Rabbi Frand on Parshas Terumah
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissocher Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion:
Tape # 134, Living Above a Shul. Good Shabbos!
The Sequence of Parshiyos: First Mishpatim, Then Teruma
Parshas Teruma follows on the heels of Parshas Mishpatim, but they
are really two very different types of parshiyos. Mishpatim is a
parsha filled with monetary laws -- virtually all of Bava Kama and
Bava Metzia originate from Parshas Mishpatim. Parshas Teruma is a
portion dealing with laws between man and G-d. It is the portion
dealing with the building of the Beis HaMikdash, a portion dealing
with sacrificial offerings. On the surface these would appear to be
two totally distinct parshiyos.
Yet, the Pardes Yosef writes, it is for a specific reason that the
Torah wrote Parshas Teruma right after Parshas Mishpatim. The Torah
wants us to know that when there is a Mitzvah to donate one's money
to a Beis HaMikdash or to a shul ("And you shall take for Me an
offering..." [Shmos 25:2]) we need to be sure where that money is
coming from.
The Torah wants us to know that there is a section called Mishpatim:
There is a section dealing with theft and there is a section dealing
with the prohibition of taking interest on a loan. The Torah wants us
to make sure that the money we are donating comes from sources which
are legal and above board (Kosher v'Yosher). The Torah is not
interested in a person donating money that was acquired illegally.
There is an interesting Maharsha [Ketubot 67], which decries and
criticizes stealing and then giving from that money to charity:
"Many in this generation gather their wealth through measures which
are without faith in G-d and which involve the desecration of G-d's
name (Chillul HaShem) like by stealing from idolaters. Afterwards,
they donate this money (for communal purposes) to get annual honors
for themselves so that they will be blessed by the community (get a
special "Mi She'Berach"). This is nothing other than a Mitzvah that
comes by way of a sin (mitzvah ha'baah b'aveirah). Such money will
not last."
This, says Pardes Yosef, is the reason that Parshas Mishpatim comes
before Parshas Teruma. We need to know about the prohibitions of
theft and corruption, and Ribbis, and stealing from Jew and Gentile
alike. Only then can we talk about making a long term pledge to the
Beis HaMikdash.
The Dining Room Table -- How One Can Take It With Him
There is a fascinating Rabbeinu Bachaye in this week's parsha. On the
section dealing with the Shulchon - Table [Shmos 25:23-30] he goes
through the symbolism of the Table and the "Show Breads" that were
put on the Table. Then he says -- al derech haMedrash -- that the
term Shittim (acacia wood, from which the Table was made) is an
acronym for Shalom, Tova, Yeshua, Mechila (Peace, Good, Salvation,
Forgiveness). He points out that the Aron and the Altar were likewise
made of acacia wood (Shittim) for the same reason.
Rabbeinu Bachaye is saying is that all gifts -- represented by Peace,
Good, Salvation, and Forgiveness -- that the Jewish people received
during the time of the Temple, came about through the conduit of the
vessels of the Temple.
Rabbeinu Bachaye goes on to ask that this is all fine and good while
the Temple was standing -- we had all these utensils to provide us
with these wonderful blessings -- but what do we have going for us
now that we have been in Exile for 2000 years? He quotes a famous
Talmudic passage "Now that the Temple is no longer standing a person
receives atonement through his table" [Chagiga 27a]. What is our
"Table" that atones for us now that we don't have a Temple? Our
dining room table.
What a person does with his dining room table -- if he feeds the poor
and welcomes in the bride and he does acts of kindness -- that is his
altar of atonement. When one sits at his Shabbos table and is
surrounded by others with whom he is sharing his bounty, his table
becomes his altar of atonement.
Finally, Rabbeinu Bachaye goes on to say an awesome thing: "It is a
custom of the pious people in France to use the wood from their
dining room table to build their coffins for burial."
Think about the imagery. A man spends many occasions and has many
meals with his friend around his dining room table. Then he goes to
his friend's funeral and he sees him being buried in the same wood
that was his dining room table!
The purpose of this custom -- says Rabbeinu Bachaye -- was to teach
that a person will take nothing with him to the World of Truth except
for the charity that he gave in his life and the goodness that he
shared around his table. The charity, the guests, the widows, the
orphans, the Baale Teshuva that one has fed and the influence that
one dispenses around his dining room table is all that he takes with
him.
Our Rabbis said [Berochos 54b] "One who has a long table (ha'Marich
b'shulchano) will have long days and long years". When I was in
England I went to see Windsor Castle where the Queen lives on week-
ends. In this palace was the longest dining room table I have ever
seen in my life -- seventy-five chairs around it! That is not what
the Rabbis were talking about.
What the Rabbis were speaking about was not the length of the table
but what one does around it.
Rav Chavel brings in the footnote to Rabbeinu Bachaye a work called
Sifsei Kohain who says that the acronym of ShLChaN (table) are Shamur
Likevura Chessed Nideevosecha (Saved for your burial are the kindness
of your generosity). The table is the altar of atonement for our
generation -- only Kindness and Truth accompanies us to the True
World.
Personalities & Sources:
MaHaRsha -- Moreinu HaRav Shlomo Eidel's of Ostroh, (1555-1632)
Polish Rabbinical figure; authored monumental Halachic and Aggadic
commentaries on Talmud.
Rabbeinu Bachaye -- (1263-1340) Student of Rashba, commentary on
Chumash contains simple, midrashic,
philosophical, and kabbalistic interpretations. A
multi-volume annotated edition of his commentary
was published in the 1960s by Rabbi Chaim Dov
Chavel, z"l, of Far Rockaway, NY.
Glossary
Bava Kama, Bava Metzia -- The First Gate, The Middle Gate; Talmudic
tractates dealing with monetary and civil
laws.
al derech haMedrash -- by way of (interpreting in) a homiletic
fashion
Aron -- box containing the Torah and Ten Commandments in the Temple.
This week's write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissochar Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah
portion #135 The corresponding halachic portion for this tape is:
Living Above a Shul. The other halachic portions for
Parsha Trumah from the Commuter Chavrusah Series are:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
