Pekudei: 5782 - Rabbi Avraham Abba Bruk returns to Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a story about his grandfather Rabbi Zonnenfeld, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, with a brief insight on Parshas Pekudei, at the conclusion…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:00 Speaker 2 “These are the accounts of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of Testimony.” So Rashi asks: Why does it say “Mishkan” twice? Why twice? He says it refers to two destructions, the two destructions that befell the sanctuaries. And we learned in Tractate Yoma, page 21, that five things were present in the First Beis Hamikdash that were not present in the Second: the Ark, the cherubim, the kapores, the fire, the Urim VeTumim, prophecy and the Shechinah. When we say the Ark, we mean the kapores and also the—

00:48 Speaker 1 Cherubim.

00:49 Speaker 2 In other words, the Ark counts as one. So those are the five things. And that is the difference: in the first mention, it says “haMishkan,” with a hei. That represents the five things that were present in the First Beis Hamikdash but not in the Second. Yasher koach. A question came to Rabbi Sonnenfeld, the rabbi of Jerusalem. A woman had donated a sum of money to a kollel, and she wrote in her letter, “I ask that you not send me a receipt under any circumstances.” There was a whole discussion about whether they had to honor her request. The matter reached Rabbi Sonnenfeld, z"l. He said, “It’s simple. Why doesn’t she want one? She doesn’t want her husband to know how much money she gave. So this is a matter of shalom bayis. Shalom bayis is more important than the rules of administering donations and proper procedure.” Have a good Shabbos.

02:14 Speaker 1 Good Shabbos and a good new month. Yasher koach.