Terumah: 5785 - "Speak to the children of Yisroel, and let them take for Me a portion". Rashi: "For Me – for My sake". Why does it say 'and let them take' and not 'and let them give'? By Rabbi Shimon…

00:02 Speaker 1 The weekly parsha begins, “And they shall take for Me a contribution.” Rashi asks: What does “for Me” mean? “For My sake”—it has to be done for My sake. The Torah commentators raise a number of questions about this verse. First of all, it should have said, “And they shall give Me a contribution.” Why does it say, “And they shall take for Me a contribution”? One explanation is that taking the contribution must also be done for the sake of the mitzvah. Usually we talk about the person who gives the contribution, the one who performs the mitzvah. Here, the person taking the contribution must also do it for the sake of the mitzvah. Why? Because the person giving the contribution is giving his own money—money he could have used to support himself—so it’s clear that he’s doing it for the sake of the mitzvah. And in general, when a Jew performs a mitzvah, we assume that’s his intention. But when someone takes a contribution, “And they shall take for Me a contribution,” he is usually doing it to support himself and his family. He needs a livelihood. So that seems obvious, yet the Torah emphasizes that the person taking the contribution must also do it for the sake of the mitzvah. That’s how the Rebbe explains it. In this connection, there’s an interesting story about the rabbi of Jerusalem. In those days, it was customary in Jerusalem for members of a particular kollel—people in the religious community belonged to different kollels—to receive a sum of money from the kollel when they had a family celebration. If someone was marrying off a son, the kollel would give him money to help pay for the wedding. Once, the rabbi was marrying off one of his children, and the people running the kollel completely forgot. The wedding date arrived, and he didn’t want to go and ask. So he managed another way: he borrowed money from people and somehow paid for the wedding.

02:23 Speaker 1 Then the person in charge of the kollel suddenly realized, “Wait, we didn’t give the rabbi his grant?” He was beside himself. “How could we have forgotten?” He immediately took the money the rabbi was entitled to and hurried over to give it to him. But the rabbi said no; he wouldn’t take it. “Why not?” the man asked. “It’s yours.” The rabbi explained: “What is the grant given for? It’s given to help marry off a child. I’ve already married off my child, so why would I take it now? I’d be taking it to repay debts. That isn’t its purpose.” He would not take the money under any circumstances. Yes, “for Me”—for My sake. Even when a person receives charity, receiving it must also be for the sake of the mitzvah. Today, several joyous occasions come together. First of all, today is the completion of Rambam. We’re finishing the forty-fourth cycle of studying Rambam, an initiative the Rebbe established in 5744. So today we finish Rambam and celebrate the completion of Torah study. And today is Rosh Chodesh Adar. “When Adar begins, we increase in joy.” We have many, many reasons to celebrate. The laws concerning Purim and the month of Adar begin with this: if a person has a legal case against a non-Jew, he should postpone it until Adar. Why? Because in Adar, a Jew’s mazal is strong. His fortune is strong. We have a case against non-Jews—and not just any non-Jews, but enemies of the Jewish people. We have a serious case against them. After what they did to the Jewish people on October 7, we have a serious case against them. So now, the month of Adar is an especially auspicious time for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bring them to judgment.

04:16 Speaker 2 Amen.

04:18 Speaker 1 And with Hashem’s help, may we very soon merit the true joy of the Geulah.

04:24 Speaker 2 And we add to that the joy of completing Rambam.

04:27 Speaker 1 Right.