Terumah: Mishkan vs. Mikdash—Bringing Hashem Into Every Place and Every Mitzvah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. בעזרת השם יתברך, we'll discuss the Mishkan. Mishkan. I want to begin with the pasuk, וְעָשוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם, which is the mitzvah, כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מַרְאֶה אוֹתְךָ, אֵת תַּבְנִית הַמִּשְׁכָּן וְאֵת תַּבְנִית כָּל כֵּלָיו, וְכֵן תַּעֲשוּ. So it begins with the word Mikdash, and then it says, אֵת תַּבְנִית הַמִּשְׁכָּן. Is it Mikdash? Is it Mishkan? Which one is it? Pasuk clearly, וְעָשוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ, אֵת תַּבְנִית הַמִּשְׁכָּן. Do we call it Mikdash? Do we call it Mishkan? The Gemara says, מקדש איקרי משכן, משכן איקרי מקדש. It's true, but l'maaseh we see that the Torah gives it two names. And we see even more, that l'maaseh, the one that we had in the desert was designated to be called Mishkan. And the one that we, the Bayis that we had in Eretz Yisrael, on the Har HaBayis, was designated to be called Beis HaMikdash. L'maaseh, this is called the Mishkan, this is called the Beis HaMikdash. Why? What is the difference between Mikdash and Mishkan? Why is this, the one in the Midbar, called Mishkan, the one in Eretz Yisrael called Mikdash? If you look at the Derech Chaim HaKadosh, he already touches on this shaila. Is it Mishkan or is it Mikdash? The pasuk says, Vasu li Mikdash, and then it says, V'shachanti b'socham. Which one is it? It seems from the mefarshim that the Mikdash has a set place, has a set place, like a bayis. The Mishkan is something which is not set. The difference between Mikdash and Mishkan: Mikdash implies more that there's a home, a house, a place, Mikdash, while Mishkan maybe is not so much a place, a home, a house. Im yirtzeh Hashem, as we'll explain, the Mikdash might be more a noun, while the Mishkan might be more a verb. Mishkan is more about the v'shachanti b'sochi, b'socham, while the Mikdash is a set place, and as I will explain. It's interesting, the Ramban in the Hakdamah to Shemos says that Shemos is about geulah. The Chumash of Shemos is sefer hageulah; it's about the redemption. Says the Ramban, so why is it that the Mishkan is in Shemos? Good, we have the neshamos, we have va'eira boi b'shalach, that's Mitzrayim, that's yetzias Mitzrayim, b'shalach Kriyas Yam Suf, maybe even Kabbalas HaTorah, which was supposed to be the condition of why we left Mitzrayim. But why the Mishkan? Why is the parshiyos about the Mishkan in Shmos? Says the Ramban, because we were not called redeemed till after the Mishkan. It's true, the Mishkan is Sefer HaGeulah, and so at the end of Sefer HaGeulah we have to talk about the Mishkan, because we were not considered nig'alim, we're not considered redeemed till after the Mishkan. Why? The Ramban explains, because geulah came only when they chazru, when they returned, l'ma'alas avosam, to the maalah of their forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that the Ribono Shel Olam was mashreh His Shechinah on their tents, that the Ribono Shel Olam dwelled on their tents. We've spoken about in the past that when Yitzchak brings...

Rivka into the tent. What's in—what does he have? The ner come back. The ner, there was bracha that Erev Shabbos l'Shabbos. The challah, there was bracha. This is all things in the Beis Hamikdash. It's the same as the Beis Hamikdash. There was hashraas haShechinah on the tent of the forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. So when they returned, l'maalas avosam, when they returned, that the Ribono Shel Olam now is on their ohel, rests on their ohel like He rested by the avos, that's geulah. That's called redemption. Why? Why is that the redemption? Why is that called redeemed? So I always understood that the Ramban is saying that galus was taken away from the way it was. The avos, they lived in a special high level, Shechinah. The galus carried them away from this. So until they don't return to what was before the galus, then it's still galus. If in Hebrew we say the teitza'os, if the results of the galus are still here, the results of the galus were that the Ribono Shel Olam was not among the ohel in the tents. So as long as they don't return to that first state, they're still considered we're in galus. But the truth is a little bit deeper, and I want to point out something very interesting. When it says, Ahoy aleihem, it doesn't only mean oheleihem, the tent. It means living. Veshachanti b'socham, we know doesn't mean b'soch the Mishkan, but it actually means b'socham, in them. B'socham, which means Ribono Shel Olam is resting among Klal Yisroel. And there's an interesting Mizrachi in the beginning of Parshas HaZinu. The Mizrachi says a chiddush. You know, in the Beis HaMikdash, as well as the Mishkan, you were able to say the Shem Hameforash. As a matter of fact, in Sefer Be'er Mayim Chayim, it's brought down that that's the pshat, V'asu li Mikdash, li l'shmi. What does li l'shmi mean? So the mefarshim discuss a special din of lishmah. Be'er Mayim Chayim explains, li l'shmi because only there you could say My name. My 72-letter name can only be said in the Beis HaMikdash. So V'asu li Mikdash, li doesn't mean lishmi lishmah, lishmi literally for My name, like this you could say My 72-letter name. Says the Mizrachi an interesting