Presumably, God knows about negative and positive energy and He wants His house to be made only from material that was given whole-heartedly, willingly, joyfully, trustfully, with a belief that it is the right thing to do. It was to be constructed from only the finest and most expensive materials, such as gold, copper, fine linen, goats’ hair, dolphin skins, acacia wood. Therefore not only should a person give his favorite carpet made from the dolphin skin—itself by some miracle brought from Egypt and taken on a journey to the wilderness—but also to give up even this possession willingly and joyfully. That is to use the anthropomorphic description and say that this God is a tough guy.  He teaches us not to worship the material things. But He also trusts that there are enough people with their heart open to what we now call “charity”, in order to collect enough for the building of the Sanctuary. I think God trusts us more than we do.

Judaism places its emphasis on action. Charity is a compulsory part of this set of values. The Shulchan Aruch in its special section devoted to the subject summarizes that it is a positive religious obligation for a person to give as much charity as he can afford. We have been commanded positively to do this many times in the Torah: “Every person is obligated to give charity. Even a poor man who is himself supported by charity is obligated to give from that which he receives”.[1] The Rabbis created the laws obliging people to give without any consideration to their being willing or unwilling to do so. Perhaps the Rabbis did not have very much trust in their fellow human beings.

Mordecai Kaplan said: “…the dependence of the moral law upon religion is a permanent rather than a passing phase of the human spirit.”[2] Abraham Maslow developed a theory about the hierarchy of human needs. He said that first human beings need to satisfy their own biological needs and only after these needs have been satisfied do they move to another level of “humanistic” needs. The Rabbis made laws for those who cannot overcome their own selfishness or unwillingness to perform an act of altruism.

Coming back to our Torah portion it is worth pointing out that there are commentators in our tradition who went beyond the literal detailed description of the Tabernacle. Isaac Abravanel maintains that the entire sanctuary and each of its parts have allegorical meaning. According to him when the Torah speaks about the mikdash, it is not only describing a sacred building in which worship takes place but it is also teaching about the body of each human being. For example our Torah portion speaks about the Menorah made of “pure gold”, so teaching the truth that one must be careful of impure ideas. Abravanel also suggests that the menorah is to be placed so that it faces the Holy of Holies in order to remind us that true wisdom is always in harmony with the teaching of Torah[3].

If the Sanctuary symbolizes us or our human achievements, it tells us that each person is a small Sanctuary to which many people are contributing: parents, teachers, friends,  a friendly person across the road, a cheerful girl next door, and a bus driver who always stops the bus far beyond the bus stop. I hope that when we give a donation, whichever way we do it, we give because our heart so moves us and not because we have to. Sanctuaries do not need a patronizing, arrogant, pitying tzedaka, or an action which has become empty and emotionless, but rather whole-hearted actions. Our Sanctuaries are our synagogues and we need to open generous hearts and to trust people, starting first of all with ourselves. 



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[1] Shulhan Arukh 248:1; see Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, 247-259; Kitzur Shulhan Arukh, chapter 34.

[2]  Mordecai M. Kaplan, The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, Wayne State University Press, 1994,  p. 301.

[3] Harvey J. Fields A Torah commentary for our time, Volume II: Exodus and Leviticus, UAHC Press, 1991, p.67.