In this week’s Parashah “Terumah” (contribution), H”S tells Moses to ask the Jewish people for offerings in both the building of the “Mishkan” (Tabernacle )and for the maintenance of what would become the first Synagogue ever to exist, which would accompany them for their 40 year journey in the desert.
Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik teaches us that whenever the Torah uses the term “take” it refers to the donations given to the tabernacle , even though the people were giving and not taking. This is so because only the money we give away to tzedakah is really ours. The money a person works so hard to earn becomes part of his life. The hours, the stress, the hard work invested in earning a livelihood is really our sustenance but it is not ours. H”S gave it to us so we can administer it for him. Therefore the Torah uses the term “taking” when it refers to giving to worthwhile causes, for by this means we are truly taking, the money we give to tzedakah is our eternal possession, for this is the only thing we really take with us when we leave this world.
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