chiddush, that when Moshe Rabbeinu taught Torah, not even in the Mishkan, whenever Moshe Rabbeinu taught Torah, he taught it with the 72 letters, Shem Hashem. Why? Because the Ribono Shel Olam was resting on Klal Yisroel. The entire Klal Yisroel turned into a Mishkan. The entire Klal Yisroel turned into a Mishkan. Not only the Mishkan, but actually veshachanti b'socham, literally. The whole camp of Klal Yisroel turned into a Mishkan. And so Moshe Rabbeinu was able to say the Shem HaMeforash everywhere and anywhere. So the idea is not even the ohelim, it's not even the tents. It means everywhere in Klal Yisroel. Klal Yisroel, where they dwelled, on them was Shechinah, to the point that it turned into a Mishkan. The encampment of Klal Yisroel turned into a Mishkan, that you were able to say the 72-letter name of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Now let's understand the greatness of this point of Mishkan, and then we can go back to see the difference between the Mishkan and the Beis HaMikdash. Why this is called Mishkan and this is called Mikdash. We're addressing the shaila: why is this called Mishkan while this is called Mikdash? And we said because Mishkan is not exclusive to a home, to a bayis, to a place, while Beis HaMikdash is. And we're going to explain that, because the truth is Mishkan is not unique to the building; it's more about Klal Yisroel. It's more about the Ribono Shel Olam resting among Klal Yisroel.

And I want to point out something very interesting. The Mishkan never got destroyed. The Mishkan got buried in the ground, never got destroyed. The Beis Hamikdash got destroyed twice. The Gemara seems to say that it has to do with the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu built the Mishkan, and what Moshe builds can't become destroyed. That's why it says Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't go to Eretz Yisrael, because if he would go to Eretz Yisrael, he would build the Beis Hamikdash, and the Beis Hamikdash wouldn't get destroyed, and then Hashem would have to destroy Klal Yisrael in punishment for their aveiros. What Moshe did was kayim l'ad; Moshe's Torah, Torah is kayim l'ad. Other Midrashim seem to say it has to do with the fact that Yaakov Avinu, atzei shittim, that the atzei shittim came from Yaakov Avinu, and Yaakov planted them lishmah. He planted them lishmah for the Beis Hamikdash, and therefore it can't get destroyed. So these are two reasons why the Mishkan—I'm sorry, he planted it for the Mishkan—and therefore the Mishkan can't get destroyed while the Beis Hamikdash could. We're discussing the difference between the Mishkan and the Mikdash. Why is one called Mishkan, why is one called Mikdash? And we're pointing out that Mishkan maybe is more about the Shechanti, while the Mikdash is kedushah of the bayis. It's more an external; it's about the house of the Beis Hamikdash, and in that house there was hashra'as haShechinah, true. And we point out that you see that the whole Klal Yisrael, the encampment of Klal Yisrael, turned into a Mishkan, to the point that the Mizrachi says that the shem hameforesh... Moshe Rabbeinu was able to say when he taught Torah, because the whole encampment turned into a Mishkan. Why is it then that the Beis Hamikdash gets destroyed and the Mishkan's not? So we say from the Midrashim either because that's Moshe Rabbeinu building the Mishkan, or because Yaakov Avinu planted the trees when he brought them to Mitzrayim, lishmah. He built for the Mishkan, and therefore that lishmah can never get destroyed. And maybe we could say even deeper: the concept of veshachanti b'socham and not in the house can never get destroyed. The idea that the Ribono Shel Olam rests among Klal Yisrael, that doesn't get— it might get hidden, it might get sunk into the ground, it might be not visible, it might be lost somewhere deep where it has to be dug up, so to speak, to see it, to find it, but it's there. The home, the bayis of the Mikdash could get destroyed. And the truth is, I think that's the last pasuk in the parsha, in the Haftorah, in Haftorah Parshas Truma. Hashem nasan chochmah l'Shlomo. We end with this pasuk: Veshachanti b'soch Bnei Yisrael, v'lo eezov es ami Yisrael. I will never leave my nation. So the veshachanti means that I'm with you, and that can't get lost forever. That can't get destroyed. The bayis could get destroyed. But the shoresh haShechinah b'Yisrael, the connection that a Yid has with the Ribono Shel Olam, that will never, ever stop. And that's why I believe, maybe a third pshat, like I said, the Midrashim is maskim, it has to do with Moshe Rabbeinu or has to do with Yaakov Avinu. I'd like to offer this new pshat, that it has to do with the concept of the Mishkan. That since the Mishkan is about v'shachanti b'socham, it's strictly and only all about the connection with the Eibishter, that can never cease. It might get buried. There'll be tekufos in galus that it might get lost, but it's there. Gone and destroyed, not. Hidden, buried. Not in concealment, maybe, but not buried, not destroyed, not broken. Beis Hamikdash could get broken. There's an interesting Medrash in the beginning of the parsha: V'yikchu li terumah. V'yikchu li terumah. What does it mean, v'yikchu li terumah? Take me? What is li? You take me? So it means to me. The Medrash says it means actually me.

