Thursday, February 24, 2011

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vayakhel

The following is a brief summary of a vort said over by R' Frand this evening. I have attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Shemos 36:5-6 the Torah mentions that the Jews were so generous with their giving to the mishkan that the chachamim came to tell Moshe that the people were bringing more than could be used in the building of the mishkan. In response, Moshe announces that people should stop and the Torah indicates that the people were restrained (Vayikalei) from bringing. Rashi explains that the word vayikalei means min'ia which is another word for being stopped from doing something.

Rabbi Frand quoted the Tolner Rebbi who asked why the Torah used the word vaikalei instead of min'ia? The word min'ia is more prevalent in the Torah as it was used in connection with Bilam as well as in the conversation between Yitzchak and Rivka as to why she was barren.

As an introduction to the answer, Rabbi Frand quoted the Midrash Rabbah on Pikudei where the Torah indicates that the work in building the mishkan was "Dayah". The Midrash Rabbah states that Moshe had gone to visit Betzalel and saw that there was more material than could be used in making the mishkan. Moshe davened to Hashem to ask what should be done with the leftover materials. Hashem responded to Moshe - you should make a "mishkan l'edus."

The unresolved question from the Midrash Rabbah is - what is a mishkan l'edus?
The Yifei To'ar states that the mishkan l'edus was a small beis medrash which was built along side the mishkan. But R' Frand then gave a more in depth explanation of the concept. R' Frand quoted the Chidushei Harim who cited to R' Bunim who said that any time a Jew does a mitzva and has a desire that he should do more, but the mitzva is finished, Hashem has greater pleasure from the person's desire to do more than the mitzva itself. By way of example - a person gives tzedakah to the shul but wants to give more, but the budget is met and there is no need for more.

R' Frand then made reference to the sentence in the Yishtabach prayer "habocher b'shirei zimra..." R' Frand quoted R' Bunim as saying that one should read b'shirei as b'shiarei - that which is left over from davening. If a person has a desire to pray more, even though he has completed the prayer, this is the person who Hashem has chosen - the one that wishes that there was more that he could say to Hashem.

R' Frand also quoted the Eliyahu Rabbah who discussed the custom of saying the Adon Olam prayer after davening on Shabbos. Why do we do so? Because by saying Adon Olam we are showing that we have a desire to pray more - we started with the Adon Olam prayer and even though we are done, we want to start again at the beginning.

R' Frand indicated that this was the meaning of the statement that Hashem wanted the Jews to make with them a mishkan l'edus - Hashem wants to reside in them and with them because they want to do more. (Much like the vort v'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'socham - I want to be with them because they want to do more for Me).

R' Frand then quoted the Malbim in Sefer Hakarmel as to the difference between vayikalei and min'ia. Vayikalei is a language of being involuntarily stopped - a person wants to do, but he is forced to stop. This can be seen in the language for jail - a Beis Hakeleh - a person wants to leave but is forced to stay. In contrast, min'ia is a voluntary cessasion of activity.

R' Frand then tied the concept back to the Rashi - the language in the pasuk vayikalei - the Jews wanted to do more and give more, but the work was done and Moshe had to tell them to stop.

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