Rav Moshe Weinberger - Parashas Terumah 5752 Shabbos Drasha

Below is a write-up of Rav Weinberger's Shabbos Morning Drasha from this Shabbos, Parshas Terumah.  You can see past write-ups of Rav Weinberger's Shalosh Sheudos Torahs here and get thousands of his shiurim in mp3 format at ravmosheweinberger.com.

This week the Shabbos Morning Drasha is brought to us by two of our holy brothers in shul, Aviezer Cohen and David Simon. A big yasher koach to them both and hopefully they will be able to continue helping in the future. 

Rav Moshe Weinberger

Parashas Terumah 5752 Shabbos Drasha

We don’t have a Bar Mitzvah in the Bais Medrash this Shabbos, but Baruch Hashem, we have a milestone. We are celebrating the simcha of being in this building for 10 years. Parshas Terumah is the anniversary of when we moved into this building, and this Shabbos, Parshas Terumah 5772, is our 10 year anniversary of being here.

The pasuk says וַהֲקֵמֹתָ, אֶת-הַמִּשׁכָּן כְּמִשְׁפָּטוֹ אֲשֶׁר הָרְאֵיתָ בָּהָר.  “You shall setup the Mishkan  k’mishpato, according to its mishpat, as it was shown to you on the mountain.” (Shemos 26:30). The Yerushalmi (Shabbos12:3) asks on the lashon of k’mishpato, according to its law, is there a mishpat, a specific law for some  pieces of wood? People have laws, wood and objects do not. The Yerushalmi answers that the beam that merited to be placed on the north side of the Mishkan would be marked, and always had to be placed on the northern side every time the Mishkan was set up. So too, the beams that were placed on the south side of the Mishkan would always be placed in the south. The mishpat was that every beam had to always be placed on the side where it was set up at the initial building of the Mishkan. This teaches us k’vius, that there is a seder in the mishkan. This Yerushalmi applies l’halacha regarding a talis. The Magen Avraham in Orach Chaim (68:6) brings in the name of the Shla HaKadosh that the source of the minhag to have an atara on a talis comes from this din in the Yerushalmi. The purpose of the Atara, which can either be some silver or an extra piece of material, is to make sure that there is k’vius by a tallis—that the tzitzis that belong in front, are always worn in front, and that the tzitzis that belong in the back will always remain in the back.

We learn from the mishkan the chashivus, importance, of k’vius. However, we see from the Avodah of the Kohanim in the Bais Hamikdash the very opposite of k’vius. We know from the Mishnah in Yomah (82) that there was a peiyyis, a goral, a lottery, every day to make sure that the Avodah of the Kohanim would not become kavua. We further know from the Mishna in Sukkah (5:6) that the same Kohen who did the Avodah on one day was not eligible to perform the Avodah the next day. We see that this is the exact opposite of k’vius, and it was also in the Bais Hamikdash!

This question is asked by the Chasam Sofer who wrote that the rule of k’mishpato is to establish each beam in its proper place because the idea of k’vius only applies to the physical structure, to the wood and beams of the Mishkan. We know that the physical Mishkan in this world corresponds to the Bais HaMikdash Shel Ma’alah, the Bais HaMikdash on high, where the Avodah is performed by Malachim, angels. We know that the angels are called omdim, meaning that they cannot change their role. They are fixed, kavua in their roles.

But regarding people in this world, things are completely different. There is a tendency in this world for people to grow accustomed to certain things and certain behaviors. Here the challenge for us is to avoid falling into a state of hergel, things should not become habit. As Hashem says through the Navi Yeshaya (29:13) וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ יַעַן כִּי נִגַּשׁ הָעָם הַזֶּה בְּפִיו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו כִּבְּדוּנִי וְלִבּוֹ רִחַק מִמֶּנִּי וַתְּהִי יִרְאָתָם אֹתִי מִצְוַת אֲנָשִׁים מְלֻמָּדָה. “as the people have drawn close with its mouth and lips they honor me, yet they have distanced their heart from me and their fear of me has become like rote.”

In order to prevent the pitfall of hergel, Hashem wanted a different Kohen to be involved in each Avodah by way of a daily drawing of the lots. This was done in order that the Kohanim should merit to do the avodah with simchas ha’lev, joy, and hislavus, excitement.

This was the greatness of Aharon HaKohein. As the pasuk states (Bamidbar 8:3) regarding the lighting of the Menorah וַיַּעַשׂ ּכֵּן אַהֲרֹן אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה הֶעֱלָה נֵרֹתֶיהָ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה׳ אֶת מֹשֶׁה, and so Aharon did…just as Hashem commanded Moshe.”  Rashi, quoting the Medrash, says on that posuk that the words “Vya’as kein Aharon, and so Aharon did, tell us that the praise of Aharon was that he was unchanging.

The Gedolei HaChasidus were bothered by this Medrash. They asked why Aharon’s obedience to Hashem’s word is Aharon’s praise. If Hashem would have whispered words into our ears, we would all follow Hashem’s instructions without the slightest deviation. Why does Rashi bring this Medrash which says that Aharon’s unchanging fulfillment of this Mitzvah was his praise? Aharon’s unchanging fulfillment of this mitzvah was a very high madreiga.

