The רל״ג explains that ויקחו לי means that the best way to give something to ה׳ is to take away the “I” from yourself.   The חתם סופר explains that ידבנו לבו means that while it is not up to each person whether they are מחויב to give צדקה because that depends on how much money ה׳ gave them, it is still up to them to have the proper thoughts and כוונה when giving. The Kotzker Rebbe explains that the only way you can really be קחו לי, know yourself, is when you are תרומה, you raise yourself up.  The פסוק first says יקחו לי תרומה and then it says תקחו תרומתי. The גר״א explains that ה׳ was telling משה that when you see the guy saying ״תקחו תרומתי״ that he actually wants to give then take his gift.  Rav Shternbach says the לשון of קחו לי תרומה is saying that don’t be full of גאוה when you collect צדקה because it is all for ה׳.

Some thoughts on the mishkan.  1) the Yavetz says that נעשה ונשמע in last week’s פרשה was בנ״י trying to get closer to ה׳, so Rav Yerucham Olshin explained that therefore ה׳ responded in this week’s פרשה by saying that He will have the משכן to get close with them.  2) Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that the משכן was covered with different colors because we all have different ways of serving ה׳.   One of the coverings of the משכן was עור תחש and it had different colors because Rav Shternach explains that there are so many ways to serve ה׳.   3) Rav Moshe Shapiro explained that every Jew might have different hashkafas and levels of religiosity, but the way to succeed is for all of us to be in the משכן with אחדות. 4) the שפת אמת explains that ״ועשו לי מקדש״ and we darshin that building the משכן was ״לשמי״, means for the sake of serving ה׳, and not for השראת השכינה.  The שערי שמחה explains that לשמי means that they would be undoing the thoughts of עבודה זרה that they had when they did the עגל.

We know that the ארון was all half measurements to show that there is never an end to תורה. So then why was the height of the שלחן also a half? The חפץ חיים explains that it is to show that there is no end to how much we can use the gashmiyus for holy purposes. The רל״ג explained that it is to show that we need to daven for the gashmiyus in order to serve ה׳ better.

Some thoughts on the Menorah:  1) The שפת אמת explains that even though ה׳ knew that משה wouldn’t be able to build the מנורה himself, He still had him try because we need to do our השתדלות before ה׳ gets involved.   2) Based on Rav Moshe the reason why the מנורה was all one block of gold was because it cannot have outside influences. 3) Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that the rain didn’t put out the fire on the מזבח teaching us that rain, גשם for gashmiyus, should not take over our רוחניות.  Rav Chaim Volozhin says that rain is צרות, so that even during the hard times we still need to learn.

Some thoughts on the Aron: 1) The משך חכמה explains that the poles never left the ארון to teach us that they are really what is carrying us, meaning that תורה can carry us. 2) the מגד יוסף explains that when we say that the ארון didn’t take up any space it means that a billion people can learn the same thing and nobody is stepping into anyone else’s territory. It can hold everyone. 3) The באר שמואל says that the ארון didn’t have legs to show that תורה can survive without any support. 4) Rav Moshe explains that the ארון was gold, wood, gold because you are first excited to learn and then you get stumped by something, like wood, so if you continue then you will find gold again.  5) The שפתי כהן explains that the the measurements of the ארון were all half because the תורה is only complete when people are learning it.  6) The שפתי כהן explains that the ארון was near the שלחן because you need פרנסה and תורה. The רל״ג added that the ארון comes first to teach that תורה is the עיקר.  7) Rabbeinu Bachei says that there is no ג mentioned in the building of the אהרון because the תורה can’t survive with גאוה.  8) The רל״ג explained that the reason the ארון didn’t have legs and rested low down was to teach that the תורה is for everyone not just those people high up.  9) Rav Moshe says that the ארון was made of gold wood and gold because when you first open ספר you are so excited when you first open a ספר you are excited, but then it gets hard and feels like wood, but push yourself and you will find gold again.  10) Rav Moshe Schor explains that there is an איסור to remove the בדים of the ארון because they are the people that support and we are telling them that they cannot remove themselves from the תורה. They need to always ask shailos.  The רל״ג explained that the ארון represents the rebbe and the poles represent the תלמידים showing us that the two can never leave each other. 11) Rav Moshe says that the ארון didn’t take up any space to teach us that the only way to become a תלמיד חכם is to be humble and not take up space.  12) The עוללות אפרים explains that the ארון had half measurements because your תורה is not complete unless you have a rebbe, and visa versa.

Some thoughts on the keruvim:  1) the עוללות אפרים says that the כררובים had rings going to שמים and they were looking at each other to teach us that there are two aspects in the תורה of בין אדם לחבירו  and בין אדם למקום.   2_ Rav Yoshe Ber from Brisk explains that the כרובים had kids’ faces to teach us that the future of תורה is in our children.  3) Rav Yisroel Salanter said that the כרובים had kids’ faces to teach us that you need to be like a kid when learning and living תורה and always willing to change and grow. 4) the רל״ג explained that a child is pure and doesn’t know the schmutz of the world, and we need to be like that to learn. A kid always asks questions, so we need to always ask questions.

Rav Eliezer Ginsburg explains that משה didn’t donate because he thought that then all the Jews would donate even if it wasn’t לשמה, so he wanted each donation to be לשמה.