NO JEW IS SUPERFLUOUS
In this week’s Parsha, Terumah, HaShem instructs His people to contribute a terumah, a contribution, to the building of the Mishkan. Our Sages point out that the people were being asked to participate in three collections. One contribution was for the material with which to build the Mishkan. This included the gold, the silver, the copper, the different types of wool and so on. The second contribution was for the communal offerings. These include the two daily offerings, the musaf offerings and other offerings that were required of us as a nation. The third contribution was for the production of the silver rings which made up the base of the Mishkan.
It is noteworthy to contrast the difference between the first and the last collection. Both collections were for the construction of the Mishkan. The first collection was purely optional. “Every person should give according to the generosity of their heart…” If someone’s heart was closed they contributed nothing. The last collection which was also for the Mishkan, for the base of the Mishkan, was mandatory. Every man must contribute a half shekel, which was a weight of silver. Nobody was allowed to give less than or more than that amount.
If both of these collections were for the building of the Mishkan why was there a need for two separate collections and why such differences between them?
The function of the Mishkan was to be an edifice built by HaShem’s people through which He would express His Presence among His people. With the Mishkan in their midst, every Jewish family radiated kedusha, their home was hosting HaShem’s Shechina.
Every vessel, every curtain, every hook of the Mishkan contributed to that Presence. The material that was contributed in the first collection went to those de-tails. Every person relates differently to HaShem and hence every person contributed differently to the Mishkan. Some gave gold and others gave wool. Some donated their skill and others donated their labor. Just as relationships differ from person to person, so did their contribution differ.
However, when it came to building the base of the Mishkan, there every Jew had to be represented equally. HaShem’s Shechina cannot find its base in this world until every Jew is present. And there is no difference between one Jew and the next with respect to the building of the base of the Mishkan.
If there are ten simple Jews in one room, kaddish may be recited. If, however, there are only nine Jews, even if they are the greatest Torah scholars including Moshe and Aharon, kaddish may not be said. Kaddish needs a minyan of ten Jews. The Mishkan needs every one. Just as every Jew counts for the minyan, every Jew counts for the Mishkan.
The amount of silver needed to make the base of the Mishkan was exactly the amount that was contributed through the half shekel. The reason why every person contributed just a half shekel and no more was so there would be room for every other Jew. Nobody can re-place another Jew. Every Jew is needed and no Jew is superfluous.
In the former Soviet Union there was no opportunity for Yiddishkeit to flourish. There was no opportunity for the Jews to be Jews. So in the 1980’s, when the Director of history made global upheavals through which a half million Russian speaking Jews came to America, it was evident that He wanted every Jew to be here. He wanted every Jew to count. It was with this inspiration that Achim was founded to facilitate that opportunity and realize that potential.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind