"And Moshe gathered together the entire community…(And Hashem commanded them saying,) You may work during the six week days but the seventh day must be kept holy as a Shabbat of Shabbats for Hashem …take from among you a raised offering for Hashem" (35:1-5). When all the craftsmen who made the Mishkan had fulfilled their individual tasks one would imagine that their pride would have overcome any other experience of what they had accomplished. But when everything was put together, united by the skins and surrounded by the curtains that were held up by the posts - when they saw the finished form of the Mishkan - they were awed by what they saw. For they understood that what had been done was not just a product of individuals. They realized that their thoughts had been guided towards a single aim and everything that had been done was made possible through Hashem's help. That is why Shabbat is mentioned next to the work of the Mishkan. Because Shabbat is the internality of all the commandments - the inner intention, doing for the sake of Heaven - and all the work of the Mishkan was done so that the Shechinah should rest upon Klal Yisrael. And this is what united the hearts of all of Klal Yisrael together, because the Shechinah could not rest if even a single peg was missing. Therefore no one individual could be proud over his fellow. For even if he made the ark as opposed to those who fashioned the sockets under the posts, the one without the other could not by itself provide a resting place for Hashem's presence. And this is what it means that Moshe "gathered together all of the congregation of Yisrael." He brought them together in the holiness of their work and everyone was worthy of praise. (Mei Shiloach on the parashah)

VaYakhel
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])

Giving And Receiving
"(The craftsmen) said to Moshe, 'The people are bringing much more than is needed for the work that Gd commanded to do.'" (Sh..36:5 ) The purpose of the Mishkan was to fix the whole creation, as the pasuk says, the contributions of the people were sufficient "for the work (hinting at the completion of Creation)" and not specifically the Mishkan. The Mishkan was to be the vessel for Hashem's blessing in the world as it says in parashat Bereshit when the six days were finished, "And Hashem saw all that He had done and it was very good…and everything was completed, and Hashem blessed all that was done."

Now just as Creation kept expanding of its own will until Hashem said "Enough!" so too, B'nei Yisrael who supplied everything for the Mishkan, kept giving and giving in excess until Moshe finally said "Enough!" But there is a contradiction in this very word, for if the contributions were truly excessive, this expression "diyam" is not exact.
But the answer is that the world was created with a complementariety of overabundance and lack in order that it should have its completion through righteous individuals and individual righteous acts. Thus, it was the natural way of things that B'nei Yisrael should give their contributions in overabundance and that not everything could be utilized. Therefore the pasuk continues, "And the people were stopped from bringing (yikaleh, lit., arrested)." They were prevented from filling their yearning by the edict from Heaven.

We can understand why Hashem commanded it this way by looking at the mitzvah of bringing the mandatory half shekel as a contribution for the Mishkan. There we are told that the wealthy should not contribute more, nor the poor, less. Because there are two faults at either extreme that need to be balanced so that one can come to fulfill the will of Hashem: the rich man must rein in his desire to give and the poor one must give more than he is able. This is in order that a person comes to realize that, as necessary as it is for him to give, it is not within his power to complete Hashem's will. And by means of surrendering ourselves to the will of Hashem once an action is done - and then requesting the help of Hashem in our prayers - through this alone do our actions reach their perfection and receive lasting existence (Sefat Emet 222).

Now sometimes a person can become depressed because he is naturally generous, but whenever he tries to give things go wrong. His gifts are not accepted as he would have wished. I think the Sefat Emet is giving us advice about our attitude towards giving so that we aren't hurt by how our giving is received.
Giving is one of the most powerful drives within us: if it is thwarted or rejected we can feel violated in the deepest way. But the point is that we are confusing the act of giving - which is ours to do - with the effect of the giving, which is not in our hands. The suffering we experience from our unaccepted giving comes from the expectation that we know what is best when really this is not for us to decide. The more we turn to Hashem to bestow His blessing on what has been done - that things should reach their proper outcome - the more we can offer of ourselves wisely and lovingly. We can give without needing to dictate the outcome; we can pour out our abundance where it is called for and we can pray that Hashem will make our words and deeds understood for the good.

Mitzvot According To Sefer Hachinuch
There is one command: That the justice courts should not try capital cases on the Shabbat.

At A Glance