From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 3:54 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Terumah, 5767





                                                  For God's Sake

                    By Rabbi Joshua (compatibly known as The Hoffer) Hoffer


  Parshas Terumah begins with God's command to Moshe that the people should contribute to the building of the mishkan which they shall build, and that God will dwell in. God tells Moshe, "And they shall take to me a portion" (Shemos 25:2). Rashi explains the word 'li,' - to me - as meaning, 'dedicated to My name." Why was it necessary that this contribution be made for God's sake, with that intention in mind? Perhaps we can explain this by pointing to a different explanation of the word 'li,' offered by the Da'as Zekeinim in parshas Tetzaveh, as cited by Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz in his Yemin Yaakov, although with a different application of it than the one offered by Rabbi Rabinowitz.


  In parshas Tetzaveh, God tells Moshe, " And you, bring near to yourself Aharon your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, so that he shall be a kohein to me" (Shemos 28:1). The Da'as Zekeinim comments on the word for 'to me' - li - that whenever something lasts forever, this word is used. Rabbi Rabinowitz, applying this comment to our verse in the beginning of parshas Terumah, then widens it to refer to charity in general, bringing proofs that charity endures forever. However, while the Talmud does say that the charity a person gives does endure forever, charity is valid even when it is not given for altruistic reasons. The main thing is that the charity be given. In regard to the contributions made for the building of the mishkan, however, they did need to be given for God's sake, according to the interpretation cited by Rashi. By placing the Da'as Zekeinim's explanation of 'li' within the general context of charity, and applying it to our verse in Terumah, the two explanations, that of Rashi and that of the Da'as Zekeinim, are no longer compatible. I would like to suggest a different application of the Da'as Zekeinim, by which the two explanations of 'li' are actually complementary of each other.


  Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno, in the beginning of parshas Pekudei, notes that, unlike the Beis HaMikdash, the mishkan was never captured by the enemy and destroyed. He gives four reasons for this, one of which being that the building of the mishkan was organized by Moshe, and anything done by Moshe is eternal, just as the Torah itself, which he taught to the Jewish people, is eternal. I believe that the reason everything Moshe did will last forever is that everything Moshe did was done completely for the sake of heaven, to sanctify God's name. He was able to act in this way because he was the most humble person on the face of the earth, meaning that he did not attribute his accomplishments to himself, but to God, who gave him the abilities he possessed. Perhaps it is for this reason that the cause of Moshe's death, as the Torah tells us, is that he failed to sanctify God's name at the incident of the waters of Merivah. This is why the contributions made for the mishkan had to be made completely for God's sake. In fact, the Vilna Gaon is often quoted as saying that if a synagogue would be made completely for God's sake, down to the last nail, it would never be destroyed. Viewing the construction of the mishkan in this way, as something that would last forever, we can accept both interpretations of the word 'li,' the interpretation cited by Rashi, that it means for God's sake, and the interpretation cited by the Da'as Zekeinim, that it means 'forever.' The Torah is thus telling us that the mishkan must be made completely for God's sake from the collection of the funds to be used for it, since it is Moshe who is making it, and everything that Moshe makes must last forever.


  By understanding the eternity of Moshe's deeds as being a function of his dedication of all he did to God, we can better understand a statement of the Rambam in his Laws of Repentance, 5:2. The Rambam writes there that every person has the capacity to be as righteous as Moshe. The commentators have pointed out that the Rambam does not say that every person has the capacity to be as great as Moshe, because that would not be a true statement, as the Torah itself tells us that no prophet as great as Moshe ever arose, and the Rambam himself lists this as one of the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith. The Rambam only says that every person can be a tzaddik as great as Moshe was. In what way can a person reach this level? Many commentators to the Rambam say that what he means is that just as Moshe fulfilled his own potential to its full capacity, so too is every person capable of fulfilling his particular potential to its full capacity. In light of our discussion, however, I would like to suggest that the Rambam is saying that just as Moshe performed all his actions for the sake of heaven, so, too, every person has the capacity to perform all of his actions for the sake of heaven. This approach would reflect the comments of the Rambam in the fifth chapter of his work Shemoneh Perokim, or Eight Chapters, which is an introduction to his commentary to Avos. In that chapter he writes at length of the need for a person to direct all of his actions towards one goal, which is that of reaching God. After a long discussion of this topic, he ends by saying that the rabbis summed this all up in one sentence when they said, in the mishneh in Avos (2:17) ,"and all your actions should be for the sale of Heaven." I believe it is this aspect of Moshe's character, which was brought out in the construction of the mishkan which lasted forever, that the Rambam is referring to in his Laws of Repentance when he says that every person can be as righteous as Moshe.


  Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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