Parshat Terumah
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Or Shlomo, Hebron בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Yearning for the Holy Presence in the Holy Land
"ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם"
"And may our eyes see in Your return to Zion with compassion. Blessed are You HaShem Who returns His Presence to Zion..." Our people yearn for the day when we may build the Bait Hamikdash, that the Holy Presence rest among us, that God's Presence be a greater and more dominant part of our lives.
Our week's parsha which calls the people to contribute valuables to the Mishkan, as well as parshat Shekalim read last week, both teach us the great value of the Beit Hamikdash and its forerunner, the Mishkan. In parshat Shkalim and in its aftermath in Rosh Hodesh Adar (the purpose of the reading is to be a reminder to bring the half-shekel beginning with R. Hodesh Adar) this week we learn how every Jew, whether poor or wealthy, has a fundamental connection to the Beit Hamikdash; by the Torah commandment of giving the half-shekel every year for the upkeep of the Beit Hamikdash.
Not only is the half-shekel's monetary aspect indicative of a Jew's dedication to the Beit Hamikdash, but also the half-shekel's spiritual meaning, as "atonement for your souls", expresses the special soul-connection every Jew has to the Beit Hamikdash. Indeed, the half-shekel may represent the unique connection and covenant with HaShem present in the Beit Hamikdash by showing how, so-to-speak, half of this covenant is the part of Israel while the other half is the part of HaShem.
Even though, unfortunately, we do not have the Beit Hamikdash today, the custom is to give a half-shekel's worth (in silver) of money or half of the common coin in one's country to charitable means in memory of the original half-shekel given to the Beit Hamikdash. The custom is to give this commemorative half-shekel before or on Purim (Orach Haim 694, 2).
From the Talmud's inference we mentioned in parshat Bo that "Torah will be delivered from Zion" (Psalms) indicates that months may be only enacted in the Land of Israel. We may infer that the term "Zion" may also refer to the Land of Israel in general . Indeed, as we have shown in previous weeks, the Land of Israel in general is linked to the Holy Presence, which resides especially in the Bait Hamikdash in Jerusalem.
In this sense, those who contribute to the settling of the Land of Israel are connected to returning the Holy Presence in our midst, for the settlement of the Land of Israel by our People means making greater the power of the Shechina as we have shown in previous weeks. Thus, the contribution to the settlement of our Land is somewhat similar to the contribution of the original half-shekel to the Beit Hamikdash, center-point of the Holy Presence. This is also especially true of Hebron and Ma'arat HaMachpela, a focal point of the Shechina (Zohar 2, 5).
Real-life Hashgaha story #5: "One Rabbi came to me asking why the book "Hemdat Yamim" is in my yeshiva's library, considering the fact that there are claims that this sefer is attributed to the school of Shabatai Zvi. That very day my wife's aunt "happened" to bring me a booklet from Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook's library, which its very purpose was to defend the book "Hemdat Yamim" from the claims upon it.
