Pekudei: The Mishkan, Integrity in Giving, and the Power of Nedivas HaLev

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Parshas Pekudei, Torah teaches us that Moshe Rabbeinu gives a cheshbon, a detailed account of everything that came into the Mishkan and where it went, to the last cent, so to speak, to the last penny. A cheshbon medukdak, everything exactly, an account where everything went. Why is it necessary for Moshe Rabbeinu to give a din v'cheshbon? Why was it important? Why did he do it? What was the underlying reason for giving such a detailed account of everything? Pennies, kesef, nechoshes, pennies. He gives exactly how much and where it went. So if you look at the Midrashim, especially the Medrash Tanchuma, the Midrashim tell us that there was laaz. They were talking against Moshe Rabbeinu, chatter. Moshe Rabbeinu would say Torah, he would say a shiur, and behind his back, the לצני הדור were shishking. You know, the money. Moshe Rabbeinu's rich. How did he get rich? Ah, the Mishkan. He took the money from the Mishkan. Even vulgar things, they were saying tremendous vulgar. If you look at the Medrash Tanchuma, they said Moshe Rabbeinu has a heavy neck. How did his neck get so heavy? Must be he has a lot of money for food. It's mamish pushin a charke, it's low-class talk and allegations and chatter. So in order to mimyashev, to answer up those that were talking, Vayisem nekiim Hashem u'Yisrael, he shows them where all the money went. And this is a lesson, Vayisem nekiim, that if people are choshed, especially you're a gadol hador, especially you're a manhig hador, you can really come and say, Ah, get away from here. I'm not going to open up the books. I'm not going to show you. What's it your business? Who are you? What do you think? Vayisem nekiim Hashem u'Yisrael. It was important for Moshe Rabbeinu to be clean and come clean. This is where all the money, and this is where it went, din v'cheshbon. So the Medrash seems to tell us that it was a result, that it was the result of lashon hara and laaz, hotzaas shem ra. So in order to refute— The ill talk that they were talking, he made a din v'cheshbon. There's another Medrash which says the exact opposite. The Medrash quotes the pasuk in the Haftorah, Parshas Shekalim is the Haftorah for Parshas Pekudei because we read Shekalim together with Pekudei. So if you look at the Haftorah of Shekalim, the second-to-last pasuk, it says that they were bringing Shekalim money to the bedek habayis for the purpose of upkeep of the Beis Hamikdash, and they would give it to the osei hamelachah, those that did the work, and they didn't question. It says clearly in the pasuk they didn't question where the money went. Ki be'emunah heim osim. There was trust. So therefore there was no issues, Where is my money? No questions. Like I say in English, no questions asked. Here, take the money. Second-to-last pasuk in the Haftorah in Shekalim. The Medrash Rabbah says that this pasuk is referring to Moshe Rabbeinu. Even though it's talking about bedek habayis in the Beis Hamikdash, ki be'emunah heim osim, and because of that they have no questions, it's actually referring...

According to Moshe Rabbeinu, for when Moshe collected for the Mishkan also, there was no questions asked. Why? Because ish emunos. Moshe was an honest person, and people knew that. So, there's a contradiction here. One medrash seems to say that litzanei hador, the pranksters, the leitzim, the rabble-rousers, they were questioning Moshe Rabbeinu. They were ridiculing and being motzi laaz, and here the medrash seems to say that nobody asked questions. They trusted. They brought the money. They gave it to Moshe. Moshe, we trust you. So it's a stira medrashim. So maybe, maybe we have to say that it's two different medrashim. We could come and say maybe that the pasuk and the medrash that says there was no questions is referring to the normal people. One medrash talks about litzanei hador. Litzanei hador make fun of everything. Litzanei hador make trouble always. They could take the most honest person, and soon we're going to learn from the Ramban that actually Moshe never even touched the money of the Mishkan. The Ramban in perek chaf-ches, pasuk hei, as well as in perek lamed-gimmel—excuse me, perek lamed-vav, pasuk gimmel—the Ramban in both places says clearly that the melacha, the—excuse me—the parts that were brought, the zahav, the nechoshes, wasn't even given to Moshe. It was brought in front of Moshe. And Moshe Rabbeinu told them afterwards to bring it straight to Betzalel and those that were going to do the work with it, which means it actually never went through the hands of Moshe Rabbeinu. So how could you be choshesh? Ramban says clearly that Moshe Rabbeinu did not touch, and touch in the sense of actually having his hands on it. He didn't touch the stuff that came in, the zahav, the kesef, and the nechoshes. So how can they even be choshesh? It's pretty clear that Moshe didn't touch it or take it. There's a Gra in Shir HaShirim, which seems to imply a little differently. The Gra in Shir HaShirim, perek aleph, pasuk daled, says that the Yom Tov of Sukkos, tez-vav Tishrei, is because that day was the day that Moshe Rabbeinu gave the zahav, the kesef, all the stuff that came in, he gave that to Betzalel that day, so it turned into later a Yom Tov of Sukkos. Sukkos is the day that Moshe Rabbeinu—that's the day that it begins—the day that Moshe Rabbeinu gave to Betzalel the things that were collected for the Mishkan, which is mashma that Moshe Rabbeinu himself was the one who gave it over to Betzalel. But the Ramban says not like that. The Ramban says that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't give it over. The people themselves were told, Here, you brought this. Take it and give it to Betzalel. So actually there's no room to be choshesh Moshe Rabbeinu anyway. It's pretty out clear in the open that Moshe didn't touch it. It went straight from their hands of the givers. To the hands of the Litzanei Hador find a way how to make their jokes. They have to make a living, the Litzanei Hador. How else are they going to make their prime time shows? They have to make litzanus, right? So l'maaseh, l'maaseh, rabosai, we could come and say that the medrash that says that they were motzi laaz and they spoke, that was Litzanei Hador. The pasuk in Tanach and the medrash that quotes this pasuk is actually saying the regular people who brought. Those that brought, they didn't have a problem with where Moshe and what Moshe and then how Moshe the money. They didn't have a problem with it. Usually the Litzanei Hador are the ones that didn't give. Usually that's the way it works. The Litzanei Hador are the ones that didn't give the money. They are the ones who have those, the comments. But could be, ois, the ones the pasuk is saying, those that brought. When they brought, they trusted, and could be it's not a stira.

