Parashat Terumah

Which is more worthy of praise: doing exactly as you are instructed or independently doing something without being asked? Let’s take an example: should a teenager receive more credit for washing the dishes when you asked them or when after dinner one day, they just start washing the dishes without being asked? 

The opening verses of Parshat Terumah makes the case that of course to do something without being asked is a far greater action. We read in Shemot 25:2:

 

דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִי
Tell the Bnei Yisrael to bring Me [Hashem] gifts;

you shall accept gifts for Me [Hashem] from every person whose heart so moves them.

 

The key phrase is “יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ – every person whose heart so moves them.” Rashi explains that the language of יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ, refers to a voluntary or good will offering – essentially one who is moved to give without being required. 

The Gemara, though, completely contradicts this notion. In Kiddushin 31a, it states the opinion of Rabbi Hanina:

דְּאָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא: גָּדוֹל מְצֻוֶּוה וְעוֹשֶׂה מִמִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְצֻוֶּוה וְעוֹשֶׂה
Greater is one who is commanded to do a mitzvah and performs it

than one who is not commanded to do a mitzvah and performs it.

It would seem that this statement from the Gemara would argue that following directions is no minor accomplishment, but rather more praiseworthy than your own initiative.

Most of us would likely assume that someone who does a mitzvah without being commanded would be more ideal. They did it of their own free will and passion and not because they had to or were obligated to do so. 

Yet, this Gemara frames an essential principle of the Torah, which is that obligating an individual is not an unfortunate, but necessary reality of human nature; it is actually the ideal. This is predicated on the idea that to be obligated and fulfill that obligation requires a greater degree of willpower than acting without the pressure of obligation. Simply put, it is hard to do as you are told; harder than doing what you want to do on your own, even if what you want to do on your own is a mitzvah.

So, with this Gemara in mind, why did Hashem make the Mishkan gift completely optional? Each member of Bnei Yisrael should have been commanded to bring a gift. How do we reconcile our Gemara in Kiddushin – the one who is obligated receives a greater reward than the one who is not – with our parashah where God so intentionally asks only for donations from those whose heart moves them to give. 

The key to this question, I believe, lies in the very idea behind the Mishkan itself. The Mishkan is only a medium for a greater goal. God didn’t necessarily want the Mishkan; God wanted to dwell in the hearts of B’nei Yisrael. As the classic line reads in this parashah: 

 

וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם
And let them make Me [Hashem] a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

(Shemot 25:8)

 

 

This line should have read, build a mikdash and I will dwell “in IT”, but it reads “in THEM”. 

The donation of gold, silver, and other fine items from those whose heart moves them could not possibly have been commanded. For you cannot command someone to be a vessel for Godliness. It can only be accomplished through a person’s own passion, will, desire, and an inspired heart or motivation. God chose this process, the optional, voluntary gift, over commanding the nation because to mandate the gifts would have defeated the entire purpose of the Mishkan. It is not a story of building the house of Hashem. It is a story of building a community of Hashem, a community of believers.

Shabbat Shalom!