“Speak to the Children of Israel and
they shall take for me Teruma, from every man whose heart so moves him, you
shall take my Teruma” (25:2). Divrei Torah that come out around Parshat Teruma often
talk about how Hashem desires each person to give from the heart. While there
are other mandatory taxes, such as the half-shekal given by every male between
the age of 20 and 60 as a means of census taking, the Teruma offering to be
used to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the dwelling place of the Divine
Presence, was meant to be donations from the heart. This fact makes one
specific word in the opening pasuk particularly interesting: vayikach, and
he will take.
One would think that the verse should
read “and they shall bring or give for me Teruma, from every man whose heart so
moves him, shall bring or give my Teruma.” When one thinks of an offering, one
thinks of something that is brought or given, not something that is taken.
Let us contemplate the two other primary
word choices. To Bring is an intriguing word in Hebrew. To Bring is lehavia,
which is actually in causative form and is more accurately translated as “to
cause to come,” because that is what you are doing when you bring something,
you are causing it to come. This implies something more transferal than the
other word choices (Give or Take). One is causing the piece of acacia wood to
come to the elders as a donation, but there is no action within one’s self. The
meaning, when described this way, lacks ownership.
On the other hand, latait, to
give, is an active verb, and a very personal one. One might say that it is the
verb that has the implication of generosity. But giving also has a feel of
possession and attachment. One gives what one has and, in doing so, remains
attached to it. Think of all the times you see someone using a gift you bought
for them and you think, oh I gave that to them, or, vice verse, when you dress
your child in a particular sweater because so-and-so gave it to them. Through
the act of giving, something of the giver remains with the object.
The verse commands that Bnei Yisrael
take Teruma. Of the three word choices, taking is the most active. In the act
of taking, the object becomes separated from the owner. In the act of taking
Teruma, one is selecting from the possessions given to them by God, a subtle
acknowledgement that ultimately everything is from Hashem and one should let go
of one’s feeling of possession. Perhaps taking, in the case of Terumah, is a
more active form of bringing because one is causing the gift to come while also
nullifying one’s sense of ownership of the gift being brought.
The verse is also interesting in its
double usage of the verb lekach. First it is vaykachu – and they
shall take, and then it is tikachu – and you (pl) shall take (from every
man whose heart so moves him). To me this difference is best understood by
something said by Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch: “Nothing is to be given
directly to God, but the gifts of each individual are to be given to the
community, for the Divine purposes. This implies that it is not the individual,
but the community, who has to erect the institutions for God’s purposes, and it
is not for single givers, but from the community that these arrangements have
to be established.” (He also comments that the use of the second person plural,
tikachu, includes Moshe in those who have to give.)
“Speak to the Children of Israel and they shall take for me Teruma, from every man whose heart so moves him, you shall take my Teruma” (25:2). Giving to Hashem is different than giving to another person, and therefore, when one wants to give to Hashem one should look into his or her heart and truly understand what they separate and bring forth from themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment