Vayakhel: Building the Mishkan Through Human Effort, Nedivas HaLev, and Hashem’s Help

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. The building of the Mishkan takes on many parshiyos in Shemos: Terumah, Tetzaveh, Asisah, Pekudei, Vayakhel. So many parshiyos about Binyan HaMishkan. Actually, it needs to be broken up into two parts. Terumah Tetzaveh is HaKadosh Baruch Hu telling us, b'osid, in the future, to build and how to build it. And Vayakhel Pekudei is the b'hoveh and the b'avar, which means how they exactly did build it and that they did build it. So even though it's technically one sugya, it's one parshah, so to speak, of Binyan HaMishkan, but we could say it's four different chapters, four different chalakim in Binyan HaMishkan: two where the Ribbono Shel Olam is telling us how to build in the future, b'osid; one in how they did it, b'hoveh, what they did do, that's parshas Vayakhel; and in Pekudei also we have the avar that they did, that they built. So we have actually four, four descriptions of Binyan HaMishkan: the tzivui for the osid, the hoveh of what they did, and the avar after they did it. The question, of course, is the redundancy and the repetition. What's it for? You could have put together the entire three, four parshiyos into three or four paragraphs, or maybe one parsha. Build the Mishkan so and so, and Vaya'asu Bnei Yisrael ka'asher tzivah Hashem, and finish that they did it. Why repeat over and over how to do it, and then again repeat over and over that they did it, and repeat over that in the past it was done, and each keli and each part, that they did it, that they accomplished. Just say simply, do, okay, and then discuss at the end, Vaya'asu, they did ka'asher tzivah Hashem. This question the Brisker Rav discusses in his ksavim on Chumash, in the stencils al haTorah. Matmia, tamuah, he says, it's a wonder. How could you repeat the same thing over again and over again and over again? Okay, we understand. And to say they did it could have been accomplished with one pasuk, Vaya'asu ka'asher tzivah Hashem. Says the Brisker Rav, a teretz, a pshat, a hesber, explaining what is Parshas Vayakhel. Why do we need a detailed description of what they did do? Says Brisker Rav, it's necessary because the Gemara in Bechoros, daf yud-zayin amud beis, has a discussion if efshar l'tzamtzem, which means, is it capable for a human being... To be exact, you're told to do four tefachim. Could you do exactly four tefachim? Is it efshar letzamtzem? When you're given instructions on building, could you do something exact, exact, exact? Tzimtzum, efshar letzamtzem or אי אפשר לצמצם. So the Gemara first wants to say, you see from the Mishkan that they were given measurements and they did it. The Torah says it was done. So you see efshar letzamtzem, that a person who follows instructions could be metzamtzem; he could do exact. Says the Gemara, no, it's אי אפשר לצמצם. Actually, you can't be exact. Either the Mishkan and a chanami, they didn't do it exact. They did to the best of their ability. They tried, says the Gemara, to be as exact as possible. It's Gemara Bechoros daf yud-zayin amud beis. The Gemara says אי אפשר לצמצם, and therefore they did, but it can't be that they did it exactly 100 percent, because you cannot be metzamtzem; you cannot be exact. There's no such thing. Says the Brisker Rav, lemaaseh the pasuk seems to say that they—

They did what Hashem told them to do, and the teretz is yes. They did what Hashem told them to do, to the best of their ability. Does that mean that actually it was exactly what Hashem said? No, it can't be exact. Now, if you look at the pesukim, the pesukim are mechiach this. This is a pshat that according to the Brisker Rav, maybe if you read his words, possibly this is even what he means. The pesukim themselves kind of take this yesod, this concept. Take a look at perek lamed tes, pasuk mem beis. The pasuk says as follows: Kechol asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe, kein asu Bnei Yisrael es kol ha'avodah. Vayar Moshe es kol hamelachah, vehinei asu osah ka'asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. So the question is, why do you have to keep on saying kein asu? It says they did ka'asher tzivah Hashem. Kechol asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe asu. And later on, when it says, Vehinei asu osah ka'asher tzivah Hashem, that's it. Why repeat and emphasize kein asu? Says Brisker Rav, I think this is what he's referring to when he ends off his piece of chidush, and he says, Kein asu means this is what they did, ka'asher tzivah Hashem, but not more. They did what Hashem asked from them, and that's considered already asu. That's considered kein, like this they did it. Was it exact? No. In English, we call it, was it picture perfect? No. But it was kein asu, the way Hashem told him. That's considered asu. That's nichlal. That's included in doing. Did you do what I told? Yeah, I did, to the best of my ability, to the best of my ability. Can I be exact? No. So that's called asu. The truth is, that's the way it's brought down in the sefer of the Brisker Rav on Chumash, which was written by the talmidim. But it seems to be that the Brisker Rav actually said it a little different. Many talmidim, when they say over this piece of Torah from the Brisker Rav, the children and the shiurim of Chumash, they have a different nusach, a different girsa, so to speak, in the way the Brisker Rav said it. And he says that the opposite, that the Torah is trying to teach us, kein asu, that they did do exactly the way that Hashem said. They did do kein asu. They did do exactly what Hashem said. But אי אפשר לצמצם. So he says that if there's a different girsa in the Gemara, if you look at the Brisker Rav in Bechoros, he brings from the Shitah Mekubetzes that has a girsa in the Gemara, you can't be metzamtzem. Yes, you could by the Mishkan. You know why? Because by the Mishkan it said, hakol b'ksav k'mo shekasuv, that everything was written in the Torah exactly how it's supposed to be. And so, if they did what it says in the Torah, says the Brisker Rav, there was a siyata dishmaya. There was help from Shamayim, which the Brisker Rav calls ruach hakodesh. There was a ruach hakodesh which set in on the hands, so to speak, of those that were building, that they should tacka do exact. So then the kein asu was beautiful the other way. What the Torah is saying is they did ka'asher tzivah Hashem, and because of that, kein asu. Therefore they taka did it exactly. The Torah is emphasizing it wasn't just they did what Hashem wanted. Kein asu. It's exactly what they did, because it came out exactly the way Hashem wanted. These are two different pshatim, and two different, we would call, mahalchim on how to understand how was the Mishkan built. And, of course, an explanation of the words in the pasuk, kein asu. One pshat, that it's אי אפשר לצמצם. You can't be exact, but they did what Hashem wanted. That's enough. That's kein asu.

Already considered done. A second pshat? No. Because they did what Hashem wanted, Hashem came to help them, that it should taka be exact, even though a human being can't be exact. And if you taka look in Bechoros, the Brisker Rav in his shiurim on Bechoros, on that Gemara, he brings the shita mekubetzes that says that we have to add to the Gemara, that the Gemara is saying that even though normally a person can't be exact, but by the Mishkan, Hashem helped them. Hakol b'ksav, kemo shekasuv. It was like a nevuah. It was a ruach hakodesh that set in onto the workers, that they should be able to be exact. You know, rabosai, if you look at the Targum Yonason on the words of the pasuk, if you look, lamed hei, pasuk chaf aleph, it says, Who did the work? Kol asher nesa'o liboi v'nadva rucho. What does nesa'o liboi mean? Nesa'o liboi means he was elevated, inspired, nesa'o liboi to do. What does nadva rucho mean? Nedavah, that he promised to do. It's a nedavah, a present. What are the two leshonos? Why does it mean nesa'o liboi? Why do we split it, nesa'o liboi and nadva rucho? So the Brisker Rav explains very simple. The work was done, that's nesa'o liboi, those that were inspired to do. And the money that was given, that's a nedavah, donation. That's not dvaruchai. There's nesoi liboi for the work, not dvaruchai for the money, the donation. But if you look at the Targum Yonason, he explains, nesoi liboi, not dvaruchai, both go on the work. So what's the difference? Nesoi liboi means your heart inspired. Not dvaruchai is ruchoi d'nevuah. That's what the Targum Yonason says, da shleimus, that they completed with the ruach of nevuah. The way the Brisker Rav brings from the Shitah Mekubetzes in Bechoros, and the way he explains that Gemara, it's beautiful. You see clearly that because they were not dvaruchai, because in their heart they wanted to do exactly what Hashem wanted, so it became complete with nevuah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu was mashreh His Shechinah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu rested His Shechinah on their work, that it should taka be complete. So here we have two beautiful, different understandings of how the Mishkan was built. Was it built by human hand, or was it built by heavenly intervention? Human hand, was it ma'aseh d'adam? Was it man's craftswork, or was it heavenly, heavenly intervention, that it's taka the work of the Ribono Shel Olam. This is the kein asu, the kein asu, the repetition in the pasuk. So there's one pshat, l'choira, the Brisker Rav and the Chumash seems to say that they did it. Could a person be perfect? No, but that was considered enough. V'nitna Torah l'malachei hashares. Man can't be perfect, but that's called perfect because you did the best you could do. And that's all the Ribono Shel Olam is asking of you. Got to do your best. That's all the Ribono Shel Olam asks of a person. Got to try to do the best. But once you've done the best, it's perfect. That's it. That's good enough. And the other pshat is it really was perfect, because when a person tries his best, especially in melachas haMishkan, the Ribono Shel Olam intervenes. The Ribono Shel Olam is there to make sure, to complete it, that it should be mitzumtzam. And that's what the Targum l'choira means, the ashlimus. It became complete, b'ruach nivu'ah, which I think is what the Brisker Rav is saying in Bechorus, that it became bestowed on their action, on their doing, on their melacha, on their craftsmanship, a ruach hakodesh, which—