The koach of Amalek is k’rirus, coldness. אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ (Devarim 25:18). The Koach of Amalek is to try to make us feel comfortable and accustomed to doing our Avodas Hashem.  Chazal say that nobody knew how to speak Loshon Hara like Haman HaRasha who said to Achasverosh (Esther 3:8) יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם אֶחָד מְפֻזָּר וּמְפֹרָד בֵּין הָעַמִּים there is one nation that is scattered and dispersed between the nations….Haman specifically used the word yeshno which is lashon shina, changing. Haman also used to word yeshno (related to shayna, sleeping) to imply that Hashem was sleeping and old, and that the Jewish people do not excite him anymore.

 

The word shina is also related to the idea of repetition as we see from the pasuk   וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ(D’varim 6:7). Now we can understand that the praise of Aharon  was that despite the fact the he lit the Menorah every day, he nevertheless was not impaired by the mida of Amalek, hergel, it never became a habit or stale. Each time he lit the Menorah was with the same excitement as the very first time. The way of life is for a person to lose the excitement and to take things for granted. Imagine if every time we looked at our children, we would see them with the same excitement that we had when they were born. If only a husband would look at his wife with the same excitement he had when he saw her by the Chupa. We tend to grow accustomed to seeing our parents in the same way -- they were there the moment we opened our eyes and continued to always be there for us. We should always try to think of our parents with renewed excitement and should not take them for granted.

This was Mordechai Ha’Yehudi. He was called Ish Yehudi, a  Lashon of Hoda’a, giving thanks. Mordechai took nothing for granted and was constantly thanking Hashem with renewed excitement for what he was given. R’ Yaakov Yitzchak from Lublin was known as the Yid HaKadosh. He earned his name because every day he was filled with renewal when he made the bracha “She’lo Asani Goy.” That is what made him into the Yid HaKadosh--- each day he was renewed in his service of Hashem. He felt he had just become a Jew.

Our Chanukas Habayais took place on Parshas Terumah 10 years ago. I remember clearly the uplifting and joyous occasion of davening mincha erev shabbos for the first time in the new building. While the shul was being built, I used to come to the shul every day and watch the cement being poured and the bricks being laid. However, I did not allow myself to see the finished Aron Kodesh until that first shabbos. I wanted to see it complete for the first time through the eyes of Shabbos. Thank you to the Chevra then and now for their selfless dedication to every chair and every room in this building that  has kept everything k’mishpato, with each piece of wood and stone set in the proper place. Over the years people have come and gone. In this world it is very hard to remain שְׁתוּלִים, בְּבֵית ה׳,  planted in the house of Hashem. It is difficult for us to be in the same place throughout all of the years yet simultaneously remain in a state of יַפְרִיחוּ, growing and sprouting forth with excitement and renewal. People spend their whole lives jumping around from one place to another looking for excitement. A Friday night davening here, chop a Mincha there, a new place, a new chevra. However, the ratzon Hashem is for us to be in a place of “K’mishpato” and to find renawal in that very place. That’s what it means to be שְׁתוּלִים, בְּבֵית ה׳ בְּחַצְרוֹת אֱלֹהֵינוּ יַפְרִיחוּ (Tehilim 92). Because of this, we must rededicate ourselves to what we originally set out to accomplish in this Beis Medrish regarding respect for Tefillah. People have taken certain liberties. Tefillah is being compromised. There is to be absolutely no talking. We must take this opportunity of our 10 year anniversary in this beautiful makom tefilla to recommit ourselves to tefillah and the Kavod of the Beis Hamedresh.  We must remind ourselves of our dedication when we first started and not, chas v’shalom, take the shul for granted.  

Once upon a time there was such a thing as shul yidden. There were people who stayed in the same shul for 40,50 and 60 years. They were in the same place, sat in the same seats and even had the same arguments year after year, but they were filled with a chiyus! There is a story of an old Rebbe in Europe in a poor little shtetl who never left his Bais Medrash to go anywhere else. One day the Chasidim decided that they wanted to do something special for the Rebbe and send him and his Rebitzin on a vacation. They collected money together and they came to the Rebbe and said, “Rebbe, we were thinking that it would be a good idea for you to go on a vacation.” The Rebbe listened and said, “you know, I was thinking the same thing!” He then picked his Gemara and sat down one seat over from his usual place, looked around, and said “ aahhh this is a mechaya!” That is what hischadshus means.  It means being kavua while also finding renewal in that which is kavua. It means finding a new perspective on what you’ve always had, finding a new taste in old wine. The Malachim in the Beis Hamikdash Shel Ma’alah above are Omdim, they do not have to change. However, down here in this world, we have to constantly work on ourselves and always renew ourselves, in order to prevent things to become old and stale. Therefore, we need to return to our original promise that we took upon ourselves to guard the kedushas hamakom and kedushas hatefillah in this Beis Medrash.