Take me, take me with you. Pashut pshat, li means li, to me. Medrash says li, take me. Pshat says the Medrash, it's an example, l'melech shehaya lo bas yechidah. He had a one daughter, only daughter. And a knight came and married the daughter, and he's ready to take away the daughter. So the king says, What do I do? I miss the daughter. To tell you you can't take her, it's your wife, so I can't. He's leaving, he's going away. So I tell you that wherever you go, make for me a small little room, a kitan, like a little closet, and I'll be in that closet wherever you go. And the mefarshim ponder pshat in this Medrash. What does this Medrash mean? What does it want? What is it referring to, this room, this closet? So many Acharonim, many mefarshim explain it's referring to galus, in the time of galus, like the lashon of the Chazal is, that the daughter is ready to be taken away l'merchakim. Here, it's going away far. Here, which means it's going away. It's going far away. And now that it's going far away, in galus, so to speak, the Ribono Shel Olam is saying, I still want to be connected, so make me a room. What is the room referring to? So some mefarshim learn it's referring to the Beis Knesses. You don't have a Beis HaMikdash, you're in galus. Stay connected through the Mikdash me'at, the small Beis HaMikdash. That's what it means, make for me a place that I could live, that I could stay, a small little room. Other mefarshim learn that the ki toin is referring to within the heart of the Yid himself. Ki toin is a small little chamber, so to speak, small little room, a chamber of the heart. Ki toin, make for me within your heart room, that wherever you go in galus, no matter how far you, who knows where and when and what, make room, because veshachanti b'soicho, will always be there. The Ribbono Shel Olam wants to stay connected, and this is the inyan of Yechuli truma, take Me with you. It's not only building a Mishkan, it's taking the Eibishter with you in you. That's the mashal of the Melech. He wants to be connected, and they're taking away far, lemerchakim, to the land where the night lives. We're not in the Beis HaMikdash, we're not in Eretz Yisroel, we're not in Yerushalayim, but take Me with you. How? By making Me a small little place. And what's that little place? Either the beis knesses, or even more, maybe the inside, in the chamber. And that's the connection of Mishkan, to take the Eibishter with you where you go. With this, I want to say over a pshat from the Belzer Rebbe, zecherto tzaddik livracha. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful pshat, really classic. Atzei shittim. What are the pillars, the pillars in the Beis HaMikdash, in the Mishkan, excuse me, were made from? Atzei shittim. Omdim, standing, says the Gemara. What do you mean, omdim, standing? So the Gemara says three pshatim. One pshat is omdim, that they have to stand, which means they go from the bottom to the top. So what does omdim mean? So either omdim means, like every mitzvah you do, says the Gemara, you do it kederech amidaso, the way it's created. For example, a lulav, you can't take it upside down. You have to take it the way it grows from the ground. That's called omdim, straight. So the Atzi shittim also were omdim, means they weren't piled like this, horizontally, but straight. Right? What is it, vertically or horizontal? Vertical. So they're not horizontal, but they're vertical, right? Straight. A second pshat says the Gemara in Sukkah daf nun beis, that it means omdim, that when you put the tzipuy, it has to be attached to the wood. The cover of gold that you put had to be omdim, attached to it. A third pshat says the Gemara, omdim.