Assisted them, which helped them to do a complete job exactly b'tzimtzum the way the Ribono Shel Olam asked. So I have a question. If the Torah is trying to just say this point, that let's take the pshat of the Brisker Rav in Chumash, that they couldn't have been exact, but they tried their best, and therefore that's called good and perfect and done. So you still don't have to repeat it over a hundred times for that. What are you trying to say, Brisker Rav? The Brisker Rav is teaching me that Parshas Vayakhel is to teach us this yesod, that even though you can't be exact, but the Klal Yisrael, they built the Mishkan and the Menorah, they did it to the best of their ability, and that's called doing. That's called kein asu. So why do you have to repeat every part of the Mishkan? Just say that they built the Mishkan, Ka'asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. Why do you need to go through again in detail every part of the Mishkan? Just say in general, the Mishkan was built, Ka'asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. And if you're trying to teach me that they did to the best that they could do, so write just as a sweeping rule, a general rule, Ka'asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. So I was thinking to myself a mashal to understand this. You know, sometimes you have a person, a boy in yeshiva. He takes a test. He put a lot of effort into it, tried his best. So the Rebbe wants to give him a good mark because he tried his best. So you know what the Rebbe is going to do? He's not going to mark every single question, because on every single question there was a lot of problems. What he does is he gives an overall, the sum total, he gives, ah, you got an 80. Bochur comes to the Rebbe, Rebbe, could you show me which one that I get right and wrong? Here, I should be getting two points here, I should be getting four points there. So the Rebbe says, if you want to sum total it, it's going to be a lot less. What I do is I give it an overall mark, and I included in it effort and everything, and I give you the sum like on the report card. And the sum total is, Baruch Hashem, very good, 80, 85. But if I have to start detailing question A, B, C, D, and start every two points here, two points there, it's not going to look so 80-ish. Therefore, what happens? He gives back the mark as a general mark. You look at it, you realize that on the detail he taka didn't get such a good mark. So what does the Ribono Shel Olam do? The Ribono Shel Olam says, I don't want you to think that for the sum total it's kein asu. But you did good, and that it was exactly what I wanted. No, no. On each keli, on each part of the Mishkan, the shulchan and the menorah, step by step, it's chashuv. Each one, to me, is kein asu. It's not a kein asu in general because you tried your best. It's kein asu on the prat, on each individual thing, because you taka got a good mark, a hundred on every part, on every question, because you did your best. In order to bring out the chashivus, in order to bring out the chashivus of the Ribono Shel Olam's accepting the avodah, He breaks up each keli instead of giving him a sum total on the whole thing, that kein asu was accepted. It's more than that. It's each individual part here, yeah, it was good. Here, A, question one was a hundred, and question two was a hundred, and question three was a hundred, to show me the chashivus. And the point is because you did your best. You did.

Asher tzivah Hashem. You went into it to try to fulfill to the best of your capability. Hashem, that's called 100% credit on each keli. B'tzalel got 100. The point is, he didn't get 100 on the sum total. He got 100 on each individual question, on each individual keli, even though, even though, אי אפשר לצמצם. The flip side, if you say that it was efshar l'tzamtzem, I'm sorry, that it's only because—I'm saying efshar l'tzamtzem because of the hashraas haShechinah, so that's why the Torah repeats every keli, because the Torah is trying to teach me that every keli takah was perfect. It wasn't kein asu that they got it for the sum total, an accepting mark, so to speak, a sign of acceptance for the whole thing. No, each one was exactly the way Hashem said. Why? Because Hashem came, b'hashraas haShechinah, and He bestowed an assistance in the building of the Mishkan. You know, rabosai, I think this opens up to us to understand many difficulties in the parashah. And I want to begin with the continuation of that pasuk that we read, that it says that Moshe saw all the melachah. Layar, pasuk mem gimmel, Layar Moshe kol hamelachah, v'hinei asu asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. Vayevarech osam Moshe. Moshe gives them a brachah. What bracha does he give them? Amar lahem, says Rashi, he ratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'asei yedeichem, that the Shechinah should rest in your actions, the actions of your hand. V'hinei Hashem Elokeinu aleinu. V'hu echad meyud aleph mizmorim sheb'Tehillah l'Moshe. These are one of the eleven mizmorim that Moshe Rabbeinu said, V'hinei Hashem aleinu, and this was the bracha. What does it mean, Yehi ratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'asei yedeichem? Rab Avraham ben HaRambam has a tremendous question: Why do they need a bracha? Isn't that the deal that Hashem made with them? Hashem said, Build Me a Mishkan, and I'm going to rest among you. V'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham. So why do we need a special bracha at the end? We don't need a bracha for that. That was what the whole idea of making the Mishkan was, that I'll make the Mishkan and Hashem will rest among us. So, oh, Moshe Rabbeinu sees the melachah, vayevarech osam, that Hashem should rest. Why would He not rest among us? That was the whole point of making the Mishkan. This is the question Rab Avraham ben HaRambam asks. Yalkut Reuveni asks the question. It says a pshat, and Yalkut Reuveni says that shema garma chet. Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid that maybe the chet, the sin... That people do will hinder HaKadosh Baruch Hu from being mashrim Himself in the Mikdash. They built it true, and it's true that Hashem agreed and stipulated that He will rest in the Mishkan, but maybe, garma chet, that He won't rest. You find always shema yigrom hachet, that things that were promised don't happen. And I was thinking to myself, what does the Yalkut Reuveni mean? Which chet is he referring to? He doesn't mean eigel; they didn't do the eigel. Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't know of any chata'im that they did. And if they did the eigel, I could hear, you know, eigel stops Hashem from coming and resting among you. But there was no known chet here that Klal Yisrael was doing that Moshe has to pre-warn and say, you know, I'm giving you a bracha that the Shechinah should be mashreh Himself, and if there was a chet, what does the bracha help? Let's say there was a chet. So, you know, you can't do chata'im and get a bracha. I once remember, I told this to you, when I lived in Queens, I once went into a store where they were selling the newspapers.

