who studied in the Talmud Torah, took them outside the building so that they would not hear the painful news from their friends, and sent them with the educational counselor to the nearby park.
In the afternoon we went to the funeral; it was a chilling and heartbreaking scene. The next day it was necessary to gather the melamdim and guide them on how to deal with students’ questions and more.
I am attaching the essence, in brief, of what I said before the melamdim, based on a model I have presented in other tragedies, may the Merciful One protect us: in Elad, after the terrible terror attack in which three Jews were murdered by axe blows; during the coronavirus period; after the Meron disaster; and others — events in which quite a few children and adolescents entered states of anxiety and needed to go through a process, a precise process founded on the spirit of Judaism.
I will briefly note the backbone of the process — elsewhere I have elaborated on this.
1. Sharing concerns.
2. Does everyone who has a fever eventually die...
3. Fear versus anxiety, and what lies between them!
Fear — a normal state; anxiety — a defined fear into which imagination has entered.
4. A person whose temperature rises because he saw a large ant — it is clear that his anxiety is heightened and does not correspond to reality.
A person walks close to the fence so that a car will not hit him.
5. I can choose whether to be there...
6. It is over! — ending the event on the youth’s cognitive level.
7. We do not fight thoughts! We simply agree that they will be there, and they disappear on their own.
8. A faith-based perception of the event.
9. To do an act or action for the elevation of the soul — such as studying Mishnah or lighting a candle.
10. Not to stop the continuity of normal life. Simply to move on.
I will note that afterward, several students in the Talmud Torah approached me and shared what was on their hearts.
And I will present it briefly:
I Did Not Sleep All Night
Several students said: I did not sleep at night; it was hard for me to fall asleep because of the terrible news that a child had passed away.
The thoughts were mainly of fear and some anxiety. But they were less occupied with the question of how this happened to him.
Maybe It Will Happen to Me
Several students said that the thoughts occupying them revolved specifically around the question, “Maybe this will happen to me too, Heaven forbid,” or “What will I do if someone in my family dies,” and the like.
Thoughts about loss.
His Name Is Like His Name...
I will note that a tense student came, frightened when he heard the student’s name, because he has a brother with that same name, and just yesterday he had fallen and hurt his leg, and they took him to the emergency room, where they stitched him. Does this mean something?
A few more terrified children came and checked whether they had disinfected the Talmud Torah, since the deceased child had had a bacterium.
(Until we explained to them that this bacterium is not contagious...)
How Will He Speak in the Heavenly Court
One student said that he was worried about the deceased: how would he speak in court? When asked what he meant, he explained, “How will he speak in the Heavenly Court?? He will be embarrassed to speak before them, because he is a small child and they are great and important”... until it was explained to him that the child is righteous and entered Gan Eden directly.
I Am Embarrassed!
One of the mourning brothers, who came the next day to the Talmud Torah — following Rav Chollak’s recommendation — did not want to enter the classroom. Everyone thought it was difficult for him because of the tragedy, but he explained it with the word “embarrassing” — in his words — because now everyone would look at him as different, since his brother had passed away.
I learned many things from this turbulent week, and I wrote them so they should be engraved upon the heart, and so that I should not, Heaven forbid, be among those afflicted with dullness of feeling, who pass by tragedies and continue onward without taking from them insights for life.
May it be His will that we hear good and joyful tidings!
Source
Rabbi Michael Zecharyahu
Spiritual Director at the Torat David Yeshivah Gedolah and Chairman of the Legion of the King organization