It's not a contradiction between this Medrash that says that there was lashon hara chatter, jokes, and that's why Moshe came and gave a detailed account, to the Medrash that says that Moshe was not nechshad; there was full trust in Moshe Rabbeinu. One is referring to the Letzanei Hador, that by them everything is not trustworthy, and the pasuk is talking about normal people. The pasuk doesn't have to count what the chatterroom, you know, all the letzanus, all the internet chatter, lashon haras, that, you know, they don't have to pay attention to that. And therefore they say that the people, the people who brought, didn't have a problem. But the question is, if that's so, that there was no lashon hara, and it wasn't to answer those that spoke against Moshe, so why did he give a detailed account? Why does he give a detailed account? If there was fear that they're not going to trust, then you have to come and show. But if in any way they're trusting him, unless maybe it's not for sure, maybe he was afraid maybe they won't trust him. In other words, it wasn't a result of that he heard something. But even before, you don't have to hear it. The problem could be avoided by just showing a divrei cheshbon, just even if someone will want to come and make trouble and talk, maybe. Maybe it doesn't have to be a result of something that happened already, an uprising and a letzanus and a lashon hara that's already here. But to avoid, avoid that there shouldn't be a lashon hara, that someone shouldn't want to come to talk. So you, so to speak, you put it out in advance. A record, cheshbon, it's clean. Maybe. Because a gevaldige vort for Reb Yerucham. Reb Yerucham says that the din v'cheshbon is not so much for those that gave and those that are watching Moshe, but it's actually for Moshe himself. When a person deals with somebody else's money, the person has to be so straight, he has to be so clean, that for himself he gives a din v'cheshbon. It doesn't have to be mitzad those. It doesn't have to be because others are watching and that they shouldn't talk. You have to have such honesty that when you touch somebody else's money, it's got to be clean, got to be straight. So Moshe is not doing it for those, the litzanim, or those that would be choshed b'ksheirim. He's doing it for himself. So learns Reb Yerucham. There's an interesting Bach which seems to support this. The Bach says in Yoreh Deah that a gizbar, a person who takes care of ma'os tzedakah, even if he's ne'eman and people love him and respect him and trust him, still he should open the books. Still he should show clearly where all the money went, because of honesty. An honest person opens up everything. Nothing is hidden. Here it is. And this l'choira is the pshat of Rebbi Yerucham, l'choira, that we're not worried that there's a kilkul, that people are going to be choshed. It's not about people, you know, accusing you, because even if they're not going to accuse you, but there's a certain honesty of being honest and open when you deal with somebody else's money. So the v'hiyisem nekiyim Hashem u'miYisrael doesn't mean chashad, but v'hiyisem nekiyim means to be clean. A person has to be a clean person. This is mitzad Moshe Rabbeinu. I'm going to tell you a third pshat, Rabbi Yisai. You know, when a person gives a din v'cheshbon on every penny, then every penny is accounted for. So even if, A, no one is going to complain, and even if, B, it's not so much Moshe Rabbeinu is touching other people's money, but you want that the mishkan should be an honest piece of work, so to speak. The mishkan had to be built on emes. The mishkan had to be built on nekiyus, kosher. And since it had to be kosher, therefore every penny had to be accounted for. So first pshat we said was, he did the—

That they shouldn't talk, and people shouldn't be choished him. The second pshat is, mitzad himself. The third pshat we're saying is, it's mitzad the Mishkan. The Mishkan had to be makom for hashraas haShechinah. Hashraas haShechinah requires that the place that you're mashru the Shechinah should be naki. The same way you understand that a king is not going to come to a dirty place. Dirty can have many different connotations. It could be naki, dirty, not naki, dirty physically. There's dirt on the floor, and then it could be spiritually not naki. Naki kapayim, money, clean money, no geneivah. No geneivah means makom naki, ra'ui for hashraas haShechinah. The Malbim, taka, learns like this. The Malbim says what's called Mishkan ha'eidus, eileh pkudei haMishkan. Mishkan ha'eidus, says the Malbim, eidus, testimony that it was Mishkan. It was a makom that was ra'ui for Shechinah, that there was no geneivah whatsoever in it. That's why it's called Mishkan ha'eidus in this parsha, eileh pkudei haMishkan. These are the account numbers of the Mishkan, Mishkan ha'eidus, that the Mishkan itself was testimony that it was clean from geneivah. Because if there was any— Hanky-panky in the money, so to speak. If there was any dishonesty, even to the last cent, there couldn't be what Mishkan, that the Rabbeinu Shalom would be mashreh Shechinah. Those are three pshatim, rabboisai. I'm going to tell you now a fourth pshat. Why Moshe Rabbeinu gives a din v'cheshbon. Pshat one, we said, chashad, that the people shouldn't come and say, Ah. Pshat two, for Moshe, that Moshe had to be clean and honest, upfront. Pshat three, that the Mishkan needed special. It didn't—here in the Mishkan needed to be a makom ra'ui l'hashra'as haShechinah, which means בלי עוול, without any dishonest, anything which is not clean one hundred percent. The fourth pshat, rabboisai, I tell you from a reikeach. You know, if you notice in the parsha, we give a detailed cheshbon for the kesef and the nechoshes. The zahav it doesn't say. It doesn't tell me where the zahav went. And all the meforshim ask this for a question: Why do we get a detailed cheshbon on the kesef, the nechoshes, but not the zahav? So some want to say because some of the zahav went into the aron. The aron was eino min hamidah, so they couldn't track it. Not everything was able to be tracked by the zahav. The aron had zahav. The aron had no measurements. Something—they didn't work out the measurements. The gold. So therefore it was not, they couldn't track it. Many, many learn like this in the mefarshim. There's a pshat from the Barbenel that says a little differently. Abarbanel says, who gives zav a kesef? I'm sorry, who brings a kesef in a choishes? The poor person. Who brings zav? The rich person. Says Abarbanel, it's usually the poor person that doesn't have the money. He wants to know where his money went. He wants to make sure his money didn't go to waste. The rich guy, you know what he says? Keep the receipt. He doesn't want the headache. He gives you the money and he tells you, go do what you want with the money. He doesn't need a detailed account where everything went. So lameila, there was a detailed account for the kesef in a choishes, and there was no account for the zav. So explains the Abarbanel that a keach is somewhat like the Abarbanel, but with a little different twist, a little different nekudah. The keach says the kesef in a choishes of the ani, the Ribono Shel Olam has chavivus for it. The Ribono Shel Olam has a...

I love that, because he gives what he has, and it's not easy for him to give. The zav was given by the rich person. So normally, you give more chashivus, you give more respect to a bigger donation, the zav. Says the Rabbeinu Shalom, Ah, not so. The zav doesn't mean that much to me. The kesef and the choshes, that means a lot to me. And therefore, I'm going to show you how important your kesef and the choshes is, that I'm going to show you that every penny counts, and every penny went here, there, there, because it's important. The zav, I don't have to show that to you. And then he says a little bit added to the pshat, and he says, besides, if we come and we say zav, and we give a detailed account to the zav, those that gave kesef and the choshes and not zav, they'll be embarrassed. Oh, this gold, that gold. So we keep the gold under the table. We don't talk about the gold, in order not to embarrass those that couldn't give gold. So I want to explain this Rekeach. You hear what the Rekeach is saying? The Rekeach is saying that the reason why we gave a detailed cheshbon of the kesef and the choshes and where it went, to show chavivus, to show how dear that is to the Rabbeinu Shlolem. So I want to explain to you what that means with a mashal, with a good example. You know, when somebody gives a big donation to a school, to a yeshiva, to a college. Besides a plaque, they take you and they give you a tour around the college, and they show you, you see, take a look at that room, and take a look at the dining hall, and take a look at the chairs here, and take a look at the library, and this is your money where it went to. Imagine a person gives five dollars to a school, to a yeshiva, knocks on the door of the secretary, Could you please show me where exactly my five dollars went to? Imagine a guy goes, doesn't even give five dollars. Imagine a person gives ten cents for tzedakah. You collect money, he gives you ten cents. Then he turns around and he says, Could you show me exactly what the ten cents went for? The guy says, What, I should show you the tissue paper on the floor? What should I show you? What do you want me to show you where your money went? Why'd you give it already? You gave nothing. Says the Rokeach, they want to show that the person who gave kesef and nechoshes, it went here, it went there, it went here, it went there. Because the truth is, I have a question. If the whole idea is to give a din v'cheshbon, to account for all the money, why does the Torah have to write where all it went? Just write that Moshe Rabbeinu gave a din v'cheshbon. Tell us in the Torah that Moshe Rabbeinu went and he told Klal Yisroel where all the money. Why do we have to read it as a parashah in the Torah? What's it negate to us today to read that the zahav went here and the nechoshes went here and the kesef went here? But the question is, should you give an account for all the money? Yes, you should write like this: Vayas Moshe erech. Moshe made an evaluation, and he showed them where all the money went, right? And it's a pasuk, l'doiros, l'doiros, in the Torah. Make us read where all the money went. And the Teretz is this, because it's not so much to count it, to show that it was accounted for, but to show you how important it is. Your penny went here. Your penny went to the shulchan. Your penny went— you see? Here, take— what do you call that? A magnifying glass. And they— huh? I think I see my penny in the Mikdash. It's right here. Could you see that little scratch? That little— that's it. That's your penny that you gave to the Mikdash. And that's all to show chavivus, to show how important. A person gives— zahav! Oh, that's a big check, you know, that deserves recognition, and that deserves that you should know where your money went. And a guy gives a few pennies, they're not going to tell you, you know, where your money went.