for Shabbos, and they also were selling the lotteries. So I bought the ated, you know. It was before the days of the ... I bought the ated. My wife, Shabbos, she wants to read it. And I see a Yiddish mensch playing the lottery, ticket after ticket, numbers, one, two, three, give me another ticket, another ticket, another ticket. So I look at him. He says, You know, I am playing. I have the winning numbers. I have the winning numbers, he tells me. So I look at him, How do you have the winning numbers? He says to me, He called a mekubal in Eretz Yisroel, and a mekubal in Eretz Yisroel gave him the winning numbers. And these are guaranteed. He's has full, full faith. I'm looking at him. He wasn't wearing yarmulke. בלי כיפה. So I asked him, I said, Tell me something, how much did you pay for these numbers? So he says to me, he made a donation of three, four hundred dollars. I said, Eizeh hefsed, chaval, three, four hundred, a waste of four hundred dollars. I have the winning numbers. What are you talking about? And he was nervous, he was getting angry. I said, How do you expect to have the winning numbers? You're not even wearing a yarmulke. You expect to win the lottery with a segulah when you don't keep what it says in the Torah to wear a kippah? What are you talking about? The bracha... Can't help you if you have the chet. What chet could have you done already, that if Hashem, Moshe Rabbeinu gives you a bracha, ah, it's gonna be good. You can't have a bracha to anecdote chet. Here, ten li bracha shelo ye'onesh bechataim. There's no such thing, rabosai. If you do chet, you get an onesh. No tzaddik could, you know, lehavdil elef havdalos, by the goyim they have this idea that you can go to the priest and he absolves you of all your chataim. He makes hocus pocus with his finger, with his cookies over there, with his manischewitz wine, and he becomes, ois aveirah, no aveirah. This doesn't work, rabosai. So how does it, how do you have that if you give a bracha, ah, chataim go away? So I was thinking to myself, we obviously don't mean that he's mechalel Shabbos and he wants a bracha. That's not what it means. And we don't find that they did any aveiros that Moshe Rabbeinu should be scared that the Shechinah shouldn't want to rest among them. So I was thinking, with a story that my zeide told me. My zeide, being from Slabodka, everything was mussar and middos and hashkafah. He said over a story that the person who was in charge, the bochur who was in charge of bringing the porridge, the breakfast for the alter, he used to make him hot cereal. He had to go away. He had to go away for a few weeks. So they took another bachur and they put him in charge to make the hot cereal. The bachur went, and he figured he's new on the job, you know, he'll make it a little bit more sweeter, put a little more sugar and a little more butter, you know. Yeah, that's it. And he brought it to the alter. All of a sudden you hear screaming, screaming from the room, from the alter, from the mashgiach, Chazer! Parvus! Treif! The bachur started running, and they see that he's shaking, that this chazer. They're looking, Where's the chazer? It's farina, it's oatmeal. What chazer? What's he talking about? Where? What? Treif! So they went over to the bachur, and they said, What did you do? What's in here already? He said, Nothing. I took the regular cereal. I added maybe a drop more milk, a drop more sugar, I added a drop more butter maybe, but the ingredients are the same. So the alter said, Yeah, but you were trying to show that you did better than the other guy.

That's chazer treif. That's tarfus. And that went into the cereal. He felt it in the cereal. Chazer treif. Psych, he didn't even mean so bad. He meant to say, Look at me, I did a better job than you. That's chazer treif. You know, rabosai, when you build a Mishkan, that could happen also. One guy builds a little bit. You see, I'm bigger, I'm better. Ooh, you see what he did? Ooh. That's called chet, that the hashraas haShechinah gets pushed away because of. Ein ani v'Hu yecholim ladur. Gaivah, bad middos. The Eibishter can't be there. So Moshe Rabbeinu gave them a bracha. He ratzon. He didn't do any aveirah. They didn't want mechalel Shabbos. But he's giving them a bracha that you should be zocheh to not have bad middos. And you should have nekius. In Yiddish we call it reinkeit. It should be clean. That the Ribono Shel Olam should be able to, כביכול, be mashriach Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem. Actions which are selfish, actions, Yiddish zokt, vos stinkt fun gaivah, vos stinkt fun... which means it smells from gaivah and it smells from kinah. The Ribono Shel Olam is very sensitive. The Ribono Shel Olam has a very sensitive smell. You can't take the smell of kinin, taivin, gaivin, koi. She stays away. Yiratzon shetishreh Shechinah. This is in light of what the Brisker Rav said, that there was a special hashraas haShechinah b'maaseh hayadayim, that the Ribono Shel Olam came into their hands, so to speak, to assist them in the work. Now we hear the lashon of the Chazal that Rashi quotes. It doesn't say, Yiratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'Mishkan. The bracha wasn't that the Shechinah should be tishreh b'Mishkan, but rather, shetishreh Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem, in your hands, the work that you do. And that's pshat is, like we spoke from the Brisker Rav, and therefore you were able to do it exactly ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe, ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe. There's an interesting sippur, rabosai, in the beginning of Parshas Pekudei that explains that how was Betzalel able to do exactly what Hashem wanted? And the answer is because he became completely batel. He was mevatel himself completely. He became subordinate completely to the Ribono Shel Olam's will, to the point that therefore he was able to bring out the will of Hashem. When a person is not about himself, when a person is batel, a person subordinates himself to the will of Hashem. So that's what he does, and that's what he stands for, and that's what he's able to achieve, the ratzon Hashem. So if the ma'asiya dayim were such that were fit for hashra'as haShechinah, the actions were done in a way which was pure, me'eis kol ish asher yidvenu libo, it was pure, then there was hashra'as haShechinah in the ma'asiya dayim, even in the actions of building of the Mishkan, and to the point that it was able to be exactly the way Hashem commanded, the way Hashem wanted. This is the lashon: vayehi ratzon. Does it say yiratzeh shetishreh Shechinah b'Mishkan? No. B'ma'asei yedeichem, in the actions of your hands. The door a little bit is getting very hot. I think the heat is on. Maybe we can close it. If you notice, if you notice, Rashi quotes a second part of the bracha. Not only did he say, yiratzeh shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'asei yedeichem, but he also added, vihi noam Hashem Elokeinu aleinu, and the—

The conclusion of that, of course, is, we all know, Rashi is not quoting, he says, v'chulei, u'ma'asei yadeinu koneneihu, u'ma'asei yadeinu koneneihu. Before we do a mitzvah, we say this. We say this, Vihi noam Hashem Elokeinu aleinu. By Sefiras HaOmer, for example, if you look at the siddur, before we start the bracha of Sefiras HaOmer, we use this lashon, Vihi noam Hashem Elokeinu aleinu. Why? And the answer is very simple. The way we explain the bracha, that it's difficult to be mekayem tzivui Hashem exactly what Hashem wants. Man is just a human being. He's not capable of doing exactly what Hashem wants. He needs siyata dishmaya. He needs Hashem's help. And how does that happen? Moshe Rabbeinu is saying, Yehi ratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'asei yadeichem. So, Vihi noam Hashem aleinu, u'ma'asei yadeinu koneneihu. What is koneneihu? Lashon mechuvan, that it should be exact, directed. We need direction when we do a mitzvah, because a mitzvah is very deep. It's very endlessly, endlessly deep. You know, we say l'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu u'Shechinteh, b'dechilu u'rechimu, l'yached, right? So there's a whole question to say it, Sefardim say it, Ashkenazim, some are afraid to say it because the Shagas Aryeh said you're not allowed to say it. But what does it say there? If you listen to the words, that we should be zocheh to be mekayem the mitzvah b'chol prateha v'dikdukeha, v'taryag mitzvos hatluyin bah. Which means every mitzvah has worlds and worlds and worlds, pratim and dikdukim. The taryag mitzvos hatluyim bo. Which means it's the picture of a puzzle. Every mitzvah is actually a link to a bigger, a bigger link, to a bigger link, and that's taryag mitzvos. So we ask Hashem that l'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu, He should help us in that. That we should have this yiras d'shmaya, that even though we're just doing something very simple, we make a bracha, we say Sefiras HaOmer, we make a bracha, we eat a matzah. The Ribono Shel Olam should come and be mashlim. The Ribono Shel Olam should come, like the lashon, mashlimus rucha u'nevuasa. We ask that the Ribono Shel Olam should assist us in our maaseh hamitzvah, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu should be there to assist us to perfect, to perfect our maaseh mitzvah, that we should do it to the end result of perfection, to the end result of perfection. This, rabosai, is v'hinoam Hashem aleinu, the sweetness of Hashem. And why? Because the connection and that warmth and sweetness that we find in a mitzvah, when is it achieved? When we taka do the mitzvah b'shleimus. When the mitzvah is done b'shleimus, it's a noam. You know, you do a mitzvah and you didn't do it fullheartedly, and you didn't do it completely. Then the mitzvahs become an oil. The mitzvahs become a drag, as we say in English, lehavdil those words, become a drag on a person. You know, when the mitzvahs are elevating, uplifting, Yiddishak migishmak, noyam is gishmak, sweet. And the answer is, when it's ma'aseinu konehihu, when it's mechuvan, when it's exact, when it's complete. So who can help us in that? We are אי אפשר לצמצם. We can't do it. Who does it for us? Vinoyam Hashem aleinu, that the Ribono Shel Olam is mashreh Shechinaso on our ma'aseh yadayim, and He assists us, and He assists us that it should come out in completion. This, rabboisai, is the brachah that Moshe Rabbeinu, he looks and he sees, kol hamelachah, vayar Moshe es kol hamelachah. You know what kol hamelachah means? They put a lot of work. They put so much effort. V'hinei also osah.