Says the Gemara, Klal Yisroel was thinking, maybe after the Mishkan there's no hope. Who knows how long the Mishkan is going to stay for? Ava techaltam, says the Gemara. Sivram, they were thinking their hope, their whole looking forward to the Mishkan, maybe it's going to end soon. Omdim, omdim l'ad, l'olam. Last forever. Ad shehikimu, when they put it up, they were told, omdim, that it'll last forever. Asks the Belzer Rebbe a nice question. Why, when they were putting up the Mishkan, were they afraid that they're going to lose the Mishkan? Why should they be afraid? After the Mishkan there was another Mishkan, and after that Mishkan there was Beis Hamikdash, and after that there was another Beis Hamikdash. Why now, when the Mishkan was being put up, are they saying, Oh, maybe the Mishkan is not going to be for a long time, and we feel terrible. Yeah, but after the Mishkan there's bigger. There's a Beis Hamikdash. You hear the question? Brilliant question. Beautiful. The Gemara is saying that Klal Yisroel had to be given a chizuk. Don't worry about the Mishkan, that what, you could have it only for a few years. Omdim l'ad, amudim. They're standing forever. That's ad shehikimu omdim. He says, Why would they feel so bad that the Mishkan is not forever? If after the Mishkan you still had another Mishkan, you had another Beis Hamikdash. Answers the Belzer Rebbe, like the Mishkan in the midbar. That we will never have even with the Beis Hamikdash. What the Mishkan and the Midbar stood for, we didn't have in the Beis Hamikdash. In many ways, he says, the Mishkan stood for more love of Klal Yisroel than the Beis Hamikdash. Even though the Beis Hamikdash is tochei ratzon v'ahavah, tremendous love for Klal—no, this is even more. And this Klal Yisroel saying, how do we know how long it's going to last? The Mishkan is not for long, and the answer is, yes it is. It's this, different than the Beis Hamikdash. This will be forever. Omdin l'ad u'l'neitzach netzachim, atzi shitim omdim. This will remain forever. Explains the Belzer Rebbe, what's so special about the Mishkan? The Mishkan showed tremendous love, that, Eibishter, I have to be connected to You. You know that the Mishkan was in the midbar. Was the midbar a place that was fit for the Mishkan? The pasuk calls the midbar—the pasuk says about the midbar, the lashon of the pasuk in Yechezkel, it calls the midbar, Artzos midbar ha'amim. The pasuk in Yechezkel, it's called midbar of the nations. So pashut pshat is because the midbar belongs to all the nations, right? Nobody can claim a midbar, even though today they do fight over this desert and that desert, Iraq with Kuwait, this is my piece of the desert, this is my piece of the desert. Desert officially is everyone's. It's no man's land. In English they call it no man's land. That's what it means, midbar ha'amim. It belongs to everyone, all the nations. Rashi, Rashi, by midbar, daled gimmel, says a different pshat why it's called, yeah, why it's called midbar amim. I'm sorry, that Rashi says it's because it belongs to all the nations. The sefarim bring down, when it says in the Gemara, the Gemara says that Chachamim gazru tumah al avir Eretz ha'amim, that there is tumah on what belongs to the nations, Eretz ha'amim. So what was the midbar then? The midbar also had tumah. And still the Rabbeinu Shalom... It's not a chiddush, says Belzer Rebbe, that the Rabbeinu Shalom was mashreh His Shechinah in the Beis Hamikdash, on the Har Habayis. Har Habayis is the peak of the world. It's holy, it's heilig, it's beautiful, the center of the world. How about the midbar? That wasn't the center of the world. That's the low part of the world. As a matter of fact, it even is tamei. Tumah, there's tumas Eretz ha'amim on it. And still the Rabbeinu Shalom was mashreh His Shechinah there. That was special about the Mishkan. And then he says another point what's special about the Mishkan. The Mishkan wasn't a set place. Any place that they put it up...

That's where it was. Wherever the Yid went and he put it up, that's where it was. That, he says, shows tremendous dveikus, that the Yid is connected with the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam says, I'm going to go with you to the midbar. No matter where you travel, no matter where you go, put me up, I'll be there. You know, they say often the Kotzker Rebbe, and he said when he was a young boy, they asked him, Where is Hashem? So we know that kids point upwards, right? And then there's a song, Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is everywhere. Not only up, down, and everywhere, right? Kids used to point up. Now we teach them to point up, down, all around, and everywhere, and they dance to the tune of up, down, and everywhere, right? But Kotzker Rebbe said, You know where Hashem is? Wherever you let Him in. Wherever you let Hashem in, that's where He goes. You know what the Mishkan was? Wherever you put up a place for Him, that's where He is. Could you imagine the king, where's his palace? Um, you know what? Let's put it up over there. Good, I'm coming there. That's my palace. Beis Hamikdash was a palace. It has a location. It has a place. The Mishkan, it's in Eretz Amim. It's not even a country that belongs to Klal Yisrael. It's in the midbar. It's tamei. It's wherever they put Him up. Today, you know, today I'm here. You know, tomorrow my palace will be over there, and in three days my palace might be to the left, to the right, or maybe to the... That shows tremendous love for Klal Yisroel. And this is what Klal Yisroel was grappling with. They were in fear. Maybe after the Mishkan we won't have this, that