Our weekly portion deals with the building of the Tabernacle and begins with a command to contribute: “Speak to the children of Israel, and they shall take for me a contribution.”
The mediaeval midrashic collection Shemot Rabba (33:7) says the following:
“And they shall take for me a contribution.” This is what is written: “The Torah commanded to us by Moses... the inheritance of Jacob's community” (Deuteronomy 33:4). Do not read “the inheritance” but rather “betrothed.” It teaches that the Torah is betrothed to Israel, as it is said: “I will betroth you to me forever” (Hosea 2:21).
What does this midrash mean to teach us, and how does it relate to contributing to the building of the Tabernacle?
There are two main ways in which people may become rich without any direct effort on their part. One is to inherit the wealth, and the other is to marry into it. What is the difference?
In most cases, a person who inherits the deceased has the money to do with as she or he pleases. However, if they “marry into money” – there are Commitments. Marriage is a binding covenant far beyond money.
The Midrash tells us that the Torah is not a legacy, an inheritance, but an engagement. We must work for it. And this is the connection to "and they must take a contribution for me" - the connection is a two-way street. The people must also contribute their share.
We are not a people chosen to receive privileges or a lineage advantage that grants superiority. On the contrary, we were chosen to mend the world through a spiritual system.
The role of other nations is expressed in the "Seven Noahide Laws," while we have an additional commitment known as the "613 Commandments."
This is a commitment, not a privilege. For example, because we were expelled from so many countries, and were a persecuted minority, we must be tenfold more careful not to harm a stranger, a foreigner or an immigrant. If a certain sector is tormented by crime, this is an Israeli problem. Not an Arab one. And because of the Holocaust, we must be seven times more steadfast against discrimination and racism. For the Nazis were not right about nation supremacy, and just wrong about the identity of the nation. Rather, they were fundamentally wrong. There is no supreme people! There is no inferior race! These are racist and bigoted nonsense that contradict the love of the Almighty to all His eight billion creatures.
The Midrash concludes with the verse "And I will betroth you to me forever." Indeed, this verse is puzzling, since the engagement stage is a temporary one; after it there is marriage and married life. So why "eternal betrothal"? Because the work and duty imposed on us is constant. It is not like in married life, where at times the couple allows themselves not to exert themselves too much. Here we are always obliged to examine how we conduct ourselves towards others, towards those who are different. It will never become an inheritance, on which we can rest on our laurels.
And like the Torah, so is the land. As Herzl said, "Altneuland." [Literally, old-new land, bust can sound in Adhkenazic hebrew as] "a land on condition." If we behave appropriately towards al, great. But if we don't, "lest the land vomit you out because of your uncleanness, as it vomited out the nation before you" (Leviticus 18:28).
The Tabernacle expresses our commitment, devotion, and sacrifice to God's world.
Inspired by Rabbi Elazar Azkari, a 16th-century kabbalist of Safed, Rabbi Isaac Hutner, who was the head of the yeshiva in which I studied, wrote the following words, which were later composed into a well-known song:
In my heart I have built Tabernacle to extol His glory,
And in the tabernacle I have built an altar to extol the horns of His splendour.
And for a continual light I have taken to myself the fire of Isaac's Binding,
And for a sacrifice, I have offered to Him my only soul.
And in my personal case, also my only son.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Rabbi Jesse Burke is a guide and the rabbi of the Hasidic community "Zamosc" in Bet Shemesh, named after his son who fell in the Gaza Strip in November 2024, and to which everyone is welcome. Jesse is also the father of three daughters.
The mediaeval midrashic collection Shemot Rabba (33:7) says the following:
“And they shall take for me a contribution.” This is what is written: “The Torah commanded to us by Moses... the inheritance of Jacob's community” (Deuteronomy 33:4). Do not read “the inheritance” but rather “betrothed.” It teaches that the Torah is betrothed to Israel, as it is said: “I will betroth you to me forever” (Hosea 2:21).
What does this midrash mean to teach us, and how does it relate to contributing to the building of the Tabernacle?
There are two main ways in which people may become rich without any direct effort on their part. One is to inherit the wealth, and the other is to marry into it. What is the difference?
In most cases, a person who inherits the deceased has the money to do with as she or he pleases. However, if they “marry into money” – there are Commitments. Marriage is a binding covenant far beyond money.
The Midrash tells us that the Torah is not a legacy, an inheritance, but an engagement. We must work for it. And this is the connection to "and they must take a contribution for me" - the connection is a two-way street. The people must also contribute their share.
We are not a people chosen to receive privileges or a lineage advantage that grants superiority. On the contrary, we were chosen to mend the world through a spiritual system.
The role of other nations is expressed in the "Seven Noahide Laws," while we have an additional commitment known as the "613 Commandments."
This is a commitment, not a privilege. For example, because we were expelled from so many countries, and were a persecuted minority, we must be tenfold more careful not to harm a stranger, a foreigner or an immigrant. If a certain sector is tormented by crime, this is an Israeli problem. Not an Arab one. And because of the Holocaust, we must be seven times more steadfast against discrimination and racism. For the Nazis were not right about nation supremacy, and just wrong about the identity of the nation. Rather, they were fundamentally wrong. There is no supreme people! There is no inferior race! These are racist and bigoted nonsense that contradict the love of the Almighty to all His eight billion creatures.
The Midrash concludes with the verse "And I will betroth you to me forever." Indeed, this verse is puzzling, since the engagement stage is a temporary one; after it there is marriage and married life. So why "eternal betrothal"? Because the work and duty imposed on us is constant. It is not like in married life, where at times the couple allows themselves not to exert themselves too much. Here we are always obliged to examine how we conduct ourselves towards others, towards those who are different. It will never become an inheritance, on which we can rest on our laurels.
And like the Torah, so is the land. As Herzl said, "Altneuland." [Literally, old-new land, bust can sound in Adhkenazic hebrew as] "a land on condition." If we behave appropriately towards al, great. But if we don't, "lest the land vomit you out because of your uncleanness, as it vomited out the nation before you" (Leviticus 18:28).
The Tabernacle expresses our commitment, devotion, and sacrifice to God's world.
Inspired by Rabbi Elazar Azkari, a 16th-century kabbalist of Safed, Rabbi Isaac Hutner, who was the head of the yeshiva in which I studied, wrote the following words, which were later composed into a well-known song:
In my heart I have built Tabernacle to extol His glory,
And in the tabernacle I have built an altar to extol the horns of His splendour.
And for a continual light I have taken to myself the fire of Isaac's Binding,
And for a sacrifice, I have offered to Him my only soul.
And in my personal case, also my only son.
Shabbat Shalom!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Jesse Burke is a guide and the rabbi of the Hasidic community "Zamosc" in Bet Shemesh, named after his son who fell in the Gaza Strip in November 2024, and to which everyone is welcome. Jesse is also the father of three daughters.