What did they do? They knew they can't do it. How much could a person do? But they did kashring tziva Hashem. Kein asu. That's what they did. They were just trying to say and do and act in accordance to what Hashem said. Therefore, vayevarech oisam Moshe. Moshe comes and gives them the bracha that the Ribono Shel Olam should be there for you, to assist you, to help you to achieve the kein asu. Because without Hashem, without the Ribono Shel Olam, man cannot achieve such great, such great, difficult, difficult and meticulous levels and pratim of a mitzvah. It's not possible. There's a peledike medrash, rabosai. It says in Parshas Pekudei, it was the day, Yom hakim es haMishkan. It was the day that they... Takim. First it says, Takim es haMishkan, Ohel Moed, perek mem, pasuk beis. So who should do it? Moshe. Moshe, you put it up. And then it says it was the day that it was hukam haMishkan, pasuk yud-zayin. Vayehi bachodesh harishon, bashanah hashenis, bechadesh, hukam haMishkan. Takim is you should do it. Hukam means it should be. Who come? It became. And then it says, Vayakem Moshe es haMishkan. So which one is it? Did Moshe do it? Did it put itself up? The lashon is it put itself up. So the Medrash Tanchuma says an unbelievable thing, that when Moshe Rabbeinu tried to put up the Mishkan, it didn't work. He couldn't get it up. He couldn't get the Mishkan up. He kept on trying and trying, and then it didn't go. So he turns to the Ribono Shel Olam and he says, Ribono Shel Olam, what do I do? You told me to put up the Mishkan. So the Ribono Shel Olam says, Make with your hands gestures as if you're putting up the Mishkan. I'll put it up. I'll do it for you. But like this they'll say you did it. They'll give you the name and credit, the recognition and credit that you did it. And that's the pshat. Vayehi bachodesh harishon... hu kam. It stood up by itself. The Eibishter put it up. Vayakem Moshe es haMishkan. But we gave credit to Moshe because Moshe made it look like he did it. That's what the Medrash Tanchuma says. The question is, why does it have to be that way? Why does it have to be that the Mishkan, in English we call it, is a hoax? A hoax is pokus. Moshe Rabbeinu, you play with your hands as if you did it, yeah, and lemaaseh I'll put it up. So I wanted to say one of two things. Two ideas that can explain why it has to be that the Mishkan is put up in an oifen, in a way, that man plays with his hands. He does the hand game, hand motions, while it's HaKadosh Baruch Hu who puts it up. I begin with a pshat I heard from my Rebbe, Rav Shustal shlita. He explained the idea of Chanukah, the nes of Chanukah, that we went and we lit the menorah b'mesiras nefesh. The Bach, the Rishonim tell us, we put a lot of mesiras nefesh into relighting the menorah after the milchamah. The Ribono Shel Olam went and He made a nes that it should go for seven straight days. Eighth, right, the first day was maybe not a nes. Okay, let's say for eight straight days it burnt. If you don't mind a little bit the door, I know you're a little bit cold. I'm still, I'm still. What's the point behind it? Chazal tell us, tumah hutrah b'tzibur, that theoretically they could have lit the menorah even b'tumah. So why did the Ribono Shel Olam make a whole nes that it shouldn't be b'tumah? So if you look—

The Pnei Yehoshua, he talks about the chavivus, the idea of Chanukah is a mitzvah chavivah. Hashem wants to show love. So my Rebbe explained all the concepts as following. You know how you show love? You know how you show appreciation? When somebody gives you something that you actually don't need, how do you do it? For example, let's say, you know, I give this beautiful, I think it's a perfect example. You make a simcha. So some people give big gifts, and they bring beautiful platters of cake and beautiful platters of candy. Then you have a person that's very poor, simple, so he goes and he buys you a pen for ten dollars, you know, and he sends in his wife's homemade cookies that look like went through the churban, you know. It looks like it seen better days, those cookies, right? But he meant well, and the person tried his best. So how do you show that you appreciate? You got big gifts, you got beautiful. So what do you do? And this is something that everybody can relate to. You put out all the food on the table, including this little bowl of cookies, and you mix it in between the rest of the big presents. And then when the guy comes and goes, Wow, you see, look, his wife made these cookies, yeah? And the guy's watching and he goes, See, see? He put it out on the head table. He put it out together with all the other cakes. You see, you see it meant a lot to him, right? It was important to him. The real thing is, it wasn't. It's not such chashuv a cookie, you know. Had the guy not shown up to the simcha, you probably would have left it in the kitchen. I didn't even brought it to the dining hall, right? But since the guy tried his best and you want to show him you appreciate it, so you bring it out together with the rest of the cookies, so to speak. You put it out with the rest of the chashuv gifts. There you go. And this I got from so-and-so, and look how. Same thing, says my Rebbe, Rav Shustal. He gave a different mashal, but I like to use this mashal in my Rebbe's words, that the Ribono Shel Olam said, Look at the mitzvah of hadlakas ner Chanukah. What is it already? So you did a ma'aseh mitzvah. It's so chashuv to me that I'm going to go and make it that it should last for eight days, and it should be tumah hutrah, which means is— Gershon, Gershon, tell him to make low— which means that I'm going to take it and make it beautiful. I'll take your simple mitzvah, and I'm going to show you how chashuv it is, how special it is to me, to the point that I'm going to make it bigger and better, and I'm going to build it up, and I'll make a Yom Tov out of it. I'll make a Yom Tov out of it, Chanukah, and it's going to last for eight days, and it's going to be tumah hutrah. It's going to be the symbol of the Yom Tov. Lit Chanukah, that's what you lit. Okay, good. It's a mitzvah to light the menorah. It's a mitzvah. That's chavivus. So we could say the same thing here too. Moshe Rabbeinu made a Mishkan together with Betzalel, together with Klal Yisrael. So the Ribono Shel Olam is saying, You know how I'll show you how chashuv it is? I'm going to take it and make it perfect to the point that even human beings can't do such a thing. You'll see the hand of Hashem in everything that you do. You want to know how you build up the chavivus and chashivus of the maaseh ha'adam? When the Ribono Shel Olam tells you, I was there to make sure that you, a takke, did a good job, because it's that important to Me what you did. You did the best of what you could do, and I'm going to come and what? And finish it off to show you the chashivus and the chavivus that I have. So the Mishkan was built in such a way that they had to do all the effort, and the Ribono Shel Olam is saying, And at the end, I'm going to put the finishing touches on it, so to speak. And that's going to show.

Show how important your actions are. Do I put the finishing touches on a guy who makes a car? No, I don't let him make the finishing touches. But in the Mishkan, it's important what you did to me. It means so much to me. I have such chavivus for it that I'm going to put the finishing touches. This, rabosai, is one pshat. I'd like to add another pshat. So this was one understanding based on a concept that I heard from my rebbe in Hilchos Chanukah, why the Mishkan needed intervention every step of the way. That the Ribbono Shel Olam was showing, I'm there because it's important to me. You know, I'll tell you even like a little bit, maybe another example to give it to you if you don't understand. You know, when you build houses, cheap project, the guy who owns the houses doesn't really care about the details, because it's not for him. He's not going to live there. So he tells the guy, You build it. I'll come at the end. I'll see what it is. And then as long as more or less it's good, it's good, right? But let's say it's your house and it means a lot to you, so you're there on every step, every step of the building. You're there, and you're together with the builder, do this and do that. So I feel that this could be another way of looking at it, that the Ribbono Shel Olam was showing chavivus to the actions of Klal Yisrael in the Mishkan, that he was mashreh Shechinaso in the ma'aseh yadayim to make sure that the taka was a perfect job. See, my boyshay, that the perfection that the Rabbeinu Shloilam helped and assisted in was a siman of chavivus. Now I'm going to show you another angle. I'll give you another example. You know, when you have a child and it's his birthday, the child is three, four, five, especially if it's a girl. So what do you do? You bring her into the kitchen and you say, We're going to make a cake, a cake in honor of your birthday. Okay. So you have her standing there by the cake, and she mixes a little bit, and she breaks a few eggs, some of them on the floor, some of them on the counter. A few full eggs fall into the pot, into the cake, and at the end the cake is made. Tell me, who made the cake? Mother made the cake. But in order for the child to feel good on his birthday that I made the cake, so the Rabbeinu Shloilam wanted the same thing by the Mishkan. I'm going to make the Mishkan. You guys can't do it. Trust me, you can't do it. Mishkan was something ruchniyus. It was a spiritual building. You couldn't make it. The physical was a... it mirrored the ruchniyus. So actually it wasn't a blueprint, which would make sense in the, like the aron eino min hamidah. The aron didn't fit into the physical measurements. So what's the pshat? You need ma'aseh nisim. But since the Rabbeinu Shloilam wants that you should feel good that you made it. Like a child, that you did it. That's the pshat. Moshe, you make with your hands like a little child who makes the cake with his hands, you know. He puts on the apron and thinks to himself, he made it. V'yikari al shmecha. That's what the Medrash Tanchuma means. It's going to be called on your name. Mishkan she'asa Moshe. I, I made it. It's the same thing like the birthday cake from the mother. The mother made the cake, but you're still there. You made with your hands a little bit. You mixed around the flour. Mishkan, she'yikarei. It'll be called after your name. Haboisai, what am I trying to bring out over here? What am I trying to bring out? This. And that is that the Ribono Shel Olam wants that there should be a partnership between man and the Ribono Shel Olam in this world. That the man should do the best he could. The man should want to have a chelek, a part. But of course, a person can't do much. Yesh lo l'tamtzem. What can a person do already? He's just a human being. So the Ribono Shel Olam comes and completes it in a way that he makes the person feel like he did it.

