This week we read Parshas Terumah. The Torah describes to us how the collection was made to raise the money needed to build the Tabernacle.
The Torah begins by telling us Hashem’s instructions to Moses. ”Speak to the children of Israel and tell them that they should take for me a contribution; from any man who desires, you should take my contributions”. Why does the beginning of the verse talk about them taking, and the end of the verse talks about you taking?
When Moses was raising money for the Tabernacle, he was able to tell if a person was giving money wholeheartedly or not. If a person was giving it because they wanted to, then Moses would take the contribution. If they were only giving it because they felt that they had to, then Moses would not take their money. The two parts of this verse talks about these two different types of people. The beginning of the verse speaks about people who we have to take money from. They did not come on their own. Some people just did not get around to it but really wanted to give, while others did not want to give unless forced to do so. The second part of the verse refers to people who give on their own. With them, there was no question that their motivations were pure.
Hashem did not want to turn away contributions from anyone. Even if a person only gave the money because they were force into it, we assume that when they did finally give it, they did so with their whole heart. Hashem wanted these Jews to also be represented in the Tabernacle. Therefore, the beginning of the verse, when it talks of taking money from people, the instructions were They should take it- other people should raise the money so that no-one should be turned away. In the second part of the verse, when we speak of those who give on their own, then Moses should be the one to accept their contribution. Since they gave on their own, there was no question that their motivation was pure and they would be represented in the Tabernacle.