the Ribono Shel Olam will be with us wherever, whenever, and whatever. Says the Ribono Shel Olam, Atzishim omdim, omdim la'ad, l'olmei olamim, that wherever you go and wherever you stand, if you want to be connected with Me, I'll be there. Like it says, this is what I end again, the lashon of the pasuk, V'shachanti b'socham, v'lo e'ezov es ami Yisrael. I'll never leave you alone. That's Mishkan. Mishkan is the verb. There's almost no place to the Mishkan. Beis HaMikdash is a place. It's a bayis. It has a location, and that could be charuv. Mishkan, which is really a verb, that the Eibishter is with you. That point of—there is no Mishkan. What is Mishkan? Mishkan is wherever I set up that the Eibishter should be there. Beis HaMikdash is a location. It's a place. It exists. Mishkan almost doesn't exist. All it is is where I make a heicha timtza. I give it an ability for Hashem to come, and He comes. He's there. Mishkan is to rest, to dwell. So therefore the Mishkan was what we had in the Midbar, and that doesn't get lost, meaning destroyed. It can get sunk into the ground. And we have to sometimes dig deep to get it and to revive it. It's in the ground, and we might have to revive it. But it's there. The inyan of V'loezov es ami v'shachanti b'soicho, that's called Mishkan. Mikdash is the Beis HaMikdash, the home, the place, the location, the cheftza, the physical, the building. Mishkan is the verb that the Eibishter is with us. Now it's with a Mishkan, it's with a building, but that building just brings out that Hashem is going to be with us. So He'll be with us in the building, which can be put up and down in the same day. It could be with us within us. It could be in our tents, in our homes. It could be in the whole encampment of Klal Yisrael. That's Mishkan. Reb Moshe, yeshiva, Reb Moshe Feinstein, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the yeshiva zatzal, in the sefer Darash Moshe explains, Shabbos doesn't get pushed off for the binyan haMishkan. It doesn't get pushed off. Not for the Mishkan, not for the Mikdash. Hilchos Shabbos takes precedence over binyan haMikdash. Why? Mikdash.

It's so important. Explains Rosh Yeshiva zatzal, R' Moshe, that the Beis Hamikdash we could be without, and which is what I'm explaining to you. We could actually be without a Beis Hamikdash. We've lived without a Beis Hamikdash, but we can't be without Shabbos. Shabbos is more, takes precedence over Beis Hamikdash, because Shabbos is the way the Yid lives with the Eibishter. It's beautiful. I don't need the home. I don't need the Beis Hamikdash. We can be without a Beis Hamikdash. I don't need the cheftza. I need the Eibishter. You know, I once gave a mashal. I once saw a husband and wife, they were fighting, and they were trying to, you know, the wife was trying to say, you know, I want the marriage to work. I want, you know, I want you to love me. And he keeps on screaming back to her, What do you want? I bought you houses, and I get you cars. You have a life. And she keeps on screaming back, But I don't want the cars. I don't want the houses. I want you. I thought to myself, that's what Klal Yisroel says the same thing. I don't need the house. The Eibishter is saying, I don't need my house. I need you, the Eibishter. I want you. And if I want you, I can have it without the house. It could be even without a house, as long as I have you. Mishkan is you. Beis Hamikdash is the house. Rabboisai, I don't need the house to survive, but I need you. And this Eibishter promises it will never, never go away, v'lo eizov es ami, and will never leave my people alone. But this, rabboisai, I think we can explain something beautiful. I saw the Shach al haTorah says something very interesting. Why did we get the Mishkan? Because of the eigel. It's a shaila if it was before the eigel; most learn it was after the eigel. He says, could you imagine if doing the eigel gave us a Mishkan? Imagine doing something good what it will bring us. I couldn't get over the understanding of it. Doing an eigel brings me a Mishkan. Could you imagine doing something good? The point is, rabboisai, the Mishkan was to tell you, eigel, I'm not angry after the eigel. I'm connected with you after the eigel. The idea of the Mishkan was, lo eizov es ami, I will never leave you alone, no matter what you do and no matter what happens, I will always be there. That's Mishkan, and that has nothing to do with the building. That has to do with the Eibishter. And you should know, rabboisai, we don't have a Mishkan today and we don't have a Beis Hamikdash today, but yet we could live. As if. And that's the point I'm trying to bring out, and this is the mitzvah to live this way, and I'll explain to you what I mean. If you look at the pasuk, the pasuk says, Kitavnis... v'chein ta'asu. So the meforshim ask, what is the v'chein ta'asu? So Rashi explains, v'chein ta'asu, because it's extra. It's saying, it says you should do it, k'chol asher ani mar'eh oscha. Why do you have to repeat v'chein ta'asu? So Rashi explains that it means that in case one of the keilim get lost throughout the years, you have to replace it, v'chein ta'asu, to replace it later. The Ksav Sofer says a beautiful pshat. He says the truth is, if it was going back on the Mishkan, it should have said, kein ta'asu, v'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'socham, k'chol... Kein. What's v'? V' means that also you should do. Why the vav? V'chein, and also you should do. Says the Ksav Sofer, you know the Mishkan has a lot of lessons, has a lot of reasons behind in the Mishkan what, why this is like this and why—lessons in avodas Hashem, how to live.