And that's called hashraas haShechinah. I'll explain to you what I mean. What is Shechinah? The Shechinah is everywhere. So what does it mean that the Shechinah was in the Mishkan? But the Shechinah is everywhere. So simply we have to say that there's different levels of Shechinah everywhere, and in the Mishkan the Shechinah was even more. Levels. Or maybe we could say a little different. Shechinah is everywhere. Some places it's more noticeable, and some places it's less noticeable. The Shechinah is everywhere. In the Mishkan, the Shechinah was completely noticeable. And the way the Mishkan was built, it had to be built in a way that it was clear it wasn't you, it was the Eibishter who built it. Because that clarity, that it's not you, it's the Eibishter. You can't do it; only the Eibishter could do it. That is Shechinah. That's called hashraas haShechinah. The Ribono Shel Olam is anyway everywhere. So what does hashraah—hashraah means that there is a gilui, that it becomes clear, it's noticeable that the Shechinah is there. In the Mishkan, at every step and every turn it was noticeable, because you couldn't make the Mishkan. You needed, in the maaseh yadayim, hashraas haShechinah. You needed, in the hakamah that should be put up, you couldn't do it. That itself means hashraas ha— that's the definition of hashraas haShechinah. The Kotzker Rebbe zichrono livracha, zchus yagen aleinu, used to say, Where is the Eibishter? And the answer is, everywhere that we don't kick Him out of. Wherever you don't fatreib, wherever you don't push away the Eibishter, that's where He is. In the Mishkan, the idea was not only we didn't push Him away, it was clear that we needed Him. So the more clear it is, the more it's called hashraas haShechinah. But the Shechinah is everywhere. And in life, it's the same thing. The lesson of the Mishkan is that anything you build—a home, a business—whenever you build it, Hashem lo yivneh bayis, shav amlu bonav bo. If Hashem is not going to build it, it's not going to work. And if you build the business in such a way, if you build the business al derech zeh, on this way, that what? That it's only Hashem and I can't do it, then you have hashraas haShechinah b'maaseh yadeichem in the business as well. It's all about how much is it clear, is it evident, is it understood, is it accepted, is it seen by you and by others that this stands only because Hashem wants it to stand, this exists only because Hashem wants it to exist. That's called hashraas haShechinah b'maaseh yadeichem. There's a very famous question: the Menorah. It says that when Moshe Rabbeinu was told to make the Menorah... He didn't understand how to do it, niskasheh. He had difficulty. So he turns to the Rabbeinu Shalom. He says, Rabbeinu Shalom, I have difficulty making the menorah. So Chazal say the Rabbeinu Shalom showed him menorah shel eish, a fire. So I had a simple question, and I know that others have asked it: if anyway the Rabbeinu Shalom had to help him make all the keilim because they couldn't be done exactly, so you needed hashra'as haShechinah, b'ksav k'mo shekasuv. If anyway the Mishkan couldn't have been standing on its own and Hashem had to make him stand, so menorah also Hashem is going to make the menorah for him. Why was he more perturbed about the menorah than anything else? Everything else can't be exact. So why is he having difficulty with the menorah more than anything else? So I want to say pshat as follows. The menorah resembles and symbolizes Torah. Now we know menorah is the symbol of Torah. We know that Torah is different than other parts of taryag mitzvos, and that is that it needs ameilus. Mitzvos, no, you have to be mekayem mitzvos, you have to be medakdek b'mitzvos, but Torah needs ameilus.

Normally, what does ameilus mean? I work so hard till I achieve. What is normally? When a person says, I want you to go into the business, I work so hard, what does so hard mean? Not for the sake of working hard; it's for the sake of achieving. That's why by the Menoiri he had a hard time. Based on by other mitzvahs, the mitzvahs to do. So, echad hamarbeh v'echad hamamit, v'lvad sheyechavein libo. I try my best. Ka'asher tzivah Hashem, kein asu. My mitzvah, I did. It's called asiyas hamitzvah. I did it. The Gemara speaks about by matzah, if a person eats matzah shelo b'kavanah, yotzei. Why? Says the Gemara in Pesachim, hacha l'maaseh eich? What's the difference what his kavanah was? Sometimes, l'halachah maaseh, yotzei. What's the difference? L'maaseh, yotzei. But when it comes to Torah, Torah is ameilus, which signifies that a person has to get it. He has to achieve. He has to work hard till he gets it. How can a person get the Menoirah? That's what he meant. How could you make a Menoirah? Who's going to make a Menoirah? So the Ribono Shel Olam shows him eish. Menoirah shelah. What is eish? Eish is there l'tzaref. Eish is there to melt. Eish is there to cleanse. Eish is siruf. So the ameilus of Torah is not to achieve, because even in Torah, lo alecha ligmor hamelachah, v'lo atah ben chorin libatel mimenu. Even in Torah, even in Torah. Yolgata? But is that how you achieve? No. Matzasa. The Ribono Shel Olam gives it to you as a present. So what's the ameilus? The ameilus is to make yourself muchshar, to be able to receive that matanah. So in mitzvahs, it's shechinah b'ma'aseh yadecha, and the Ribono Shel Olam helps you to mekayem the mitzvah. In Torah also, the Ribono Shel Olam helps you. So where did the ameilus come in? Not to achieve, because that's the Eibishter. Yegata, like the Gra says, u'matzasa — the Eibishter gives you as a present. So what's the yegata? Not to achieve, but rather to make yourself fit, to make yourself muchshar, to be able to matzasa, to be able to receive that present. This, rabosai, is the menorah shel eish, the menorah of fire. Fire connotes shevirah, tziruf, purifying, cleansing, libun. Whenever you have chametz or kashrus, treifus, how do you clean it out? Libun, fire, menorah shel eish. But ein hachi nami, who's going to build the menorah? Who's going to give you the shleimus, the perfect menorah? It's also from Shamayim. It's also heavenly sent. There's a ma'amar dikke raivid, rabosai, and I know that the oilam is starting to itch to leave, but I have very, very either good news or bad news depending from where you're sitting. We're not even halfway through the shiur. This is just the beginning. So you can either take it as good news or as bad news. I'm going to talk faster. There's a raivid. The Raivid says a chiddush. The Rambam says that niktam roisho is kosher, which means if the head of the hadas gets chopped off, it's kosher. Says the Raivid, it's not true. It's pasul. Pasul. But he doesn't just say it's pasul and I have a raaya from the Gemara. U'kvar hofia Ruach HaKodesh b'veis midrasheinu. The Ruach HaKodesh came. Hear? Ruach HaKodesh. And the Ruach HaKodesh told me that it's pasul. And he proves it from the Gemara. And then he says, U'makom himnichu li min haShamayim. They gave me a place from Shamayim that I should come up with this chiddush. This is a personal chelek, v'seichel keinu b'seirasecha. Every person has his chelek, seichel keinu. This is my chelek, which means the Ribbono Shel Olam gave me a place that I should come up with this chiddush. So I said, I don't understand something. First of all, Torah lo bashamayim. Torah lo bashamayim. How could you say Ruach HaKodesh?

