7×2 thoughts 14 vorts

Rav Moshe explains that בנ״י acted with זריזות by donating to the משכן right after משה told them about it, even though they had time. The חפץ חיים explains that if you have a true desire to do a מצוה then ה׳ will help you fulfill it, which we see from the פסוק of the people who wanted to help build the משכן and ה׳ put it in their hearts how to do it.  The דברי ישראל of Motzich explains that it means that when you think you have enough, then ה׳ will give you extra.

The Brisker Rav explains that the issue with what the נשיאים did is that we don’t make חשבונות when ה׳ asks us to do something.  The חתם סופר explains that the י is missing from נשיאים. In פר׳ נשא the תורה spends a lot of פסוקים taking about each קרבן by each נשיא. This teaches us that ה׳’s reward is much greater than punishment because their punishment was the removal of one letter, while their reward was a long פרשה.  The רל״ג said the נשיאים are missing a י and רש״י explains because they were lazy. The רל״ג explains that the נשיאים were just watching on the side lines, instead of getting up and standing on the end of the line of בנ״י until it is their turn.

The רל״ג explained the פסוק of ״כל איש אשר חכם לב״ to be that someone might think that they are a חכם because of themselves, so therefore the end of the פסוק says that they are only a חכם because ה׳ gave them that חכמה.  The ספר הדרש ועיון explains the פסוק of ״כל חכם לב בכם יבאו ויעשו את כל אשר צוה ה׳״ that a חכם לב is someone that doesn’t brag about what he is saying and dilly dally by schmoozing, but rather he just goes and does what he needs to do.  Another פשט is that ״בכם״ teaches us that everyone has a חכם לב in them, so then everyone needs to do what ה׳ wants.

The חתם סופר explains that ה׳ showed משה a fiery half שקל to tell him that the giving of the half שקל connects them with ה׳ and then they will have אחדות with other Jews because משה had thought they are giving חצי שקלים to show that they have אחדות with other Jews and he was bothered that not every Jew gets along.   Another idea on Achdut:  it says that משה gathered them together right after יו״כ. Rav Eliezer Ginsburg explains the פשט is that עבירות separate us, but right after יו״כ we can have אחדות.

Thoughts on Shabbat:  1) Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that ״לעשות את השבת״ means to make שבת special for other Jews by being מקרב them.  Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that one פסוק says that שבת is for ה׳ and one says it is for us. He explains that when someone is working the whole week so then שבת needs to be for ה׳ by learning, but someone who is in Kollel during the week can have שבת for themselves.  2) The רל״ג explained that this means that when we take the aspects of שבת that are for us and make them holy, then שבת is really for ה׳.  3) The חתם סופר explains that the פסוק says not to make a fire on שבת because we shouldn’t wait to light the fire of רוחניות until שבת.  The פסוק says ״ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה״ and the סמ״ג holds that asking a גוי to do מלאכה for you is an איסור דאורייתא. 4) The ישמח משה explains he learns it from this פסוק because it says that only for 6 days can your work be done, but on the 7th then it cannot be done at all.  5) The שערי שמחה says that if you really believe in ה׳ then you know that all your work is being done by ה׳. So if you really have that אמונה then it will be שבת שבתון, a relaxing שבת because you won’t be worried. 6) The ספר תורה ודעת explains that the reason why משה taught them about שבת now was because the גמ׳ says that if you keep שבת then you get כפרה, so right after doing the עגל הזהב he is telling them that they can get their עבירות wiped out.

The פסוק says ״קחו מאתכם תרומה כל נדיב לבו״ – the כלי יקר explains that the פסוק is trying to emphasize that the money shouldn’t be given out of peer pressure, but rather from within each person because they want to. The אמרי יעקב explains the פסוק of ״כל נדיב לב״ as saying that people that got inspired to give, actually gave, they didn’t just say things and not do them.

Why does it say איש ואשה יעשה מלאכה and not כל בני ישראל? The רל״ג explained that איש ואשה is a married couple and it is teaching us that every couple needs to do work on the marriage and for each other to keep the marriage going.  Another thought on women:  Rav Dovid Pam explains that the women who made the wool are called smart because they didn’t just donate money and have someone else do it; they did it themselves.

The זרע שמשון says that the תלמידי חכמים are called builders. Why? Because when משיח comes all the ישיבות will go to ארץ ישראל, so when a תלמיד חכם learns he is building a building that will be flown to ארץ ישראל.   Rav Schachter from Skokie yeshiva says that כאשר צוה ה׳ את משה is written 19 times because when you daven שמונה עשרה it is like davening in your own בית המקדש, and that’s why at the end of שמונה עשרה we ask for the rebuilding of the בית המקדש. 

The אור החיים  says that the word אלה comes to exclude something else, so אלה פקודים comes to teach us that only money used for מצוות is counted, but not when it is used for other things.  The אור החיים says that normally we don’t count things because then ה׳ won’t make an outright miracle to give you more than you have, but here the מצוות were counted because ה׳ will always give ברכה to מצוות.

The מלבי״ם explains that it is called a משכן עדות because since ה׳ rested in it we know that every penny donated was used for the proper purpose and nothing was misused.

Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that the אדנים supported the משכן and they came from the מחצית השקל because every Jew has a portion in supporting the משכן.  The בעל הטורים explains that there were 100 אדנים corresponding to the 100 ברכות we say every day.

Rav Eliezer Ginsburg explains that משה forgetting some of the stuff that he was counting teaches us that we need to rely on ה׳.

The רל״ג explained that the reason why משה says ״יהי רצון שתשרה שכינה במעשה ידיכם״ and not ידינו is because משה was כולו רוחניות and this was a gashmiyus ברכה. Another פשט is that there might not be full unity in the gashmiyus, so it’s not ידינו.  The כתב סופר explains that משה was telling כלל ישראל to take the idea of the משכן even into their working lives.

Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein explains that if you take collateral for a loan that you gave to someone then you need to give it back to the borrower every night but only if he asks for it. So too ה׳ gave us our כוחות and in return took the מקדש as a משכון and the only reason we don’t get it back is because we don’t ask for it.