V'chein ta'asu, you should also do it. It's not only just to build a Mishkan. A person thinks he'll build a Mishkan and it's good enough. Here, he comes to shul, he gives money to the shul. I don't care about the shul. It's about your life. It's about me and you and the Ribono Shel Olam says, I want to connect with you. V'chein ta'asu. K'chol asher ani mar'eh oscha, with all the pratim, with all the details in the Mishkan. It's not just to do the Mishkan. V'chein ta'asu in your life you should do it. Mishkan is about how to live, like I smoked you above, like I said over from the Rosh Yeshiva. It's about how to live with the Eibishter. It's not only about building a house. K'chol asher ani mar'eh oscha. It's, you know, I mean, your mazim and full, the Seforno, full explaining why the shulchan and the menorah and the tzitz. So a person gives a few dollars, okay, I built the Mishkan. No, no, no. V'chein ta'asu. You should live that way. Everything that's in the Mishkan, do it in your life, because Mishkan is not about the bayis of the Mishkan, but it's about the life of Klal Yisrael together with the Eibishter, and also, v'chein ta'asu, and also you should do. Someone will ask, yeah, but it's very difficult. It's very difficult to do. How do we do this? So much lessons, there's so much in the Mishkan. Why? Who can do it all? How does a person do all this? So first of all, we have to start the yesod of the Mishkan. What is the yesod of the Mishkan? Sefarim write, achdus was the yesod of the Mishkan. The idea of the Mishkan was that Klal Yisrael should come together in a project like this unites. How do you unite people? In a cause. A cause unites people. So when they give for the Eibishter to build the Mishkan, and you saw that they all taka came. Mefarshim, Reb Gedaliah Shor brings this down. The lashon of the pasuk is that you do the whole Mishkan, v'haya haMishkan l'echad. The Mishkan will be for one. Pasuk yud aleph, perek chavav, pasuk yud aleph: v'asisa karasim... v'chibarta es ha'ohel, v'haya echad. What is v'haya echad? By putting it together, it turns into one. There's a beautiful Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer explains that the Mishkan we know couldn't stand. As a matter of fact, we learned that Moshe Rabbeinu put it up, it kept on falling. The measurements, it couldn't stand. Why? It had one bar across. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to hold up the weight of the Mishkan. Asks the Chasam Sofer, so why don't we put more bars? Why don't we make it—I mean, why didn't the Eibishter make it ein somchin al hanes, that it should be able to stand? I mean, make an architecture that it should be able—here, I know in my house, in my shul, there was a question about a beam, where they put the beam, one beam, two beams, so they were able to figure out how they could put one beam and hold up the whole shul. And if they couldn't, so they said they would put two beams. It's not that genius to figure out if it can't stand with one, they'll let it stand with two. And the answer is, says the Chasam Sofer, that the Rabbeinu was teaching us a lesson. How did they work these karsei nechoshes? Vechibarta es ha'ohel, right? That they put them in through latches. Says the Chasam Sofer, this was a remez that when Klal Yisrael unites one into the other, connects one to the other, then you don't need anything to hold them up. It will stand, because the Eibishter will make them stand. When there's achdus, when there's achdus, it'll stand together. Achdus, kroshim, they stand together. When you put them one to one, like the lashon of the pasuk is, Vechibarta, right? V'hayah ha'ohel echad. It all turns into one. When Klal Yisrael unites to turn into one, they're not going to collapse. It will stand. It will stand. The idea of the Mishkan is achdus, because hashra'as haShechinah needs achdus. So if we want to—

Talk about a Mishkan, and we want to talk about that the Mishkan is v'shachanti b'socham. It needs that there should be achdus, and you'll see this, that whenever Klal Yisroel unites, you'll see tremendous hashraas haShechinah, tremendous Kiddush Shem Shamayim, because there's hashraas haShechinah when Klal Yisroel unites. So on the simplest level, the Mishkan is supposed to teach us life, hashraas haShechinah through achdus in Klal Yisroel. How about the details, the more difficult lessons? You think it's so easy to all the lessons of the Beis HaMikdash and the Mishkan, and to live that way, b'kedushah u'v'taharah? How could you do that? How does one achieve that? I'd like to tell you over two tzaddikim that spoke the same concept. One is the Chasam Sofer, and one is the Bnei Yissaschar. The Chasam Sofer says that if you look at this pasuk that we quoted before, Kein ta'asu, v'chein ta'asu, is the ingredient. It's the secret on how to keep everything that was in the Mikdash, and that is, he says it's yadua that when a Yid, a Jew, connects to the Eibishter, him and the Ribono Shel Olam unite to such an extent that the Ribono Shel Olam does with him everything. The Yid does, the Yid is doing, but the Ribono Shel Olam is mishtatef in the pe'ulah. Becomes a partner in the actions of the person, and therefore he's capable of doing unbelievably big things. He says that's the pshat in the pasuk, V'shachanti b'socham. Make a mikdash. I'll dwell with you. Therefore, k'chol asher ani mar'eh oscha, everything I show you, es tavnis haMishkan, v'chein ta'asu, you'll be able to do it. Because the Chasam Sofer says he doesn't understand. If Hashem was the architect for the things in the Mishkan, how could any human being do it? Could any human being recreate what the Eibishter created? Could we make life? No. Why? Because if the Eibishter created life, no one could. You could clone and this and hacka chaynik with test tubes. It's not what the Eibishter... right? If the