Vayakhel תרל”ח

תרל”ח

במדרש ארפא משובתם אוהבם נדבה כו’ אם יתן איש כו’ כל הון ביתו כו’ ע”ש. שע”י נדבת המשכן נתקנו בנ”י מחטא העגל.
The Midrash (Shemo Rabba 48:6) explains at length that through the donation to the Mishkan, Bnei Yisrael repaired the sin of the Golden Calf.
והטעם שע”י הנדבה נתדבקו במקור נפשם הטובה שנק’ בת נדיב. שהנדיבו’ נמצא בשורש נפשות בני ישראל בירושה מאבות.
The reason is because through their generosity of giving to the Mihskan, they were able to connect back to their true good core, as Bnei Yisrael are called “the daughter of nobles (נדיב connected to the word generosity). For the generosity is part of the core essence and source of Bnei Yisrael that they had inherited from their forefathers.
אבל אוה”ע אם יתן כו’ הון ביתו אינו באמיתות נדבת הלב. וחסד לאומים חטאת.
However (regarding) the nations of the world (it is written) “If a man gives all the wealth of his house in love, it will be scorned”, for their generosity (is not accepted because) it is not true generosity. “The kindness of the nations is a sin”. (For everything they do is for their own benefit not for the sake of HaShem. [See Gemara Shabbos 33b])
רק בנ”י נק’ נדיבים במקור נפשותיהם כנ”ל:
It is only Bnei Yisrael that are called נדיבים (who have generosity) in the core of their souls. As above.

(The Ba’al Shem Tov explains that if a person sinned, to repair that sin, one must use that same trait wholly for the sake of HaShem. This is because the reason why the negative forces were able to attach to that trait was because it was not used for the correct purpose. By using it wholly for the sake of Hashem, the negative forces will not be able to attach to it.)