Lucky we took it, right? We should be lucky we even talked to you, you know. You should still come and ask me where the money, and I should show you where the money, and pay it, and spend time with you. Who spends time with a guy like that? Now it says, L'haros chavivus. Reikeach is saying the point was to show how dear even the small donations were. And the Torah goes out of its way to teach me—I'm sorry, to show me, l'doros, l'doros, for the generations to read—that the pennies went to the choshen, to the shulchan and the mizbeach. It went here, there, there. It's important. This is l'haros shol chavivus, chavivus. Why is it so chaviv, taka? One gets the feeling from the Reikeach that the Ribbono Shel Olam likes the kesef and the choshes even more than the zahav. Imagine a guy gives zahav, eh, you're not—we don't pay attention to you. We're not going to give you a detailed account. Ooh, this guy gave a penny. Imagine you have the board, on the board of directors, the big guns. So you don't have Sari Elaf and Sari Hameah, but you have Sari HaPrutos. All the people who gave one cent, you have a big plaque for him. Where are the people that gave the millions? Ah, under the table. You almost get the impression that the penny is worth more than the million. And the answer, Rabboisai, is as follows. You know, value, value could be nerach different ways. There could be a monetary value, money. And then there could be value which isn't monetary. There could be value based on something completely different. For example, a person could have something which isn't worth much, but what does he say? There's sentiment, sentiment value. You see? Value could have different systems of currency. There could be a monetary value, and then there could be a sentiment value. Sentimentally, this is worth a lot of money. The pruta, the kesef and the choishes in the Beis HaMikdash had sentimental value, maybe even more than the zahav. The donation of kesef unechoishes might have been a greater donation if you change the value system, sentimental value. Why? Because those that don't have and give. It represents more mesiras nefesh, more heart, more ratzon, more will to give. So true, it's a penny monetarily, but it might be a diamond sentimentally, because it represents nedivus halev. It represents what the heart has ratzon to give. And I'll explain you what this is all about. You know, we just read Parshas Shekalim. What is shekel? Shekalim is not even a shekel; it's a machatzis hashekel. You don't even give a full shekel. Chazal tell us, Niskasheh Moshe. Moshe had a very hard time to understand the machatzis hashekel. And the mefarshim ask, what's so hard to understand? Moshe was such a big tzaddik that he didn't know what money was, maybe. Sometimes you come and you talk about a value of a dollar. A big tzaddik, he won't know what it is. I'll tell you a nice maaseh.ייזעדי told me that the Satmar Rebbe, zichrono livracha, was an ish kadosh. The Frierdiker Rebbe, רבי יואליש, he was an ish; he was a very holy person, a very big tzaddik. Yet he was very worldly when it came to chesed and tzedakah, money. He was very involved.

The money to give and to build and to give for the yeshivas and for people who needed tzedakah. When he came to Eretz Yisrael, so he came by boat. He didn't fly. He was afraid to fly. He came by boat. Rebbes have a lot of luggage with them, you know. So it was past the amount where he was allowed to bring, so he had to pay taxes. So when he came to the port, there was an Israeli soldier, a chiloni, who was taking care of the immigration over there, and he said that he has to pay a hundred dollars. In those days, a hundred dollars, meches, taxes for overload of luggage. He knew that the Satmar Rebbe was anti-Zionist. He wanted to give a dig at the Satmar Rebbe, so he tells the gabbai, Ashkenazi, Does Yura d'morah know what a hundred dollars is? You know, trying to make a joke. Maybe he's such a holy Jew that, you know, he don't know what a hundred dollars is, because he has to pay a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars of American dollars. Satmar Rebbe heard this, and he was sharp. Everybody knows he was extremely razor sharp. He didn't let anything pass. So he turns around to Ashkenazi, and he says, Zug him. He didn't want to look at the guy in the face even, you know. Zug him. Tell him that less than a thousand never went past my hand. I never touched less than a thousand dollars. Tell me about money. I know better than you what the money I've touched in my life, you'll never touch. Don't ridicule me about a hundred dollars. Zug him. Tell him. Vinsky vitolus in the kaymosh duch my hand. Less than a thousand never passed my hand, which means a hundred dollars. A hundred dollars is peanuts money for me if I know what a hundred dollars is. Point being, Moshe Rabbeinu was rich. Moshe Rabbeinu was a rich person. He was a gevir, otzum, adir. Moshe Rabbeinu was extremely rich. So what is it that he doesn't know about a machatzis shekel? What doesn't he know? So we've spoken many times in the past. It doesn't say chatzi shekel; it says machatzis ha-shekel. He didn't know what kind of a coin is a machatzis. For example, can you imagine a person—you have, my kids do this sometimes also. They say they want a half a dollar, right? So half a dollar can mean fifty cents, or half a dollar means you rip the dollar in half, you give them half a dollar, right? So if you rip it in half a dollar, do you have anything? No, you lost the dollar. It's ruined. So if you have chatzi, so you can have half the dollar, but you can't have machatzis. You can't have a half of the dollar. How could you have machatzis? You can't take a shekel and cut it in half. So he didn't know what it was. Bishlai, you come and tell me an amount, okay, but you can't tell me machatzit. Problem is that the Chazal doesn't answer anything, because Chazal say that the Ribono Shel Olam went and showed him matbea shel eish, a coin of fire. A coin of fire? So how does that help you with your question? The question was, what is machatzis shekel? So what's the answer? Coin of fire. How does it help you, coin of fire? See, by the menorah, it says Moshe Rabbeinu also didn't know how to make the menorah. So the Ribono Shel Olam showed him a menorah shel eish. You know what that pshat in the Gemara is? Very simple. Because hetakah was made by eish. He threw the thing into the fire, and it came out by itself. But the maaseh shekel, Hashem didn't make the maaseh shekel. Nowhere does it say in Chazal—not a mistake, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think—anywhere it says in Chazal that they took the money, they threw it into the fire, and it turned into a maaseh shekel. So what is in matbea shel eish? What is this fire around the coin? What does it mean? So everybody knows, there's a vort from the Kotzker Rebbe: fire is the hislahavus of how you give it. It's how much zeal and how much fire you put into the giving. Some people, when you ask them for tzedakah, they give it to you with cold, ice-cube faces, right? The hand freezes in the pocket. He puts his hand in the pocket to give you the money. He can't get the hand out. You know what happened? It froze. He got stuck to the pocket of icicles. Then you have another person—

