Of Willing Heart
砖诪讜转 驻专拽 讻讛 驻住讜拽 讘
讚址旨讘值旨专 讗侄诇 讘职旨谞值讬 讬执砖职讉专指讗值诇 讜职讬执拽职讞讜旨 诇执讬 转职旨专讜旨诪指讛 诪值讗值转 讻指旨诇 讗执讬砖讈 讗植砖侄讈专 讬执讚职旨讘侄谞旨讜旨 诇执讘旨讜止 转执旨拽职讞讜旨 讗侄转 转职旨专讜旨诪指转执讬:
Exodus 25:2
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart makes him willing you shall take My offering.
砖诪讜转 专讘讛 驻专砖讛 诇讙
讘砖注讛 砖讗诪专 讛拽讘”讛 诇诪砖讛 注诇 注住拽讬 讛诪砖讻谉 讗诪专 诇驻谞讬讜 专讘砖”注 讬讻讜诇讬谉 讛诐 讬砖专讗诇 诇注砖讜转讜? 讗”诇 讛拽讘”讛 讗驻讬诇讜 讗讞讚 诪讬砖专讗诇 讬讻讜诇 诇注砖讜转讜 砖谞讗’ (砖诪讜转 讻讛) 诪讗转 讻诇 讗讬砖 讗砖专 讬讚讘谞讜 诇讘讜.
Exodus Rabbah Chapter 33
At the time that the Holy One blessed be He told Moses about all the tasks associated with the (building of the) tabernacle, Moses said before him; “Master of the universe will the Israelites be able to do this?” The Holy One blessed be He said to him “Even (a single) one of the Israelites could do it.” As it is written “of every man whose heart is willing.”
This midrash makes great meaning out of a small grammatical point. It seems that the midrash is responding to the peculiar shift from speaking of the Israelites as giving gifts collectively to emphasizing the individual gift. This was to be a monumental collective effort, and the midrash imagines Moses being concerned about getting the level of cooperation needed to make it happen. Given what he already knows about the difficult nature of this group, we can understand Moses’s worry. Our midrash imagines God reassuring Moses that this is a task that can be achieved by even a single Israelite.
That is why God asks that the gifts be from the willing. God seems not to be seeking out the work alone, but more the voluntary offering. I find this to be incredibly encouraging. It seems that often in life we could ask, “What’s the point of trying so hard when no one else is?” We could apply this to our environmental efforts, our religious strivings, or any tough choices we make in the face of a culture that works against our efforts. We feel that even if we give it our all, we alone can never save the planet, or create a strong Jewish community. Our midrash comes to tell us that God is concerned even with our small individual gifts, and that those are as dear as the great collective efforts.
The incredible thing, of course, is that the Mishkan does get built. That is the best message of all. You see, when individuals started giving to the Mishkan, an amazing thing happened. They inspired others to do so as well. That is the real power of one. Each of us may not be able to tip the scales on our own, but our efforts can inspire others to follow and to make the change we never could have made on our own.