Eibishter is the architect, man can't duplicate it, correct? As a matter of fact, right, we know that im b'tzalel, what was his greatness? He knew the osiyos shebahem nivra shamayim va'aretz. Why was it needed? Because you think the Kli HaMikdash was simple? The Kli HaMikdash was architected by an architect who created the world. It was deep. It was so much in every detail. Says the Chasam Sofer, how are we able to reduplicate that? And the answer is, V'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'socham. I will be with you to the point that I become a shutaf. I'm there to help you. And therefore, kein ta'aseh, you'll be able to do it. Otherwise, you won't be able to do it. It's me'uydik Chasam Sofer, by the way. Again, let's repeat over the Chasam Sofer. We're telling you a yesod, that what is Mishkan? Mishkan doesn't mean the home, the building. You know, you pass by, you know, to Brooklyn, you see big buildings. They're all vacant, all empty. Big, huge buildings. There's nothing in it. Empty. I don't think anybody even goes there. It's not about buildings. It's about life, Mishkan. V'chein ta'asu. Don't just build a Mishkan. Live it. How do you live it? So I'm telling you, yesod of the Mishkan was achdus, so that we can understand achdus, reius. Good. But how about the details? The Mishkan and the menorah and the shulchan. There's so much, so much. Who could do it all? So I'm giving you a formula that the Chasam Sofer says the Mishkan teaches me this formula. How are we able to build a Mishkan? You could redo what the Eibishter did. You could create a menorah. Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't make the menorah. You know why? Because the Eibishter was there.

Architected in the day. So how do you expect? And the answer is because the Eibishter is going to do it with you. That's what the Chasam Sofer is trying to teach me, that if you're connected to the Ribono Shel Olam, you should know that the Ribono Shel Olam becomes almost like a shutaf. He becomes partners, and that's what it means, v'shachanti b'socham. And therefore, kechol asher ani mar'eh oscha, es tavnis haMishkan, kein ta'asu, you'll be able to do it. Otherwise, you won't be able to do it. I like to say over a lot what I saw when I grew up. You know, my zeidy's shul was a lot of older Jews. Between me and them, the age difference was very... I had no peers in my zeidy's shul. They were older people, but I learned a lot from them. There was a Yid, Mr. Ziegler, zichrono livracha, a very special Yid. He had a stroke and he was a young person, yet he never ever missed a minyan. He was paralyzed, half his body, never missed a minyan. He would climb up that hill, you know, to my zeidy's shul, that big hill. It would take him sometimes an hour. He would set out at five o'clock in the morning to get to a six o'clock minyan, and he would come in the snow. Even when it was snowing, he would drag the leg. He was paralyzed. He would drag the leg. He would come. He couldn't even breathe. Never missed. Never ever missed. Never ever. Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv, never missed. And I always wondered how. How does one have the koach to do it? It doesn't make sense. How do Gedolei Yisrael have time to learn so much? And yet, there's so much chesed. There's not enough hours in the day for everything. You know, the answer is v'chein ta'asu, that when you're connected with the Eibishter, the Eibishter is there with you. The Eibishter helps you in the pe'ulah. That's what the Chasam Sofer is saying, that the Eibishter, if you want to live with the Eibishter, the Eibishter is going to be there to help you. The Eibishter is going to be there to help you. The Eibishter is going to be there, and you'll be able to do supernatural things that you couldn't do without the Ribbono Shel Olam. That's v'chein. The maila of the Mishkan was v'shachanti b'socham, that a Yid connected to the Eibishter, that he therefore was able to make a Mishkan. The wanting to be v'shachanti b'socham gave the Jew the capability that with his hands he was able to be v'shachanti b'socham, to do it, to create such a thing. Here, I'll tell you over maybe to think. L'maaseh, what are we supposed to do? So what's l'maaseh? How do we say, I want to connect to the Eibishter, and therefore the Eibishter will help me? And I think the pshat is, v'yikchu li l'shmi. What's v'yikchu li l'shmi? So before I just get to the l'shma part of it, there's a mechlokes between Bnei Yissaschar. I told you Bnei Yissaschar seems to say the same, same idea. The Zohar writes in the beginning of Parshas Terumah, Klal Yisrael and the Ribbono Shel Olam connect as one. Look, look, he says, look how Klal Yisrael and the Ribbono Shel Olam connect as one. Says the Bnei Yissaschar, what does the Zohar want? So pashut, I always understood the Zohar means, v'shachanti b'socham, that they... right? And they connect. Bnei Yissaschar says that the Zohar is trying to answer a question: how could it be, v'yikchu li, it should have said v'yitnu li. Famous question. They all ask this question. It should have said v'yitnu, not I'll take, but you give. Says the Bnei Yissaschar, the Medrash is trying to say, the Zohar is trying to say, that the Yid and the Ribono Shel Olam connect in such a way that they become one. So the v'yitnu is the v'yikchu. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying that when you take, you give. When you give, you take, v'yitnu, because the Ribono Shel Olam is there already with you in the v'yitnu. Very deep, beautiful, Bnei Yissaschar. That's what the Medrash means, that Hashem and the person become one. So the minute you v'yitnu, it automatically means as if the Ribono Shel Olam is taking it. He's there with you already, v'yikchu. That's this same sefer, rabosai, that the person connects with the Ribono Shel Olam, and He helps you.