Like gives with full heart. Hislavus is eish, is represented with fire. That's Chassidish concept in Mabeiah shel eish, famous. I would have said a little differently. You know, I'll tell you what was bothering Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu can't understand, how can I collect a half a cent from somebody? You know what a masa shekel is? It's small amounts of money. Imagine I get up and I make an appeal, okay, who's giving one penny? But penny, you know what? I would rather you have half a penny. Let's go get a half a penny. Why would you need that for? I mean, why is that the donation to the Mishkan? You know, I never saw a box. You know, you ever see those cards that they give out that you can fill out a box how much you want to donate? Eighteen dollars. Even today already you can't find eighteen. They start right away with thirty-six, fifty-four, seventy-two, a hundred, two hundred, two hundred. Did you see ever they should say a penny, a half a penny? I mean, why would we make a donation payment plan of a half a penny? The stamp is already forty-five cents. So the stamp is forty-five cents. What does it mean, matza shekel? Yeah, Moshe Rabbeinu can't understand. Moshe Rabbeinu can't understand, what do we need a matza shekel? What is it? And the answer is, they show matbea shel eish. You know what matbea shel eish is? I said this three weeks ago. Someone came to ask me the question. I gave this pshat. On Erev Shabbos, I saw there's a peirush Zeis Ra'anon from the Magen Avraham on the Yalkut Shimoni. The famous Magen Avraham of Shulchan Aruch has a peirush on the Yalkut Shimoni, and there it says, what is the concept, what is the idea, what is the understanding of eish to a matbea? And the answer is, you know, when you want to burn up something, how much fire do you need? Do I have to bring—it's a big building—so I have to bring tons of fire? No, I don't have to bring tons of fire. Just need a match, a small little thing. One match. And it ignites. One match, one spark. Harei loi matbea shel eish. Eish, that the matbea represents like fire, you don't need a lot. All you need is a spark that you should want, a little ratzon, that's all, a little goodwill, a little heart. And that goes a long way, a long way, to make fire, to make eish, to make warm, to create, to do, and to build. Matbea shel eish. You're right, it's a machza shekel. You're right, it's small, seemingly small. But just like fire, there's no such thing as small. A spark can turn up an entire city can go up in flames with a spark. One yard, one matbea shel eish, matbea shel eish, matbea shel eish. You hear, rabosai. What are we learning from here? That the kesef of the Mishkan had a different value system. The kesef in the Mishkan was not measured by monetary, because then it's very small what you're donating, but rather it's measured by what? By how much ratzon, how much cheshek, how much feelings, how much nedivas halev. And depending according to that, like fire, it could make tremendous, tremendous outcome from a spark. This, rabosai, I see in the Reikeach. The Reikeach is saying that the kesef and the choshes becomes a chashuv a nesinah, to the point, to the point, that the ones who gave kesef and the choshes deserve to see where every penny went, because every penny counts, just like every spark could make a tremendous fire. This is not achieved by the gold by Rav Kahya. The gold, a lot of gold, could build a lot. The idea was—

Just to see by the kesef and the choishes, where every penny counts, because every penny could do tremendous amounts, could do a tremendous amount of building and doing. It's about ratzon. It's all about how much you want. You know, I saw a beautiful question and answer, a yesod, from one of the great gedolim that lived 10, 15 years ago, passed away just recently. He was from the great giants, the poskim of Yerushalayim, Dayan Fisher, Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Fisher. He was the head of the Eidah Chareidis, one of the rabbanim of the Eidah Chareidis, the rav, the gaon, one of them. And he has a sefer called Even Yisrael, and he asked an interesting question. You know, the pasuk talks in the Haftorah how in the beginning there was no money to upkeep of the Mishkan, of the Mikdash. They weren't giving. They weren't mechazek bedek habayis. They weren't giving. That's the Haftorah of Shekalim. They weren't giving. So they decided that they're going to make an appeal and discuss and teach and learn and push, and from here on in, they started giving money to bedek habayis. So he asked an interesting question: Why did the Beis HaMikdash need so much bedek habayis? I mean, what broke over there already? He says, take the Kosel. The Kosel's been around for years, and recently there was a story that there was a crack in one of the walls, and they found that why it was a crack? Because the Arabs were with water, with pipes from the other side, so it was going into the cracks and it was expanding the wall. But technically, it stays. It's made from stone. Something from stone doesn't get ruined. So why was there a necessary bedek habayis on such a constant basis? They should have had bedek habayis once every hundred years. I mean, it's not pipes and modern-day building that you have to have every other day a guy to come in and fix. It's old-fashioned. You're taking Europe, the buildings, they're made from marble, and then they stay for years and years. Why was there such a constant necessity for bedek habayis? The Koisel doesn't need it. Why the Beis Hamikdash? Do we find constant repairing? So he says a moirdike chiddush, moirdike insight. He says it's possible it was done on purpose from the Ribono Shel Olam. What is the reason to give? Because you have to be noten balev. You have to show that you want. So the Ribono Shel Olam wanted that you should show constantly that you want it. It was necessary to constantly upkeep because we were testing Klal Yisrael, we were testing on a constant basis, do you really care about the Mikdash? A beautiful insight, beautiful, beautiful. When I saw it, I saw this is the mind of a gadol, of a talmud chacham. You know, you see his understanding of life and situation. We think something breaks. There's a reason why things break. And in the Beis Hamikdash, the reason was, do you care enough to fix it? You know, when it's not your building, and you're not the one that lives there, and you have very little sentimental value for it, so it breaks, and you say, you know what, let another few things break and then I'll fix it, right? That's why you lax in bedek habayis. If you care, Lefa'er Beis Hashem, it means so much to you, la'hashraas haShechinah that's there, then you constantly make sure to keep it up. The upkeep should be constant. You know, how many times we build a beis hamedrash, and in the beginning everybody's excited, and everybody donates in the beginning, and then the upkeep becomes difficult to the point that you can't even get toilet paper. You know, it becomes a whole story how to get, you know, some few dollars for a few siddurim. Why? Because in the beginning you're excited. In the beginning you're excited. As time goes on, you're not that excited anymore. So to test, to test that you constantly had ratzon for binyan hamishkan, the Ribbono Shel Olam made that you need constant upkeep and constant fixing. And that's why it's a story in Tanach: are you giving for bedek habayis, are you not giving for bedek habayis? And after that they were nis'orer, that they were encouraged to give, they started to give for bedek habayis. The point is, Mishkan.

