The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Terumah

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion Hashem (G-d) tells Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) that the Yidin (Jewish people) should set aside materials from their possessions and donate to the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). As the Torah says, “Hashem spoke to Moshe saying. ‘Speak to the children of Israel and have them take for Me a Terumah-offering…”.

Rashi immediately explains this distinct wording and says that “for Me” means “to Me, to My name” . In other words, Rashi is saying that when one fulfils this Mitzvah (commandment) he should know that it is for Hashem and not for any other reason.

2. The Rebbe now asks a question:

Why does the Torah teach us this lesson- that it should be done for Hashem- specifically by this Mitzvah? Don’t all Mitzvos (commandments) have to be done for Hashem?

3. The Rebbe now “adds fire” to the question:

The Baal Shem Tov explains that when you fulfill certain Mitzvos it is not so important what your intention was.

Example one: Even if one Toivels (dunks) in a Mikvah (a ritual cleansing bath) and does not have in mind to become Tahor (ritually pure), he still becomes Tahor. Furthermore, even if he did not intend to dunk in a body of water consisting of forty Sa’ah (approximately two hundred gallons) at all, but a cauldron of water fell on top of him, he still becomes Tahor.

Example two: When one gives Tzedakah (charity) it does not matter what he had in mind when he gave it, as long as the poor man received it he has fulfilled his obligation of giving Tzedakah. Furthermore, even if he did not intend to give Tzedakah at all, but money fell out of his pocket and a poor person picked it up, he still fulfills the Mitzvah of Tzedakah.

Example three: The Halachah (law) is that when one is harvesting his field and takes away all his bundles but forgets a few bundles, he must leave the bundles there for the poor people. This is called “Shik’chah”. Obviously here his intent is not necessary; on the contrary, his intention can only get in the way here.

Bearing all of this in mind, and considering that the Mitzvah of Terumah falls under the category of Tzedakah, our above question is made even stronger: Why would the Torah teach the lesson of “to Me, to My name” regarding one of those Mitzvos where the intent is not so important?!

4. The Rebbe now answers the question:

The idea of the Mishkan is that one’s entire being and all of his daily activities should be permeated with G-dliness (as we explained in the previous discourse), as the Torah says, “You should know Him in all your ways”. Therefore, the Torah wanted to teach this lesson of “to Me, to My name” particularly by the Mitzvah of Terumah which teaches us that not only should we know Hashem when we are doing specific Mitzvos, but we should know Him throughout our entire day.

5. The Rebbe now begins a second explanation as to why the Torah specifically chose to teach this lesson of “to Me, to My name”- to know Hashem in all our ways- by Terumah:

Another point of interest is the Torah’s peculiar word usage. The Torah says, “And they shall take for me a Terumah-offering (donation)” . Wouldn’t it make more sense to say, “And they shall give me a Terumah-offering”? Rather, again the Torah is teaching us that in all our ways we must know Him and even the one who is accepting the donation- the poor man- should take it only because this is what Hashem wants.

The Rebbe explains:

Our Sages tell us that Hashem created the world in a way that there would be a rich man and a poor man so that there would be kindness and charity in the world; if everyone was rich, you wouldn’t be able to give charity and show kindness to others. The result of this is a world where Hashem feeds every man however he feeds some through the hands of others so that there is charity and kindness. Therefore, if you think about it, the rich man is not giving away his own money to this poor man, he is really only entrusted with this other man’s money to begin with, so he is only giving the poor man what is rightfully his.

Consequently, this is what the Torah is demanding from the poor man- that his taking of the money should be to fulfill Hashem’s desire to have charity and kindness in the world.

6. The Rebbe now explains why the Torah needed to single out the poor man who takes the money and teach us that even this man should only act to fulfill Hashem’s desire:

When the Torah commands us to do something it is not only demanding something from us, it is also giving us the strength to be able to fulfill it. Therefore when the Torah teaches us that all our actions should be for the sake of Hashem it singles out the example of a poor man who takes money as charity because he needs the extra special strength to be able to fulfill this for the sake of Hashem.

Reason one: Being that the rich man worked hard for this money and could have used it to buy himself or his family something, when he gives it away as charity he is probably giving it only because this is what Hashem wants. However on the other hand when a poor man takes money he is not thinking of anything else other then feeding himself and his family, therefore the Torah needs to give him extra strength to be able to take this money because this is what Hashem wants.

Reason two: When the rich man gives Tzedakah he is fulfilling a Mitzvah, and when a Jew fulfills a Mitzvah it is probably only because this is what Hashem wants. However the poor man on the other hand is not taking the money to fulfill a Mitzvah, he is taking it to feed his family, therefore he needs special strength from the Torah to take this money for Hashem’s sake.

7. The obvious lesson for us is that we must “know Hashem in all our ways”.

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume three.