The Chiddah learns that you know who this ruach hakodesh? Eliyahu Hanavi. There's a Gemara in Shabbos kuf yud ches. The Gemara says, and Rashi brings it down, that if Eliyahu Hanavi came and told you issur v'heter, you can't be somech on Eliyahu Hanavi. Torah lo bashamayim. Reb Elchanan speaks about it in Kovetz Ha'aros—excuse me, Kovetz Shiurim, chelek beis. Yehei emunah chad sheyavo Eliyahu. Ay, Eliyahu is Torah lo bashamayim? It's a big discussion. So the Chiddah learns the ruach hakodesh means Eliyahu told. Ay, Torah lo bashamayim. What does he mean, makom hinichu li? It's mashma it's him, that he was masig this chelek haTorah. And the teretz, rabosai, is this vort, you hear? That the pshat, rabosai, is gevaldik, gevaldik, gevaldik, moreydik. Avadeh he worked hard to get it. Makom hinichu li. It was his chelek of Torah, his ameilus. It was his toiling over Torah, the raivid, that achieved this chiddush. What does the ruach hakodesh come? The ruach hakodesh is mechaven. It helps the person to be metzamtzem, to make perfection, to reach perfection, to achieve what's not humanly possible. Avadeh you, yegiah makes it that you got it. But how do you get it? I'll give you an example. A person goes—yeah, a mashal—a person goes and he goes to the doctor to get a shot, yeah? A flu shot. And the flu shot comes and— Into his body, and it fights the flu. So what are you gonna say? You didn't get the flu shot. You didn't fight the flu. The flu shot fought the flu. Imagine a person say that. Yeah, I can imagine. I can hear already a real lamdan will say, You didn't fight the flu. You got the shot, and the shot fought the flu. Avada, the flu shot has koiches to fight the flu, but I got the shot. I went into the car. I traveled to the doctor. I sat in his office for five hours. I paid him more money than he deserved. I fought with the nurse, and then I came home and my wife was angry at me that I spent the whole day away from the house. I did everything. So avada the flu shot, but I got the flu shot. Avada, you, your gear got the chiddush. How? By your gear, the Ribbono Shel Olam gives you the ruach hakodesh that you should take at work. Gives you the ruach hakodesh, you should see the truth. You should be mechaven koinah with the right derech to reach exactly what the Ribbono Shel Olam wants, the kasha tivah Hashem in His Torah, exactly what He meant. A person has to want to know in Torah also exactly what Hashem wants. What did Hashem mean? What was the kasha tivah Hashem in the Tosafos and in the Rashi? The pasuk, the Gemara, the sugya, there's a kasha tivah Hashem. What does Hashem want in the sugya? And when you work hard to reach that kasher tzivah Hashem, then there's a ruach hakodesh b'ma'asei yedeichem, hakol b'ksav k'mo shekasuv, to mechaven exactly to what the Eibishter wants. Let me tell you another piece to this sugya. You know, the Nesiim, they brought the avnei shoham. It says in Parshas Vayakhel that the Nesiim brought the avnei shoham. The Nesiim is spelled without a yud. Normally Nesiim is spelled aleph, yud, mem at the end. It's missing a yud. Says Rashi, why is it missing a yud? It was a ta'ina on the Nesiim, because they said, Let everybody bring, and we'll match, which means whatever is necessary at the end, we'll bring. Came at the end, there was nothing left to bring except for the avnei shoham. So the fact that they brought the avnei shoham is a ta'ina. It's a ta'ina on them, yeah. It was a complaint against them. Okay. Frekt the Brisker Rav a meyredige kasha. What's the complaint against them? Sounds like a very good cheshbon. You never know, maybe they would have to pay more than who knows how much everybody...

I mean, if a person says, You'll bring whatever's left over, we'll take care of. It's not a complaint. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing to say a thing like that. So the Brisker Rav says a pshat. At the end of the day, it was a cheshbon, cheshbonos, cheshbonos. Why do you make a cheshbonos for? The Eibishter says, Give truma laShem. Everybody come and give. Don't sit there and calculate, you know, let them bring first, we'll bring whatever's left. Bring, and that's all. You meant l'shem Shamayim, just give twice. Give in the beginning, and then whatever's left over, you'll fill up. Why didn't you give? Why didn't you give? Don't make cheshbonos. If you look at Rashi, Rashi seems to say that the ta'ina then was nis'atzlu. They were lazy. Right? You see the lashon of the Rashi, nis'atzlu, they became lazy. First he says they made the cheshbon, and then he says nis'atzlu. So I thought to myself one or two pshatim. Either nis'atzlu means in halachah, for example, there's a very famous she'eilah: zerizim makdimin l'mitzvos, and I do the mitzvah a little bit weaker, a little bit less, or later on I do the mitzvah stronger and better. Let's say my bris milah, if I can make a bris milah later on b'rov am, more people will show up. Should I make it zerizim makdimin in the morning, or should I make it b'rov am later? It's a famous she'eilah in Acharonim, Chacham Tzvi, Chasam Sofer, in Nedarim daf lamed beis. It's a very famous question. So it could be here this was the ta'ina. They were being what? They could have done zrizus makdimin l'mitzvos, to give it right away. They made a cheshbon, we'd be better off if we gave it later. So maybe it has to do with this shaila. So nis'atzel doesn't mean a bad midah of nis'atzel. It just means they weren't mekayim this zrizus makdimin l'mitzvos. That's all it means. It doesn't mean nis'atzel, they were lazy. But nis'atzel can mean they were slow, slow on the pickup, so to speak. In halacha, that's called nis'atzel, because in halacha, zrizus makdimin, you're supposed to make it the quicker the better. Maybe. I dilma, we could say a third pshat. Chazal were telling us that the cheshbonos, the sheirish of it, was a touch of atzlus. You know, a lot of times we come up with a thousand excuses, and they sound good. But you know what the real thing is? We're lazy sometimes. There's a touch. Of course, the nesiim were tzaddikim, and we mean that they were the greatest, and for us maybe this wouldn't even be an aveirah. I understand all that. But Chazal say it was a ta'ina on them, and Rashi uses the lashon nis'atzlu. So we could come and say that they made a cheshbon, but that itself, the sheirish, why did they make this cheshbon? Brisker Rav says it's a good cheshbon. You're right. Chazal are going into the sheirish. Where did this cheshbon root from? Rooted from what? A touch, a touch of not being, mi laShem eilai, we're jumping ahead. That was the taina. With this, I think we can explain why they took the letter yud. I never understood, what's the pshat by Nesiim they took out the letter yud? Why yud? So pashut, I would have said it doesn't mean dafka yud. The point was they weren't complete. Nesiim are supposed to be the leaders. You're Nesiim, which the truth is maybe that's also part of it. You know what part of the taina was? You're a leader, so why are you pushing everybody else to give? Like today's politician, I say, you should pay the tax, not negate to them, as long as the other guy pays the taxes. For them it's a whole different story. Lehavdil, lehavdil elef havdalos, you're Nesiim. Nesiim is the taich, you're supposed to be Nesiim. Chaser. It was missing in the Nesiim, in the leadership, by you going and saying, let them come and give and I'll give afterwards, maybe. So then it wasn't the yud anymore. Stop. They try to say that it's chaser, that it's missing. I see the Kli Yakar learns that the yud is bedavka. The Kli Yakar says yud resembles Hashem's great name, Shmoi HaGadol. So we took out the Shmoi HaGadol. Why, says the Kli Yakar? Kli Yakar feels that the Nesiim's chet, if we can call it that, the problem was gaiva. You guys גדול.