He's there with you. And that's v'yikchu li trumah, that the Eibishter is with you, and He's there to help you build. A person wants to do avodas Hashem, a person wants to learn, the Ribono Shel Olam is there with you. If you want and you let Him in, and you want the v'shachanti b'socham, the Ribono Shel Olam helps you beyond your capabilities. The Ribono Shel Olam connects with you as if shutaf, like the Chasam Sofer, as a shutaf in the ma'aseh. I believe that how does one achieve that? When you do it lishmah. V'yikchu li, says Rashi, li lishmi. And when they all ask, why over here is the din lishmah more? And the answer is: Mikdash, li lishmi, it's more, right? Beis HaMikdash needs more nedivas halev, and since it needs nedivas halev and it has to be done lishmah, because it really needs the heart. Okay. I would like to tie to the previous thing that we just spoke and say that how could one achieve all this? He needs help from Hashem. He needs that the Eibishter should come and help him build this Mishkan. And the answer is, if you do it lishmi, you connect with Me. You do it lishmah, I'm going to be there to help you do it. You do for Me, and I'll be there for you to help you do it. That's pshat li lishmi. V'yikchu li, you do it for Me, li lishmi, for Me. And then I come and I help you because you want Me to be there with you. And I believe that this is meduyak very much in the l'shem yichud. Every time we do a mitzvah. We say l'shem yichud. You know what we say? L'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu, Shechinteh, b'dchilu u'rechimu, l'yached shem Yud-Kei b'Vav-Kei, right? So we're saying l'shem, for the name of Hashem. And what do we say at the end? That it should be, k'ilu kiyamtiyah b'chol proteha, as if I did it with all its details. And then we say, Vihi noam Hashem Elokeinu, ma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu, ma'aseh yadeinu konenehu. What is that? That's when Moshe built the Mishkan. He gave this bracha that the Eibishter should be there. Ma'aseh yadeinu konenehu — the Eibishter should guide us in the action. So if you do it l'shem, if you do it for the Eibishter, then the Eibishter is konenah. The Eibishter helps you to do it complete, because otherwise no person can do a mitzvah to its complete form. The mitzvahs are unbelievable, every detail. It's min haShamayim, the Ribono Shel Olam's creation, Torah. Who could achieve being mekayem what the Eibishter said, kilchasa? Who could actually achieve being mekayem? It's unbelievable what the Eibishter did. The Torah — ein sof, there's no end. So what are we doing already? A little bit. And the answer is, if you do it l'shem Hashem, ma'aseh yadeinu konenehu, konenehu — the Eibishter is there to help us. And that's why v'yikchu li has to be l'shmi. Otherwise, you couldn't build a Mishkan. Couldn't be. It couldn't be. It couldn't be such a thing, because it's a creation created by the Ribono Shel Olam, a Mishkan. The power and the koach and the wisdom to be able to build a Mishkan needs that you need the Eibishter with you. And therefore, li lishmi. When you do it l'shem Hashem, the Ribono Shel Olam says, You bring me into the ma'aseh, v'shachanti b'socham. You bring me into your actions, then v'noam Hashem aleinu. Noam Hashem aleinu, the beauty of Hashem will rest on us, u'maaseh yadeinu, then our actions will be koneh neihu. The whole idea of l'shem yichud. That's in everything in life. If you bring the Ribono Shel Olam into your life, you could live a life of v'shachanti b'socham, no matter where and what, no matter how far you're lost, no matter what place you're lost in, no matter how deep you are in the galus, midbar amim. All you have to do is set up, Ribono Shel Olam, I'm trying. I want to put up a Mishkan. I want. You have to want. And the minute you want, Ribono Shel Olam says, U'maaseh yadeinu konenu. I'll help you. I'll help you build that Mishkan. And that's l'olam ad, ul'olmei olamim. That stands forever and ever and ever. That's the chiluk between the Mishkan and the Beis HaMikdash. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.