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February 19, 2007/1 Adar  5767
Parashat Terumah
By Rabbi Joel M. Finkelstein
 
There is something afoul in the very first words of our parasha. The portion opens by saying that the Children of Israel should take for G-d a gift for the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. (Exodus 25:1) Why doesn’t it say that the Children of Israel should give G-d a terumah, a gift?
The Medieval commentators have their answers. Ibn Ezra gives a technical answer that what it means is for the giver to take it away from where it is and then give it. Seforno says that it means that the court is authorized to “take” the gift from the givers if they fail to give.
 
Only a hundred years ago, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, the Sefat Emet, offered a mystic’s take on this verse. He said that when we give or do any mitzvah, we take the light of Torah. We so to speak acquire the presence of G-d when we do good. That’s what we take: we take on some godliness, some holiness.
 
Another interpretation popular in the last few centuries perhaps originates with the obscure Spanish exile, Rabbi Avraham Sebag, author of the Tzror HaMor. He explains that when we give a gift to G-d, we are not giving, but taking. “For all that one does in this world, except for the Torah and her commandments, one does for others and not for themselves; as it says in Psalms (49:11) ‘And they (mankind) leave their wealth to others.’”
 
Everything else we do, amassing of wealth for instance, we do for others. What does this mean? A man works his whole life and becomes a rich man. Can he enjoy all the fruits of his labor? Not necessarily. The government takes about a third, and the inheritors take most of what is left. But what we do for G-d, no one can take it away from us. It doesn’t matter if the market is up or down, these are tangible assets we possess: our good deeds.
 
The notion that when we do an action for G-d, we do it for ourselves, Rabbi Sebag points out, is found in so many of our mitzvoth. In the very  first “action” related parasha, Parashat Bo, it states: “This month is to you- the first month of the months of the year.” (Exodus 12:2) Literally, it simply means that Nisan, the month Pesach falls in, is the first in the count of Jewish months. But the words “to you” teach us that whatever G-d commands us to do in the Torah, we do for ourselves, for our own good.
 
This is why we find that the Torah often describes mitzvoth in this way. “Take for yourself” a Lulav. (See Leviticus 23:40) “Count for yourself (the Omer period).” (Leviticus 23:15) “Go forth for yourself (to Israel).” (Genesis 12:1) In all of these examples, the words lecha/lachem- “for yourself” (both in the singular and the plural) are used. G-d is so to speak telling us: “When you do good, no one can take it away from you. It is yours forever."
 
Take for Me a gift, G-d tells us in the Torah. You may feel as if you are giving, but what you are getting is a whole lot more than what you are giving. This is a type of self-esteem capital which no one can take away from us. We own it. We will feel good about it for the rest of our lives.
 
Rabbi Joel M. Finkelstein, a member of UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, is rabbi of Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth Congregation in Memphis, Tennessee.

UJC Rabbinic Cabinet Chair: Rabbi Ronald Schwarzberg
Vice Chairs: Rabbi Jonathan Schnitzer,  Rabbi Steven Foster,  Rabbi Amy Small
President: Rabbi Bennett F. Miller, D.Min.
Honorary Chair: Rabbi Matthew Simon
Vice President, Jewish Renaissance and Renewal: Dr. Eric Levine
Mekor Chaim Editor & Coordinator: Saul Epstein
Senior Consultant, Rabbinic Cabinet: Rabbi Gerald Weider
 
The opinions expressed in Mekor Chaim articles are solely of the author and do not reflect any offical position of UJC or the Rabbinic Cabinet.