And whatever's missing, we'll fill in. You know, it reminds me, like a gvir l'havdil, you know. You know what they always say? We'll match it. So sometimes they mean, well, they want you to collect, right? So you're like this, they'll match it. And sometimes, you know what they're saying? Whatever you guys could do, you know, I could do in one check, you know. I'll match it, you know. It's gaiva. It's a certain, it's a certain gaiva. Don't worry, we don't have any of these problems. We don't have money to have these problems, so we don't even know what it is. But for those that have money, understand that sometimes — most Yidden, not like that — most Yidden, when they say we'll match, they mean to push the other guy to collect more. But sometimes it's like, come to me, come to me at the end, I'll match it, you know. I'll write you out one check. You know, what takes a hundred guys to give, I can give it in one shot, yeah? Says the Kli Yakar, it's gaiva, and therefore yud, the Shemoy Hashem, Hashem can't be with a baal gaiva. Okay. So you see it's the yud, huh? Okay. So I wanted to say maybe another pshat. You know what the ta'ina of the Nesiim was? I freg the Brisker Rav, good cheshbones. So we said a few terutzim. It's good cheshbones, but who says you're allowed to make cheshbones with the Eibishter's mitzvos? That's the Brisker Rav. We said a second teretz: you make a cheshbon maybe because of atzlus. You're so sure that the chesron is atzlus. We made a third, a third nekudah, maybe lahalacha, cheshbones. Maybe lahalacha you have to do zerizus makdimin l'mitzvos, stam soifek. We said a fourth teretz, that maybe you're a Nazi. A Nazi should not, should lead. The seem have to lead. But I want to say another teretz, and that is, you see everybody giving, and they're giving with the heart. They're putting their whole heart and feeling into it. How do you stand by and watch it and say, I'll get back to you. Come to me later. You know, Chazal tell us in the previous pasuk by the Nesiim hiviu, it says, Vayavo'u ha'anashim al hanashim. The men came on the women. What, the women carried them on the backs? What does it mean, al? The men came al, al. So Rashi says al doesn't mean al; it means im. They came together with. But it's still shver. What do you need to— it should just say they came. What, he came with them, husbands? It's mashma, even with means with together, like it's like al on top of them. You don't have to say anything. Just say the men came. Vayavo'u ha'anashim v'hanashim. They both came. What does it mean im, and to the point al, al is mashma mamash on top of? So the Siforno says that the men had to be on top of their wives, because you now take tzedakah from women. Halacha is that if you take from women, the husband could come and say, It's not her money. What do you mean tzedakah? It's my money. So the husband has to be there. That's pshat al, says the Siforno, that the husband had to be al, on top of the wife. Give, give, give. Otherwise you're not allowed to give. The Ramban says a different pshat, and I want to farteitch the Ramban. Ramban says the women gave right away because they had the jewelry on them. The men, don't forget, didn't have any jewelry anymore. You know why? They already spent their jewelry by the eigel. So what did they bring? They had to go home. They had to go home. They went home to get their stuff in the house. So they came al hanashim, because the women came first, and the men quickly went home. And this is what I explained, I understood in the Ramban. They didn't wait and say, you know what, in two, three weeks you get a check in the mail. Okay, they ran home and they came al hanashim. The women who gave right away, the men came right away then and gave on top of the women. Which means the pasuk is trying to bring out that they both gave right away. According to the Ramban, the pshat is the women gave right off. They took right off their jewelry. And the men didn't wait. What did the men do? They came al hanashim. They quickly ran home, got everything and brought it. That was the outpour of nedavah, of donation. It was an outpour. Good will for the mitzvah. Good will for the mitzvah of nedavah laMishkan, yeah? Nedavah laMishkan. There was good will. You know, they say over, when it comes to pledges, you think it's easy to get a pledge out of somebody. Even if he says, I'll give it, till he...

There's three yom tovim till he pays up, it's almost forever. They say that a guy once robbed a shul. He walked away with $500 in cash and $20,000 in pledges. Very few people pay. The chiddush of the Mishkan was they all paid up right away. I once said pshat, you know, by Mishkan, the Gemara says in Shvuos, daf chav-vav amud beis, kol hadibur, that if I promise in my heart, I have to give it already. I don't have to speak it out. Normally, I have to speak out, right? For the Mishkan, if I was menadev balev, it's good enough. L'maaseh, in Hilchos tzedakah, we compare tzedakah to kodesh. For example, yad l'tzedakah. What does yad l'tzedakah mean? If I see somebody giving and I say, Me too, I'm chayav to give. Why? Because the Gemara clarifies that by kodshim, by the Mishkan it was like that. By Mishkan there's yad l'kodshim, l'korbanos. If I want to be menadev, I say, Me too. I say yad, the lashon which is a handle. I didn't speak out the whole thing; it works. And since tzedakah is like kodesh, so the Gemara says, teiku, I don't know what the halacha is, and we pasken in Reish Nun Ches in Shulchan Aruch that it's safek asur that you have to give the tzedakah. That if I didn't speak out clearly, but I only did a yad l'tzedakah. But when it comes to the nedavah balev, there we don't see that, just like in the Mishkan, if I gave balev, if I promised, I have to give. There by tzedakah, it's mashma you have to speak it out. Why for yad? Do we say yad l'tzedakah because it's domeh to kachim, to the Mishkan, to the Beis HaMikdash, and why by tzedakah, when you menadev b'lev, it doesn't work? We should say it's just like the Mishkan, kol nediv libo, like the Gemara in Shevuos, daf chav-vav, famous question. So I said two terutzim. One teretz is because in the Mishkan we didn't need really the money; we needed the lev. Kol nediv lev. So how do we know how much lev? You gave it through money, but the ikar was the lev. Shachanti b'socham is in the lev. By an ani, he has nothing from your lev. He needs the money. Kol nediv libo is not going to help you by tzedakah. By tzedakah, as much—imagine you give him twenty pounds of goodwill. I mean, halachically you're supposed to do that anyway. Gedolah, you know, it's bigger that you give him a good smile and a penny. Yeah, but if he needs money, give him a good smile and help him. I told you over from Rabbi ... I say this over from Rabbi Avraham Kaminetsky, zechrono livrachah, mira, Rosh Yeshiva in America. When he came after the war, he collected money for the yeshiva to build it up. He was a tremendous pikeach, a wise person on how to make money for the yeshiva. So when he came to a person's house and he tells the guy, you know, last year you gave me so-and-so, I'd like you to, you know, double it or more this year. So the guy says, Rebbe, not only I can't give you more, I can't even give you what I gave last year, because I don't have the money anymore. It's economy, this, that. So Rabbi Avraham Kaminetsky faints. And he lays on the floor. So the wife goes—I'm sorry, so the husband starts screaming to the kitchen, Shprintza! Obviously it's a true story, because when you make up a story, you're not gonna make up the wife's name as Shprintza. So he goes, Shprintza! Quick, water, water! The Rosh Yeshiva fell on the floor, he fainted! So from the floor, Rav Shmuel screams, Not water, money, money! I don't need the water. What do I have with the water? I don't need water, I need money. The point being, in the divrei, for the mishka, the divrei was very good. You know, in your heart you wanted to give, say it's perfect. But for the ani, maybe it's not good. But that's a drush teretz. I want to tell you a halachic teretz. What's the reason why b'lev it's never good? Because dvarim shebalev einam dvarim. It's not clear that there's a gemiras daas, that it's 100% that you want to give. Dvarim shebalev einam dvarim. In the heart, when you speak it out, neder, chaloys, all the yeshivos should talk about a neder. It's something that takes effect. There's a chaloys neder, so it's serious. Mashenkein in the heart, all right. The mishka, there was such an outpour of nedivas halev. It was so clear that everybody wanted, that even b'lev.

There was a gemiras daas already. You saw already in every Jew with kol nediv libo, it says, Kol asher nesa'rucho, kol asher nadva libo. There was so much an outpour of heart. There wasn't even a question; everybody meant it. So therefore, by Mishkan, ma she'ein kein by tzedakah, that you have to speak out already, you know, to show that you mean to taka give. Just because a guy is inspired, a guy made a good appeal and he said a nice story, so you get inspired. You leave the beis medrash. If you didn't speak it out, there's no gemiras daas. So the pshat is, nesi'im, you saw all this. Nesi'im, you saw all this. You didn't see the unbelievable outpour of Klal Yisrael, that they were jumping to do and to help and to be part of this big thing of building a Mishkan for the Eibishter. So how cold could you be, so to speak, l'havdil, cold, by making a cheshbon, You know what? You guys, I'll give later, later. You know, I once saw the tape of Amnon Yitzchak, where he cuts off the kutchkelech—what do he calls them?—those, the cuckoos, the cuckoos in the back, the chups, the ponytails. And he takes a guy and he cuts the ponytail, and he says, Shema Yisroel with him, and he's— And you see how every guy in the room, I want to be part of it. They get inspired. Who wants to sit back and say, You know what? I'll get back to you. You're inspired. You're moved by it, and you jump into it. Nesa'ru libo. The Mishkan was kol asher nesa'ru libo. Nesi'im, you sit there, I'll get back to you. I'll see what's missing. You know what's missing? The little yud, the yid inside you. That's why they took out the little yud. A yud. Nesiim, you're right, you're big people, but where's the yid in you? Where's that little pintel yid, as they call it? How does a pintel yid sit there and watch the way people are giving for the Mishkan, and you just sit there with cheshbonos, you hear? With this, I want to explain a me'iridiker Targum. The Targum says that actually, how did the avnei shoham come? You know how the avnei shoham came? Mishamayim. The Targum says that it came, that min haShamayim, the ananim—the word nesiim could also mean clouds. So the clouds brought the avnei shoham. So there's a question that it's not this Chazal, right? One Chazal's mashma the nesiim brought it at the end, and there's another Chazal which means the clouds brought it, so it has nothing to do with the nesiim. So some want to say it's two different Chazal. Acharonim discuss a mashal like this, that maybe it's two different Chazalim. One Chazal is that the nesiim brought it, and the other Chazal is that the clouds brought it. But if you look at the Midrashim—I don't have the Midrashim in front of me now—that the clouds brought it to the nesiim in front of their tent. There's different Chazal, which means they brought it to the nesiim. So I had a question: if they brought it to the nesiim, so why was it a ta'ina on them? I don't understand. Maybe that's when they brought it to them. Maybe the nesiim brought it at the end, the clouds brought it, the last thing. Unless you say they brought it early and they kept this, why would they do that? If they knew that they came from Shamayim, which means that that was the present that they were supposed to give, l'choira, they weren't getting a gift for no reason. So why takke did they hold it up to the end? Something is not clear here, and you know what the teretz, rabosai, is. You see from here that the siyata dishmaya that a person has, that the nesiim, the clouds bring you, is according to your ratzon, the way you want. If you wanted to be the first one on line, the nesiim would have brought it right away in the beginning. The clouds would have been there to help you in the first place. Depending on your ratzon, depending on your zrizus, that's how your nesiim, clouds, siyata dishmaya, the Ribbono Shel Olam is going to be there to help you. That's what we learn from the Mishkan. Ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe, kein asu. That's the way it was. To the level of how much they did ka'asher tzivah Hashem, that's how it came out. If the ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe was with every inch and fiber of my heart, every, every regesh, so the kein asu. Hashem was mashlim it, that it should be perfect in the asiyah. You know, rabosai, I want to tell you over—

