Terumah

Our parsha begins with ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי , and they shall take to me a portion, from every man whose heart will motivate him you shall take My portion.

The Ben Ish Chai relates that many of the commentators have asked regarding the double lashon of the posuk. Why is it saying twice to take the teruma? He continues that in analyzing these words, we notice that besides being extra they're slightly different. In the beginning, the posuk says  תרומה  while at the end it switches to  תרומתי that it's Hashem's teruma. Why the change?


To answer the first question of the double lashon, Rav Yonasan Eibshits says that we know that in order to build the mishkan, more pure gold was needed than existed in the world. Additionally, there was a need for other precious metals & stones that were not readily available. So how was it possible that the Jewish people brought more of these items than were actually needed? As the posuk states, "the work was enough & even more than was needed."


The only explanation could be that Hashem blessed their donations so that the little that they gave became a lot, equivalent to the desire of the one who was donating. That's how much bracha went into the donation. For instance, if someone only had a small piece of gold & he brought it with a heavy heart wishing he could have given double or triple that amount. If he sincerely meant it, then his donation would miraculously increase to what his heart wanted to give.

In essence, therefore, there were two kinds of teruma. One was what the Jewish people actually gave & one was what Hashem added onto their donations.  

The words   ויקחו לי תרומה refer to what the regular people actually gave; then, there's another teruma for those that were ידבנו לבו. Those are the ones that gave תרומתי, the second teruma.


In a similar vein, the Ben Ish Chai answers the second question by quoting the Dubner Maggid on why later on it says והבדילה הפרוכת לכם בין הקודש ובן קודש הקדשים , and the paroches shall separate for you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies. Why did Hashem want to split the Mishkan into two separate levels of holiness? Why wouldn't He want the whole Mishkan to be Holy of Holies?

The Dubner Maggid answers, we need a paroches to separate & to make two levels of kedusha in the Mishkan because of the way the donations come into the Mishkan. There are those who give with all their heart because they want to glorify Hashem’s name. Their donation goes straight to the Kodesh Hakadashim. Then, there are those who just donate because they feel they have to & do it without heart. Those donations can't go to the holiest of places so there has to be a division.


When רב' חיים ולוז'ין started his yeshiva he sent out people to collect. On one of his meshulachim's route there was one man who gave him fifty ruble every year, a large sum in those days.

Years later, this meshulach got his own horse & wagon so as not to have to travel with the caravan & waste time. He also got a nice suit to look respectable to prospective donors. When he came to this regular, the man said I'm not giving you anything. Not only that, I regret ever giving you.

The next year, Rav Chaim came with his meshulach to this man's house to ask why he stopped giving.

He answered, I saw the meshulach coming to me with a fancy suit, a horse & carriage, so I said I don't want my monies to be wasted on those things; I wanted to give to the people learning.

Rav Chaim responded: by the Mishkan, too, all the people wanted their money to go to the holiest of places. That's what was so special about Bezalel. He was able to tell what each person’s intention was; the ones who gave with their heart went into the holiest places. You, too, if you’re giving with your heart, your money will go to the ones learning; if you’re giving for honor, too, then it'll go to the carriage & if you’re giving only for honor, then it will go to feed the horses.

Here, too, says the Ben Ish Chai we can apply this  logic. ויקחו לי תרומה refers to donations from anyone which went to the standard items of the mishkan. The words תקחו את תרומתי is talking about the one who gives with his heart; that's Hashem’s teruma. It goes straight to the holiest of places, teaching us that it’s how we give & not what we give that counts!