Elevating the holy good in everything

במדרש לקח טוב נתתי כו' יש בו כסף כו' זהב כו'.

In the Midrash: "A good acquisition (lekach tov) I have given you" — in it there is silver, in it there is gold, and so on.

The Midrash reads the pasuk about the Mishkan's donations of silver and gold as a hint to the Torah, which is called "a good acquisition" — the precious "metals" of every created thing are really aspects of Torah.

דכתיב מאת כל איש.

As it is written: "from every man."

The terumah is taken "from every man" — meaning from every single individual.

פי' מכל פרט ופרט.

The meaning is: from each and every detail.

The contribution to Hashem is to be drawn out of every particular, not only from the whole.

ועוד פי' מאת כל האיש שיש בכל פרט ג"כ כללות.

And further, the meaning of "from every man" is that within each detail there is also a totality.

Every individual part contains within it a whole world; the macrocosm is mirrored in each small detail.

וצריך לתת חלק להבורא ית' מכל הכוחות והמעשים והאברים הנחלקים באדם שהוא נק' עולם קטן.

And one must give a portion to the Creator, yisborach, from all the faculties, deeds, and limbs that are apportioned within a person — who is called a small world (olam katan).

Just as the terumah was lifted from material wealth, a person must dedicate to Hashem a share of every one of his powers, actions, and limbs, since each adam is a microcosm of the entire creation.

והמד' בא לבאר איך שיכולין לרומם חלק להש"י מכל דבר ודבר ע"י התורה שנק' לקח טוב.

And the Midrash comes to explain how one is able to lift up a portion to Hashem yisborach from every single thing — by means of the Torah, which is called "a good acquisition."

The Torah is the instrument through which the holy share concealed in everything can be raised up and consecrated to Hashem.

פי' שבכל דבר יש בו נקודה חיות והוא הטוב שבו שידוע ענין תערובת טוב ורע.

The meaning is that in every thing there is a point of life-force (nekudah chiyus), which is the good within it — for it is known that there is an admixture of good and evil.

Since creation is a mixture of tov and ra, every object holds an inner living point that is its hidden good, waiting to be separated out and elevated.

והטוב שבכל דבר הוא כח התורה.

And the good within every thing is the power of the Torah.

That inner point of good is nothing other than the Torah's force animating the object from within.

וע"ז נאמר כח מעשיו הגיד וע"ז נאמר בטובו מחדש בכ"י מ"ב.

And concerning this it is said, "The power of His deeds He told" (Tehillim 111:6), and concerning this it is said, "In His goodness He renews each day, continually, the work of creation."

The "power" Hashem placed in His deeds is the Torah, and it is through this inner good that He continually renews and sustains all of creation every single day.

וכיון שעיקר הכח נמסר לבנ"י ממילא יכולין ליקח הכל אליו ית':

And since the essential power was handed over to Bnei Yisrael, automatically they are able to draw everything back to Him, yisborach.

Because Hashem entrusted the force of Torah to Bnei Yisrael, they have the ability to take the hidden good of all things and restore it to its Source.

Summary: The terumah taken "from every man" teaches that within each detail of creation — and within each faculty of a person, an olam katan — lies a living point of good that is the power of Torah. Since Hashem entrusted that power to Bnei Yisrael, they can lift up the hidden good in everything and consecrate it back to Hashem.