I'm going to give you a side. You know, the women, they did a tremendous thing. They were toivel the izim from the izim themselves, which means they made the wool, pasuk before, V'chol chachmas lev, they were chachamim, right? Asher nadvu ruchah mosanah, tavu es ha'izim. Zogt Rashi, what does tavu es ha'izim mean? That they did a special thing. They made the wool from the animal. You want to know something, rabosai? There's a Gemara about this in Shabbos, daf ayin daled amud beis, that if we would do this on Shabbos, we'd be patur. It's called melacha yad. You can't do this. This is not a melacha; it's felt a melachas machsheves. Normal people cut the wool and then they make the strings, right off the thing. So the question is, how could they say that the women did it? And then we learn in Mesechta Shabbos, you're patur for it. Famous question. It's a shtikel problem. So there's many terutzim that are said. One teretz that it said is, yeah, when we would do it, it's not. But the women were chachamim. It says over there there was a special wisdom that they had. For us to do it, it's kil'achar yad, but for those women to do it, who says kil'achar yad? One teretz. There's another teretz, rabosai. Why did they do this? You know why they did this? Who knows why they did this? Okay. So the Meshech Chochmah learns they were nida, so it had to be mechubar l'karka. And since it's mechubar l'karka, you don't have a problem because it's attached to the animal. The animal is considered like karka, therefore it's not mekabel tumah. Chasam Sofer has a mahalach: women are patur from binyan HaMikdash. Rambam paskens hakol chayavim, that everybody's chayav. But ma'aseh many hold that they're patur from binyan haMishkan. So how could they do it? Teretz is because you're allowed to. You're allowed to be boneh even if you're not mechuyav. But there's a shita of Reb Chaim Kanievsky in Gittin daf mem-hei, that something that you're not mechuyav for, meaning a woman who's not mechuyav in a mitzvah is not allowed to do it; it's not a kiyum if she does it. So how were they able to make for the Mishkan? Teretz is they did it on top of the animals, then the husbands came and they cut it, and that was the kiyum. That's how the husbands made it. Huh? Makah b'patish, yes, and a chanami. So for Shabbos it's not a problem. Okay. What do I want from this? What do I want? Mitzvas Hashem, one day I'll give you a whole shtikel shiur on this halacha. What do I want? So there's a vort from Rav Michel Feinstein. Rav Michel Feinstein says that meleches machsheves was not a din in the Mishkan itself. Meleches machsheves, after we built the Mishkan, from that we say that any melacha that was meleches machsheves is asur on Shabbos. But actually the binyan haMishkan didn't have everything meleches machsheves. That's what he wants to say, and he says, I'll prove it, that they have purple wool, and where did they get all this? Teretz is they bought it from—so how do you know that's melachah? How do you know what they made it like? Teretz is there was no din of meleches machsheves in the binyan haMishkan. Okay. I don't want to go into the actual, because it's a lomdish vort that you have to learn Mesechta Shabbos for, but I'll tell you what I understood in drush. You know what I understood? The Ramban says clearly— They were not craftsmen. They didn't know how to make a Mishkan. Ramban says they worked with mud. They worked with clay. They were not—imagine if I would go now and have to build something. So everybody says, Yeah, but Betzalel. If you give me ten Betzalels, I wouldn't know what I'm doing. Trust me, Betzalel could tell me from today till tomorrow how to build a table. I wouldn't know how to do it, all right? So the question is, how did it happen? And you know what the teretz is? The word machsheves means something else in the Mishkan. You know, it says clearly, Kol asher nesoi libo, not v'rucho. What does nesoi libo? So Ramban says nesoi libo—they were inspired to do it even though they didn't know how to do it. They had no idea what they were doing. So vadai it's not meleches machsheves. They anyway didn't know what they were doing. Everything was klach a yad. The idea of the Mishkan was to build when you can't build. You don't know what you're doing, but I do it because Hashem said to do it. I'll be there to do it for you, and that's why Yakam Moshe es haMishkan. Moshe couldn't even put up the Mishkan. How's Moshe supposed to put it up? Was Moshe a contractor? You explain to me how Moshe was supposed to put up a Mishkan. What do you expect from Moshe Rabbeinu already? Take Reb Elyashiv and tell him, Come here. You think you can put up that tent for me? How's he supposed to put it up? What does he know about a tent? And the teretz is, you make with your hands like the Chazal.

And I'll do it for you. In the Mishkan, it was, do ka'asher tzivah Hashem. You do what I told you to do. Make with your hands, and I'll be the ... That's pshat. There was no meleches machsheves anyway in the Mishkan. When it's by the nashim, what lashon does it use? Whether does it say that they did chochmah, or does it say, nosei libo? Read it again. Read, read, read. No, it says, nosei libo. Libo b'chochmah. What is that? Just say they were chachamim. You said they were very wise. You know what the teretz is? When someone is very smart, you know what he wants to do? He likes to do, show that he knows. He likes to show that he knows, yeah. They didn't do it for that reason. You know what they did? Nosei libo. They were inspired to do it, b'chochmah. We think that they had chochmah to begin with. First of all, tell me something. These chachmah women, what were they doing in Mitzrayim? They were doing men's work, ... Mitzrayim, they were doing men's work. They were with hard hats. They were sitting with hard hats and cold miners. They were building Pithom and Ramses. So how did they learn this? And the teretz is, nosei libo. They were inspired to want to do it. That's ka'asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe. Then the Ribono Shel Olam gives them a special, special, special siyata dishmaya, yeah, that you should be able to do it. This, rabosai, is the lesson of the Mishkan. The lesson of the Mishkan is— Rabbeinu Shlelem, You run the world. You do everything. What do I do? I do what You want me to do. That's called my doing. What You want me to do is called I do. That's what I do, and not more, not less, and that's it. And then there'll be bracha, shefa, b'maaseh yadecha, Shechinah shorah b'maaseh yadecha, that you can make this beautiful Mishkan, which doesn't even make sense. The measurements don't fit, doesn't work. It's eino min hamidah. It can't stand. It's gonna stand. You know, the Mishkan she'asa Moshe is not batel. So that's what the Seforno, I told you l'chatchilah, why was it not batel? Because Moshe was mevatel himself completely, says the Seforno to the Eibishter. So it's like the Eibishter made it. And since it was like the Eibishter who made it, that was the Seforno I was telling you. So just like anything the Eibishter makes is kayam l'ad, l'netzach, ul'olmei olamim. Beis HaMikdash already was handmade by Shlomo. Shlomo made it. That could be destroyed. But the Mishkan wasn't Moshe. The Mishkan was who? Rabbeinu Shlelem. And since it's the Rabbeinu Shlelem, it can't. Im Hashem lo yivneh bayis, shav amlu bonav bo. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.