Stands for ratzon. Mishkan is all about how much do you care. It might be a physical building, but the physical in the Mishkan is all measured by how much you want the Mishkan and you care about the Mishkan and you care about the Ashras HaShechinah and the Eibishter that's in the Mishkan. That's what it means, Toichoi ratzuf ahavah. Afudaso omer kavoi. It says that the binyan that Shlomo Melech made was unbelievable physically, externally. But really, what was it? Toichoi. What was the inner part of the Mishkan? Ratzuf ahavah mibnos Yerushalayim. It was based about the love. So there was a physical, but the physical was measured according to how much there was love and ratzon to be with the Ribono Shel Olam and that the Ribono Shel Olam should be with us. Toichoi, merkavah argaman, merkach. It says over there it was tremendous. Afudaso, right, the walls and the big, big building, huh? It was big gold, gold, gold, sheshirim, gold, external gold. Ah, it's not the gold. What is it? It's the Toichoi ratzuf ahavah that's in the gold. It was measured according to the sentiment of what it stands for. Toichoi, what was the inside of it? It wasn't gold. Gold is external. The inside, the internal of it was ratzon v'havah mibinos Tzion. That's what it was. This, rabosai, I believe answers a very good question. You know, it says, Eileh pekudei haMishkan, Mishkan haEidus. So it says twice, Mishkan, Mishkan haEidus. So Rashi says, why does it say it twice? Because actually the Beis HaMikdash, which is interchangeable with the word Mishkan — Mishkan is Mikdash, Mikdash is Mishkan — was going to be taken away twice, like a mashkon, like collateral that's taken away for a chov. So just like a mashkon is taken away, so too the Mishkan is, haMishkan twice, taken away from us. Do you think that it's important for us to know on the day that we put up the Mishkan that the Mishkan is going to be taken away? Is that a good message to tell people? Eileh pekudei haMishkan — come, let's put it... You know, everybody's dancing for the Chanukas HaBayis, dai dai da da da da, the Mishkan will be taken away, and not only one time, but even a second time. Why? Imagine a person gets up at the inauguration of a big yeshiva and say, You know this is not going to last long, you know. I saw in a sefer called Moitzei Shalal Rav — he brings from the Chamagan, it's one of the earlier sefarim — a beautiful example. He says, Mashal l'mah hadavar domeh. The Rav under the chuppah was reading the kesubah. And he likes the handwriting of the sefer. Beautiful, likes it. He turns to the chassan and he says, Keep his number at hand, because when you're gonna need a get, you could use him. Tell me, you think the rav's gonna last long? Which rav in his right mind stands under the chuppah and tells the kallah and chassan, I give it a week, I give it a month, a year, you know, and when you come back to me for the get, so you know what? Here's my telephone number. Call me on this number. What are you talking about? What are you saying? Why would you tell me, while you're putting up the mishkan, why would you tell me the mishkan will be taken away? What are you doing? I'm telling you, you know what? I think the true teretz is, we didn't read the Rashi properly. Does the Rashi say the mishkan will be taken away from us? That's not what it says. It says the mishkan will be a mashkin, which means it never will be taken away from us. The point of a mashkin means that it's always there for you to get it back. Mashkin is, I hold something.

That you have to earn. If you pay the loan, then I won't take it away from you. And if you don't pay the loan, I hold it till you pay the loan. It's always yours, depending if you want it. That's eileh pekudei haMishkan, eileh pekudei haMishkan. Mashkin. Mashkin. You know, if you don't care about the mashkin, it's not worth anything. So you know what you do? Say, keep the mashkin, and I won't pay you. What do I need it for? Tell me, would you take a mashkin, a cup of coffee? No. Why? Because you tell the guy, keep the coffee. Who needs the headache? I won't pay the loan, right? It's got to be something that you should want to buy back. It's got to be something that's important to you. The Mishkan is mashkin. It's something that it's in our hands to work hard. Sometimes you have to pay up your loan. It's not easy to pay up a loan on time. And if I can't pay up on time and they take it away, I have to work extra hard to get the money to pay up the extra loan. But it's always there, mashkin, for you to have depending on how much you want it. This is eileh pekudei haMishkan, Mishkan eidus. With this, rabboisai, I think we can answer a beautiful, beautiful, perplexing medrash. Perplexing, mamash pli ploim, peledik. You know, the extra money, right? What happened? It says in the pasuk it was dai v'hoiser. The money that they brought was dai v'hoiser. So what does dai v'hoiser mean? Dai means enough, and hoiser means extra. So make up your mind. Was it dai or was it hoiser? Dai means enough, so it's not dai, because it was hoiser. It can't be dai and hoiser. No. Dai means it was dai and hoiser, so dai isn't hoiser; hoiser is not dai. The Chaim HaKadosh asks this for a question: dai does not mean hoiser, and hoiser does not mean dai. Good question. Now today we use an expression, dai v'hoiser. We use it. Why? Because the Torah uses it. But if you ever sit and think a minute, it doesn't make sense. Either it's dai or it's hoiser. I'm going to answer you this question, okay? What happened with that extra money? So the Ramban says that that extra money was so little that there was no point to tell me what they did with it. Lamed-vav, gimel. Ramban says, what happened to the extra money? He says it probably wasn't that much, and if it wasn't that much, so they put it into bedek habayis, korbanos, and there's no point of telling me because itself understood where it went. The answer went nowhere because they didn't build anything with it. This Ramban is actually ignoring a medrash. You know, maybe we'll say a little bit more slighter. It's not together with this following medrash. The medrash says that with the extra money, Moshe didn't know what to do with it. It says clearly that Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hashem, Ribono Shel Olam, there's extra money. What do I do with it? Says the medrash, the Ribono Shel Olam tells him, go build a Mishkan l'eidus. Go build a Mishkan l'eidus. You just built a Mishkan l'eidus, and you have extra money. What does it mean? What does it mean, go build a Mishkan? What do the words mean? So many mefarshim start to say, let's see other midrashim which are very much like this midrash. Maybe they have different words and we can understand what it means. So we find like a Midrash Tanchuma that says, Go build a Mishkan l'dibros, to the Aseres HaDibros, which is the aron. Again, you have an aron. What happened here? What does it mean? So there's a very interesting Netziv. The Netziv says, you know what it means? Actually, there was two aronos. There was Aron Shasah Betzalel and Aron Shasah Moshe. Aron Shasah Betzalel had gold in it. Aron Shasah Moshe was wood. It was just a wooden box. When they had extra money, they went back to the aron that Moshe made from wood, and they put the gold in there. That's pshat: make it a Mishkan l'eidus, a Mishkan l'dibros, for the original aron. Says the Netziv, and it's a lesson that Torah begins with eitz, poor. There's no gold. Techilaso is oni, and sofo is kayma me'osher. Eventually, it says that if you keep the Torah when you're poor, you'll be rich. So add later the gold. When they had extra gold, they added it later to the aron that Moshe...

