The Leftover Donation: Witness to Forgiveness

1“These are the accountings of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony …”¹ Rashi writes: “‘The Mishkan of the Testimony’: a testimony for Israel that the Holy One, blessed be He, had forgiven them for the Golden Calf, for He rested His Shechinah among them.”² The holy sefarim, among them the Tzafnas Pane'ach and the Ohr HaChaim, ask: why was testimony needed that the sin of the calf had been forgiven? Hashem had already been reconciled with them and had given them the second Tablets, so He had certainly forgiven them. Otherwise He would not have given them the Tablets.

2The Midrash relates: “When the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moshe to make the Mishkan, at once ‘every man came …’ Within two mornings they had brought everything, and there was some left over, as it says, ‘The work was sufficient …’ Moshe went in to Betzalel and saw that some was left over from the Mishkan. He said before Hashem, ‘Master of the world, we have done the work of the Mishkan, and there is some left over. What shall we do with what remains?’ Hashem said to him, ‘Go and make with it a Mishkan for testimony.’ Moshe went and made with it … This is the meaning of ‘These are the accountings of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony.’”³ The Maor VaShemesh and the Yismach Yisrael ask: what is this “Mishkan for testimony” made from the leftover gifts for the Mishkan? The Mishkan had already been set up, and nowhere in the verses do we find that another Mishkan was made!

3aWe may explain this through what the holy sefer Ateres LeRosh Tzaddik writes on the verse “The work was sufficient for all the work, to do it, and there was extra.”⁴ The commentators ask about this verse, among them the Ohr HaChaim; the Taz, R' Dovid HaLevi Segal, asks something similar in his commentary. The word “sufficient” implies exactly as much as they needed and no more. How, then, can the verse end “and there was extra,” which implies more than the work needed? The Ateres LeRosh Tzaddik explains as follows. As is known, the goal we seek in avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, is this: even when we are privileged to engage in Torah and mitzvos, we must know that what we have done is not complete, for who can be righteous before Him? The purpose of setting up the Mishkan was that His Shechinah would rest among us, as the verse says, “And they shall make Me a Mikdash, and I will dwell among them.”⁵ But we also know that when a person is proud, Heaven forbid, Hashem says of him, “I and he cannot dwell together in the world.”⁶

3bHad nothing at all been left over from the gifts for the Mishkan, people could have grown proud that the Mishkan had been built from their gifts. Then the Shechinah could not have rested upon them, for Hashem does not dwell with the proud. But since some of the gifts were left over, each person worried that perhaps his own share was the part left over and never used. He thought this was because he was not worthy to have his gift go into the work of the Mishkan. So each of them became humble and lowly in spirit, and through this they were privileged to have “and I will dwell among them”⁷ fulfilled. That is why the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged for something to be left over: in this way the work was completed perfectly, without the flaw of pride. This is what the verse means by “The work was sufficient”: it was complete, and this was precisely because “there was extra.” Those are his holy words.

4aThis explains the Midrash. When Moshe Rabbeinu saw that some of the gifts were left over, he worried that perhaps not every single person who had given to the Mishkan had fully repented of the sin of the calf. The proof, he thought, was that some people's gifts had not been accepted. So he asked the Holy One, blessed be He, what to do with what remained. But Hashem answered him that the leftover gifts are precisely what make the work complete, as the Ateres LeRosh Tzaddik explained, for it is they that bring about “and I will dwell among them.” That is why He answered, “Make with it a Mishkan for testimony”: the leftover itself is the testimony that Hashem was reconciled with them and forgave them for the calf.

4bThe mere fact that they received the second Tablets did not yet prove that every single individual's teshuvah had been accepted. Perhaps only most of them had repented, and since the world cannot exist without the Torah, the second Tablets had to be given to them in any case. But the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, rested His Shechinah in the Mishkan testifies that every single individual had been reconciled with Him and forgiven for the sin of the calf. This answers both our questions. It is what the Midrash means by “Go and make with it a Mishkan for testimony”: the very fact that some of the gifts for the Mishkan were left over is itself a “Mishkan for testimony” for Israel that Hashem forgave them for the calf.

5[We can also explain⁸ these words of the Midrash another way, based on the words of the Ateres LeRosh Tzaddik that we cited. Moshe said before the Holy One, blessed be He, “We have done the work of the Mishkan, and there is some left over. What shall we do with what remains?” Moshe meant this: he had seen how the leftover had brought the people to humility, and he asked how this path could be taught to the generations. Right now Bnei Yisrael are humble and lowly, but when later generations do mitzvos, where will they learn this path? Hashem answered, “Make with it a Mishkan for testimony.” Moshe was to instill this power of humility and lowliness in the generations to come, so that every generation would remember that some of the gifts for the Mishkan were left over and that this brought the people to humility. And this would be testimony for Israel that the Shechinah rests upon them through the power of humility.]

6[This lets us understand why it was only once the work was finished that Moshe blessed them.⁹ Before the work is finished there is little room yet for self-importance and pride, since a person does not know whether he will succeed. Only at the very end, when people see the building complete, can a person fall into pride, Heaven forbid. So at that moment, when the work was finished, Moshe blessed them: “May it be His will that the Shechinah rest upon the work of your hands.”¹⁰ He meant: hold on to humility and lowliness from now on as well, and then the Shechinah will be able to rest upon the work of your hands. Otherwise it cannot, for the Shechinah cannot rest in a place of pride. As Chazal said, of one who is haughty the Holy One, blessed be He, says, “I and he cannot dwell together in the world.”¹¹ Only if they hold on to their lowliness of spirit and keep it up will the Shechinah rest upon the work of their hands.]

7May Hashem grant that we be privileged to serve Him always with humility, and so reach completeness and bring near the time of the redemption. Amen, may it be His will.