Vayakhel תרל”ו

תרל”ו

ויקהל משה כו’ אלה הדברים אשר צוה ה’ לעשות כו’ ששת ימים כו’.
(Shemos 35:1-2) And Moshe gathered the entire Bnei Yisrael and said to them: These are things that HaShem has commanded you to do. Six days work may be done and on the Seventh day you shall have a Shabbos of complete rest holy to HaShem, whoever does any work on it hall be put to death.
הקדים זה למשכן כי מלאכת המשכן הוא בכח הקהילה ואז נאמר ושכנתי בתוכם כמ”ש במדרש בתוכו לא נאמר אלא בתוכם ע”ש באלשיך תרומה.
This commandment (of gathering together to hear about Shabbos), precedes the building of the Mishkan. This is because the building of the Mihkan is through the energy brought about from gathering together. It is then that we merit that HaShem rests “among them”. As the Midrash explains: HaShem did not say “I will dwell in it” (the Mishkan), rather He said “I will dwell in them” (In Bnei Yisrael). As the Alshich explains in parshat Terumah (Shemos 25:8).
וקהילה זו הוא ענין השבת.
This “gathering together”, is the idea of Shabbos.
ובזה שהגיד להם השבת בזה הקהיל אותם.
And through commanding them about Shabbos, he was actually able to gather them. (The gathering here does not only mean physically together, it also means that they were all connected. So too on Shabbos, everything reconnects to its source).
גם נפרש אלה הדברים על הקהילה. שזה צוה ה’ שיקהילו עצמם.
We can also explain the meaning of the words above: “These are the things that HaShem commanded”, that it is speaking about the gathering together. That the commandment was to gather together.
וכ”ז הוא ענין אחד שהוא התרוממות כלל ישראל שגורם השראת השכינה שקראוהו חז”ל כנסת ישראל:
All this was intended for one purpose – to lift up Bnei Yisrael, which causes HaShem’s presence to dwell. This gives them the title of Knesset Yisrael. (The word Kneset means to gather together. When Bnei Yisrael fulfills this commandment, they are called Knesset Yisrael).

ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה.
(Shemos 35:2) Six days work shall be done.
כי כל הד’ רוחות ולמעלה ולמטה הוא בחי’ התאספות כל הכוחות והמדות להיות היכל לנקודה הפנימיות שהוא השבת.
The 4 directions, plus up and down (total of six, representing the six days of the week), is the idea of the ingathering of energies and traits, to be as a “hall” to the inner point, which is Shabbos.
והוא בנין המשכן ממש כמ”ש אי זה בית אשר תבנו לי כו’:
This is really the idea of the building of the Mishkan, as it says (Yeshaya 66:1) “What house can you build for Me etc.”

קחו מאתכם תרומה
(Shemos 35:5) “Take from you a teruma donation”. (What is the meaning of the word מאתכם – from you?)
פי’ מכח השכינה ההולכת עמכם שנק’ את שהוא כלל אותיות התורה מא’ עד ת’.
The explanation is that the energy of HaShem’s presence that goes amongst us is called את this refers to the idea of all the letters of the Torah from Alef to Tav.
ונקודה זאת מסייעת לבני ישראל
It is this point (of using the energy of HaShem את, that will help Bnei Yisrael
לכל החפץ בכל לב כמ”ש כל נדיב לבו
that whoever desires with a complete heart as the pasuk says “All the generosity of one’s heart”
בוודאי יביאה את תרומת ה’ כנ”ל:
he will definitely be able to bring the teruma of HaShem. As above.
(Through connecting to HaShem in everything – the concept of את, and with using all of one’s energies and desires, one is able to bring the Teruma of HaShem).

בפסוק והמלאכה היתה דים כו’ והותר. בס’ אוה”ח מקשה כי והותר סתירה למאמר דים.
On the pasuk (Shemos 36:7) “the work was enough…and extra”. The Ohr Hachaim asks that this is seemingly contradictory, was it “extra” or was it “enough”? (See Ohr HaChaim’s answer)
אכן בהקדים מ”ש מרבים העם להביא כו’. נראה כי הבינו החכמים עושי המלאכה כי הבאת התרומה הי’ יותר מכפי נדבת הלב.
Yet, in regards to the pasuk above (we can explain the contradiction). The wise men came to Moshe and said: “the nation is bringing too much”, this means that the sages building the Mishkan realised that the donation to the Mishkan was more than the true feelings of the heart.
ולכן העביר מרע”ה שלא יוסיפו להביא עוד. כי הכל אחר נדבת הלב הוא בא וטוב מעט בכוונה כו’.
It was for this reason that Moshe commanded that no more donations should be brought. For everything is determined by the (Internal) generosity of the heart. As a little bit with intention is better than a lot without intention). (This is because bringing something more than the intentions, means that this item does not have any intention attached to it, and something like that cannot be used for building the Mishkan).
ולכן מול זאת הגיד לנו הכתוב שלא יעלה על הדעת כי לא הביאו בנדבת הלב הנדבה הצריכה. לכן נאמר והמלאכה כלומר מה שנק’ מלאכה באמת היתה דים.
Therefore the Torah specifically tells us that we should not entertain the thought that whatever was necessary for the Mishkan was brought with correct intention. The Torah tells us this by the words “enough”, meaning that whatever was actually necessary was enough.
ונוכל לומר ג”כ פי’ דים על המביאים כי הביאו בכל לבם ודי זכותם בזאת והותר מה שהיו מרבים להביא כנ”ל זה הי’ המותר כנ”ל ובמ”א כתבנו באופן אחר קצת ע”ש:
Furthermore we can explain that the concept of “enough”, is speaking about the ones that brought the donations. They brought with their full heart, and enough merit.
Furthermore “it was extra”, means that not only was it enough merit that they brought with their full heart, but they also brought more and more.
And elsewhere we explained this a bit differently. (see above תרל”ה 1)