You’re talking about something which is eye-opening. You ask anybody, they wouldn’t know. This is an interesting piece of information, that there was extra gold, and what did they do with that extra gold? They went back and they put it into the Aron. Now the truth is, who said it was extra gold? Maybe it was extra kesef and nechoshes. The gold was davuk asur; everything was davuk asur. And for some reason, the Tziv is learning that the davuk asur was on the gold, and then they went and took that gold and put it back into the Aron. And that’s a lesson that it begins with wood, poor, and eventually, when you learn the Torah and keep it from poverty, like the Mishnah says in Avos, you’ll keep it when you are rich. There’s another pshat that the Matnos Kehunah on the side of the Medrash, and the Chasam Sofer learns the same way, that the Medrash means mishka leidis, that from the extra money they should make a mishkan leidis. What does that mean? That they should make a beis medrash in the Mishkan. With the extra money, they were supposed to make another yeshiva-like in the Mishkan. Moshe Rabbeinu comes along and says, There’s extra money. So the Ribbono Shel Olam says, Extra money? Make a mishkan leidis, which means a beis medrash. So learns Matnos Kehunah, Chasam Sofer, and others. So again, rabosai, what happened with the extra money? The pasuk says it was davuk asur. So was it davuk or was it asur? Which one was it? Was it enough or was it extra? So we can explain the davar ha'issur. Chazal tell us that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know what to do with this. So the Ramban says it was so little that we don't even have to discuss what was done with it. It's a chiddush. So the davar issur was just small. The Medrash seems to say that the Ribbono Shel Olam told him what to do with it, and that is, go build a Mishkan Le'eidus. What does Mishkan Le'eidus mean? So the Netziv says it means take the gold and put it back into the aron. Now you have extra gold. Put more gold into the original aron that Moshe Rabbeinu made from eitz. And it's a lesson that it's techilaso inui v'sofo osher. Huh? What's twelve o'clock? Huh? What's twelve o'clock? Purim? So go. If you learn that it's mishkan, which means makes Medrash like the Chasam Sofer and the Torahs Kohanim and the Matanas Kehunah, so it's a very big chiddush on many levels. First of all, the actual understanding of it. If they needed a beis medrash, so they should have made it l'chatchila. I mean, if that's what's necessary in the Mishkan, so just make one. Why do you have to wait for the extra money? And if it's not needed to have a Mishkan, I mean, what should you make it for? And besides that, originally where did Moshe Rabbeinu taught the Torah somewhere, so he must have had a yeshiva somewhere. So whatever that yeshiva is, let it continue. I mean, why in the Mishkan do you need over there you should put a beis medrash? Where did that come from? What's the idea behind it? Second of all, halachically it's a big shaila. How is it possible, I believe the Chasam Sofer asks this, how is it possible that you gave money to the Mikdash, so it's kedushah chamurah, it's the Mikdash, Mishkan, and then when we don't need it for the Mishkan, could I go give it for kedushah kalah, to give it to something which is less? This beis medrash is not Mishkan; it's Mikdash me'at. So how could I use the money that was given for this level of kedushah for something which is much less? It's a horadah mi'kedushah chamurah to kedushah kalah. I think the answer is very simple. The Mishkan is where HaKadosh Baruch Hu dwells. That's good when we had a Mishkan. There'll be a time and a place when we won't have a Mishkan. We won't have a Mikdash. So what becomes the compensation? What's when you, let's say for example, there's a lien on your house, so you have to go move somewhere, right? The home doesn't become batel. The marriage...

Marriage isn't over. The marriage exists, the family exists, but now they have to move into what? To a different home. So what happens when the Mishkan becomes batel? And the answer is, that's when the Mikdash Me'at takes over. And that was meant originally in the binyan haMishkan. The Ribono Shel Olam is saying like this: You built the Mishkan. You have extra money, and we'll soon explain why it was necessary for that it should be built with the extra money. But the point right now is that the Mishkan is not separate with the Mikdash, and ki'ilu when I donate to the Mishkan, it's like taking the money and bringing it down a few levels of kedusha to give it to the beis hamedrash. It's the opposite. It's one entity. There's a Mishkan. You know, a lot of people need a mashal to understand. I'll give you a mashal. Sometimes in the big shul you have a big beis medrash that they only use on Shabbos. And then when they don't use that beis medrash or it's under construction, what do they do? They have a small beis medrash on the side. The Mishkan is the big beis medrash, but there's going to be a time and a place where you can't use it. So in the building, so to speak, of the Mishkan, it was set into play. It becomes nikva that there's another Mishkan. That's the Mikdash Me'at, the beis hamedrash. So when they donated to the Mishkan, it came with it a budget, a budget for the Mikdash Me'at, the beis hamedrash. That will eventually take the place of the Mishkan. Now, where did they get this budget money? From the extra that they brought. Why? Because when you give extra, that's a tremendous ratzon. I give with will. You give as much as you need. Someone who gives more, like Avraham Avinu by the Akeidah, I want to do more, more, because you love. Keep that for a rainy day, so to speak. When there won't be a Mishkan, the Ribono Shel Olam takes out that ratzon that they gave for the Mishkan extra and says, now you have a Beis Medrash in Galus. That extra, that's pshat dai v'hoiser. It was two different things. For the Mishkan it was dai, but they still wanted to bring more. So that's a new thing. That hoiser is for the budget of the Beis HaMikdash me'at, the Beis Medrash, which means the Ribono Shel Olam preserves that ratzon, that will to give, that nedivas halev, and says, you know something? It doesn't go to waste. It's all so important to me. And it might have been very little, like the Ramban says. That's why we didn't tell us how much it is. Ramban says we don't know how much it is. It might have been little, but it was enough for the Ribono Shel Olam to say, you know, that's important to me, that extra, that extra will, that extra nedivas halev, I'm going to take that and I'm going to preserve it. I'm going to put it away in an otzar. What do you call an otzar? A treasure chest. For when you will need it in Galus, when you won't have a Mishkan, I'll give you the Beis Medrash as part of the Mishkan. This is my own thought. I saw Friday in the Chiddushei Harim some of this concept as well. I see that he also talks along these lines, that the hoiser is the ratzon to give, and that never disintegrates. It doesn't go away. It always remains to the point that it went into the Beis Medrash, which we have today. Same idea, more or less. Maybe one word more, one word less. So you see that in the Mikdash, it was all about will. Will never gets destroyed. You know, the Mishkan never got destroyed. The Mishkan went, nignaz, went straight into the ground. The Gemara in Sotah says Moshe Rabbeinu and David both made Mishkan. Never got—Shlomo made a Beis HaMikdash that got destroyed. The oivim, the enemies got to it. What's the difference? So there's a seforno that says the amount of the divus halev in the Mishkan was much more than there was in the Mikdash. They came and they did and they worked on themselves by themselves. Everybody was busy with it. That will can never get destroyed. That ratzon can never get lost. That Mishkan.

