FEBRUARY 23 • 2023 | 49
SPIRIT
Value of Spirituality
M
oses not only
served as the
rabbi of the
Israelites, but he also did
the fundraising, collecting
the gold, silver, copper
… for the construction
and upkeep of the
Sanctuary.
There is, however,
one difficult phrase
in our biblical
portion. God
commands Moses
to tell the children
of Israel to “take”
gift offerings for the
Sanctuary; ought not
the proper verb be to
“give” gift offerings
for the Sanctuary?
The expected
verbal usage is that
the donor “gives” gifts and
the recipient “takes.”
I once heard that the
individual donor must first
give his gift to the gizbar or
treasurer of the Sanctuary;
the treasurer represents
the entire Knesset Yisrael
(congregation of Israel),
accepting the gift-offering
on their behalf. The donor
then takes the gift which
no longer belongs to him
but rather to communal
Israel and presents it to
the Sanctuary on behalf of
“Israel entire.”
What made Moses such a
successful fundraiser? Rabbi
Yosef Yoizl of Navardok
founded 180 yeshivot in
Eastern Europe between the
two World Wars. He had a
student who fell short of his
yeshivah’s standards, and he
gently insisted that he leave.
Another rosh yeshivah
accepted the student to his
institution. This time, he
barely made the grade, but
not long afterwards, left
the yeshivah and went on
to become a very wealthy
businessman. Rav Yosef
Yoizl visited with his former
student and received a gift
of 1 million rubles to
open another yeshivah.
When the rosh
yeshiva who had
taken in the failed
student came to visit
his former pupil, he
had extremely high
expectations of the
gift he would receive,
but he only got 18
rubles. He bitterly
complained, to which
he received the
following reply: “When
Rav Yosef Yoizl visited
me, he showed disdain for
my fine furniture, and he
spoke of Torah learning as
the highest value. Through
his presence, my money
lost all value for me; I
gladly gave him a million
rubles. But when you
entered my home, I saw
how your eyes glowed in
amazement at my expensive
furniture. You called me by
the honorific title “reb” —
certainly not because of my
Torah knowledge. In your
presence, my money gained
in value, and so I could
barely part with 18 rubles!”
Moses had no interest in
the gold, silver or precious
stones. He understood that
the material objects were
only a means to inspire
to ultimate values of
spirituality.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor
of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of
Efrat, Israel.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Shlomo
Riskin
Parshat
Terumah:
Exodus
25:127:19;
I Kings
5:26-6:13.
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