That, that the nedivus, kol nediv lev, can never evaporate. It has no—it can't be mushcha, it can't get destroyed. It's made of the Mishkan. And like I explained to you, this yesod: Mishkan represents an external value, an evaluation of how much nedivus halev there was. You want to measure the nedivus halev, it's measured in the Mishkan, physical, but measured of the nedivus halev. And because there was so much nedivus halev, says the Sippur, and I believe that's the understanding in the Sippurna, that there was so much nedivus halev, that's why it can't get destroyed. It can't get destroyed. It's impossible, because ratzon stays forever, like the match. You can't. It's unbelievable to extinguish fire. It doesn't happen. This, rabosai, I think we could use to understand Shekalim and its relevance to Purim. Purim is around the corner. We read Shekalim. Shekalim has to do with Adar. It has to do with sheklei Moshe. Chazal tell us that sheklei Moshe was the anecdote against sheklei Haman. The Gemara says if not for the sheklei Moshe, sheklei Haman would have killed us out. It would have destroyed us. Would have been matzliach. So sheklei Moshe becomes the anecdote, the refuah before the makah. What does shiklei Mosh have to do with shiklei Haman? So simply, shekel, shekel, maybe beka lagulgoles. Haman was paying per head to kill them. So here we're counting per head, and we gave to the Beis Hamikdash. I hear, I hear that externally there's a good connection between shekalim and shekalim. I think it's a lot deeper, rabosai. I think the significance of the shekalim of the Beis Hamikdash, the shekalim that were taken to build the adanim, is a lot deeper a connection to shiklei Haman, and I'll explain. You know, the Gemara tells us that when Haman sees Mordechai, and he reaches Mordechai to take him on the horse, Mordechai is learning the halachos of a certain sugya, and when Haman sees this, he becomes completely confused, frightened. What was he learning? So the Gemara Megillah tells us he was learning the halachos of korban mincha and the kemitzah of the korban mincha. Kemitzah. A korban mincha is made from flour, and there's a halacha: how do you make kemitzah? Which means you take with your finger from the flour and you put it as a korban on the mizbeach. He sees this Haman, he becomes completely out of bent out of shape, Haman. That's it, he's in trouble. What was so frightening about the mincha kemitzah that sent him over the cliff, as they say? What did he see already? What is it about Karban Mincha that frightens Haman? You know what else is interesting? We find that the Chazal tell us when he comes to Mordechai, Mordechai is actually learning with the children. תינוקות של בית רבן. You know what Gemara's sugyos they were learning? The Gemara tells us they were learning about Karban Omer. Karban Omer. Mincha, Omer, Karbanos. He's learning with the children. Tell me, why would you be learning with children Karban Omer? You know, usually when you have children, you teach them about stories, Shabbos, ... maybe, ... ... I never saw a kid learning Kmitzah. Omer, Karban. That's... You know, don't forget, when you want to make a Pirchei, right? If you want to make Pirchei, and you got up and you spoke about Karban Omer and Kmitzah, you wouldn't have one person sitting over there. Which kid would sit to listen to all that? It's not a ... thing. From all the things you want to learn with a child, you want to learn with him Kmitzah and Karban Omer? What happened? You know what I think pshat is? I'll tell you pshat. Be'ezras Hashem yisbarach, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach.

What was the main taina, tvia, chet, so to speak, of the Bnei Yisrael, Klal Yisrael, in the time of Achashverosh? So the Gemara tells us that the Tannaim had different pshatim, they all said different reasons, but the main reason which seems to come across as the accepted famous reason: shenehenu misudas Achashverosh. They had hana'ah, hana'ah from the seudah of Achashverosh. Notice it doesn't say that they went, that the problem and complaint against them was that they went, but that they were nehenu. Nehenu means that they enjoyed it. The taina, the complaint against the Bnei Yisrael is shenehenu misudas Achashverosh. Why? I believe the pshat is as follows. They went, they had a lot of reasons to go. Malchus. A person has to be good with the kingdom, shloy malchus. You always have to be together, and, you know, every time they make a gathering, we always send representatives. We're with you, and we respect you, and we appreciate that we're part of your country. Le'olam yispalel adam bishlomo shel malchus. That's to go. But what do you have to enjoy it for? So what are you going to say? Well, you have to work on yourself. Go there and not enjoy it. Go there and not enjoy it. So you have to be a baal mussar and sit there with the Mesilas Yesharim. I'm going l'shem Shamayim, but I'm not going to be have hana'ah. No, rabosai, you missed the boat on this whole, whole Gemara. The complaint was that there really should have been no way that you should have had hana'ah from such a seudah. Why? You know what the banquet of Achashverosh represented? That the Beis Hamikdash will not be rebuilt. The whole idea for making the seudah in the first place was celebrating that according to the years and the cheshbon, it seems like the Beis Hamikdash is done and it'll never happen again. To the point that he takes out bigdei malchus, the keilim, the keilim, the keilim shonim, and we sing it according to Ashkenaz, they sing it like a nusach of Eichah because it's supposed to mean the keilim of the Beis Hamikdash. The keilim, mikeilim shonim. Why? Because it's really a cry. He was using the klei Hamikdash to show—his grandfather used the klei Hamikdash, and there was a hand on the wall that came out and told him, You're done. Here he was secure and nothing happened, nothing happened. He took the klei Hamikdash to show, No more Beis Hamikdash. It's done. The hopes and dreams of Klal Yisrael to rebuild, it's over. So how could you have hana'ah from such a seudah? Bishlema, you have to go, okay, I hear. But to go and enjoy? They say over the Maril Diskin, he lived two blocks away from the Kaisel, you know that? Maril Diskin lived two blocks away from it. He never went to the Kaisel. He couldn't take it. He couldn't take it. He couldn't take to go to the Kaisel to see the churban Hamikdash. Couldn't see it. The doctors told him that his heart can't take it; he shouldn't go. So how could you have Yidden, Yiddishe kinderlach sitting at a seudah, a banquet that's supposed to celebrate Noma Beis Hamikdash, and have hanaah from it and enjoy it? That was the complaint, shenehenu miseudas Achashverosh. How do you fix that? Moreh Chainu, there's one way to fix it. Chazal tell us that if you learn Hilchos Kodshim, it's k'ilu you're makriv a korban. Notice every time we say the korbanos, Yehi ratzon k'ilu hikravti. So there's two ways to learn that. One way we can learn it, because when by you saying it, it's as if you did it, because now that we don't have the korban, at least you're saying it. But there's another way, right, that the Ribbono Shel Olam is mashlim the society. Whatever you speak with your lips is as if you... is you makriv. There's another way to understand it. Yehi ratzon, I wish. The fact that I wish I could do it, the Ribbono Shel Olam says that itself is as if like you did it. Because you want so much to be makriv a korban, it's as if, k'ilu kravti. Yehi ratzon, I ask Hashem it should be like I was makriv.

The korban. So either because I said it's like, or because I want so much, and that's why I'm saying it. Why am I saying it? Because I don't have it and I miss it. That itself is ki'ilu hikravti. Why? Because like I explained to you, in the Beis Hamikdash, everything is based on what? Adam ki yakriv mikem, this week's parsha. It's about you. It's not about the korban. It's about how much your makriv from you, how much ratzon, lirtzonchem tizbechu. It's ratzon. It's all about how much do you want. That's everything the Beis Hamikdash is measured in that value. So by wanting the korban is ki'ilu hikravta the korban. He comes along, Mordechai, and he says, Rabosai, we have to learn korbanos, because if we learn korbanos, we're showing that we do want the Beis Hamikdash. The chet was shenehenu misudas Achashverosh, that they showed they didn't care, that there was no Beis Hamikdash. And because that Haman comes, and the answer is, the antidote is to learn the korban. Now which korban, rabosai? Korban mincha. What is a korban mincha? The Gemara in Kuf Yud amud aleph in Menachos tells us the Ribbono Shel Olam likes the korban mincha more than the regular korban. Why? Because it's the ani. It's what the ani brings, and since there's more ratzon by the ani than the ashir, so the idea of showing I want comes up across more where? By the mincha, right? Because echad hamarbeh vechad hamamit, uvilvad sheyechavenu is the korban mincha. So he learns with the children korban mincha, which part? The kometz. You know how much you give of a mincha? How much do you give of a mincha, Rebbe? A drop. The kemitzah of the mincha is a small amount of mincha, and yet to the Ribono Shel Olam, the Gemara tells us, is leratzon. It's very special, that kemitzah, because you want it. So we're showing the Ribono Shel Olam we want. And that's when Haman goes, Now I'm in trouble. I thought, Yesh na am echad mefuzar umeforad bagoyim, you hear? And I gave shekalim. What were shekalim? Al yedei oisah melachah. You notice the lashon of the shekalim is—what are the oisei melachah that he gives the shekalim to? It means that the people take care of the oitzer of the monies of the king. So why is it called oisei melachah? It's an interesting lashon. Eshkol al yedei oisah melachah. And the truth is, it's a parody. It's very much in the same lashon of the shekalim in the Beis HaMikdash. They gave the shekalim to the osei melachah. Look at Parshas Shekalim in the Haftorah. They gave it to the osei melachah, which means he's coming to say, They give shekalim. Now what are shekalim? I explain to you, shekalim is the ratzon to build the Beis HaMikdash. That's what the shekalim are so important. Why is it so chashuv? Why it's a penny? It's a machatzis shekel, and the answer is shaleish, because it represents how much ratzon. That's pshat bedek habayis. I explained to you that the reason why they have to constantly fix the Beis HaMikdash is because the Ribono Shel Olam wants to see how much they care about the Mikdash and the Mishkan. The Shekalim represents that. Oh, the Shekalim represents, so I'll give shekalim because they don't care. They don't care about the Mikdash. So if not for the shekalim of Klal Yisroel, which they show they really do care about the Mishkan, if not for the shekalim, that they really do care about the Mishkan, then Haman's decree could have had effect, because the decree was based on the fact that they showed they didn't care about the Mishkan. They showed they didn't care about the Mikdash. They were nehenin miseudas Achashverosh. And that's why he's learning with them korban. There's a moiridige, moiridige Chofetz Chaim, rabosai, in Torah Or. Chofetz Chaim, in his Kol Kisvei Chofetz Chaim has a kuntres Torah Or, and there he says one of the segulos, one of the things that a person should do that will bring forth the geulah and the binyan haMikdash is to learn Kodshim. Chofetz Chaim was a big advocate: you have to learn Kodshim. And the learning of Kodshim will bring Mashiach, because it will bring the binyan haMikdash. And he compares it with a beautiful mashal, that anyone who looks and listens to this mashal, anyone who sees the mashal and hears it, it touches a chord in the heart of the Yid. It's a beautiful mashal.

So, how you can have a dry eye when you see a mashal. It's a beautiful mashal. He says, you have a kallah under the chuppah. She's dressed with her gown and her jewelry and her makeup, and she's all, and you just up and, faputzt, all ready for the chassan to come. And he's late. You know why he's late? Because he had a flat tire, something happened. You know what the chassan thinks to himself? The kallah is waiting in her gown, so to speak. She's all ready. She's waiting under the chuppah. I gotta get faster. I gotta come quicker. Lerning Katchim, he says, it's like the kallah is paired with the gown under the chuppah, waiting for the chassan to come, and the chassan knows that she's waiting for him. Mekushat. Mekushat means all dressed up, ready. So he knows he's gotta come quicker. Azoy zogt the Chofetz Chaim in Torah Or. More, chainu this. More, chainu that the way to undo what happens in the achashveirish seudah is to learn Katchim with the children, is to learn Katchim with tinokos shel beis rabban. And Haman sees this, and he becomes completely taken back, completely taken back from it. And that's the shekalim. The shekalim of Moshe, because the shekel, like I explained to you, represents, I want. And I think we can add, when we read shekalim, like I told you, when we say korbanos, what are we actually saying? A, that we don't have them, therefore we want, k'ilu, right? If you speak it out, it's as if—what's, I've got the words of the Chazal—meshalem parim sefaseinu, that our words, right, if we don't get the right words, meshalem parim sefaseinu. But I tell you even more. When we read it, what are we saying? That we miss it. And by missing it, we're saying we actually do have it. I saw this point in the Chasam Sofer. Chasam Sofer says, which shekalim is he referring to? Shikli Moshe. Shikli Moshe wasn't in the times of Haman. There was no Beis Hamikdash. They weren't taking shekalim. So he says, pashut means the shekalim that they gave in the times of Moshe, right? Now, the fact that they read Parshas Shekalim, he says, that's pshat. The hekdem of shekalim is not the giving of the shekalim, because they didn't give shekalim. The hekdem, the fact that Klal Yisrael reads Parshas Shekalim, says Chasam Sofer, what are we saying by reading Parshas Shekalim? Halavai we'd be able to give those shekalim. That's כאילו you gave the shekalim, and that was matzil us. And this is exactly what I'm trying to bring out. Everything in the Beis Hamikdash, and here we have a chiddush: I'm not even giving it. I'm not even giving it. There's no Beis Hamikdash. But it's as if I gave it, because it's all valued according to how much I want to give. That's what it's all about. How much do I really want? So it's possible to not give, and because I wanted to give, but lemaaseh I don't have a mikdash, you gave, and that was matzil us in the time of Mordechai. What do we learn from this? Ratzon. Beis Hamikdash, hashraas hashchina, it's all about how much ratzon you have, how much do you really want. And the Ribono Shel Olam is going to test us every day, constant testing, like bedikas chametz. It's not a one-time thing: I want it. I have to constantly want it. You know, I was just thinking, the egel was metukan in the Mishkan, right? You know, the egel was an interesting thing. They wanted actually nasah v'nishma originally, but it didn't last long. The nasah v'nishma fell away very quickly. You needed constant nasah v'nishma. It had to last the nasah v'nishma. The Mishkan also, it's very exciting. Oh, I'm going to build a Mishkan, but it has to last. So constantly we're tested: do you really want? You know, in Chanukah they took away the avodas Beis Hamikdash, butl haTamid. The boxes—why was it butl haTamid? Because they were nisrashel in the korban. They were nisrashel in the avodah. The minute you're nisrashel b'avodah, you see, you don't want, you're not doing it b'devus halev, I take it away. It's mashkin. I take it away. It has to be that you want. The Chashmonaim came and showed they wanted, they were moser nefesh, and the Ribono Shel Olam gave it back. It's all about how much you want, how much you want, how much you want. That's hashraas haShechinah, and that's Mishkan, and that's the yesod of the Shekalim, Parshas Shekalim.

The giving of shekalim, how much. It's all valued in the ratzon of how much you want. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.