So That I May Dwell Among Them Parashat Terumah

and Hashem himself is telling us he only wants a man whose heart motivates him he should want to give it why should he want to give it well perhaps if he reads the following verse later on where he sees in verse number eight they shall make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them now although the third bet mikdash has not been rebuilt we're still waiting for the mashiah to come had he come like some religions say or some people say the bet mikdash would have been built so one of the clear signs that mashiah has arrived is if the bet mikdash is built if it hasn't been built that means mhia hasn't arrived because that is one of his first obligations now Hashem says although that bash was not built the Jewish people are obligated to read this Torah portion and apply to their life every single year to apply the verse that says you shall make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them how could I make a sanctuary when a person takes money that they worked for takes money that they have and takes a portion of it that's significant not money that he could simply like doesn't care even if he loses it you know like somebody has change and he forgets to take the change out of his pocket and he throws the the pants in the laundry and then what he realizes that he still had the money in the pocket he doesn't really lose any sleep over it because it's so insignificant not that kind of money when a person puts a significant amount of his money and invest it into publicizing more tah in the world helping other people do Chua and get closer to Hashem making sure that have everything they need in order to study T at full force and he contributes she contributes to the best of their ability but no less than at least 10% of what they make each month as well as any other opportunity to give charity that's above it if they really want to test their amuna they would give 20% but no more sh doesn't ask you to give 100% but why should one even work a full-time job invest x amount of time learning for this job building his career doing everything possible Blood Sweat and Tears to finally make a living and then after working all that time getting that paycheck and without even thinking twice take 10% of that money invest it into an organization like invest it into kiru invested into Torah Scholars without thinking twice without saying you know what maybe I'll do this next month maybe I'll save up and make it a bigger amount no no simply until I don't give that 10% it's not my money just like at the time of the BET mikdash until the farmers didn't give that 10% until they didn't give the portion to the leevi until they didn't give the portion to the Coen until they didn't give that portion they weren't allowed to use all of that crop all of that food why it's not mine until I give and therefore the explained to us through these words that when a person takes their hard work and invest that money on a regular basis into T but the real tah not some false version of T and sugarcoated version of t or some idolatrous version of T but real version of T that empow ERS people real versions of Tora that is honest to what it says that person that's donating the money is really taking from what Hashem gave them and investing it into themsel because that's the only money that they will be able to take with them when they leave this world because regardless of whether a person has a net worth of a Elon Musk of hundreds of billions of dollars or a Bezos or Warren Buffett or all types of other billionaires out there or a person has what had one of the sages had he had literally a couple of vegetables left before he died regardless what of what net worth they have while they're alive once a person dies none of that that money can go to them the only money that is valuable to them is the money that they invested into the tah money they invested into doing acts of kindness that are permissible according to the toah because if you're kind to Wicked people if you're kind to murderers rapist and anti-to people that's not kindness so not all kindness is the same but needless to say when a person invests that money into toah that means that that money becomes part of their eternity that money is really a blessing that Hashem gave you that you are now taking and investing it into yourself yeah but I'm investing into the Tora no what you're doing is that you're taking what hasem gave you and you're building a sanctuary for hasem in your heart because your donations are investments that build a Shema sanctuary in your heart and perhaps if you think about it deep enough you'll realize that if this is really the sanctuary that Hashem is talking about that we're supposed to read every year if I'm supposed to build a sanctuary for hasem even know it's not the third bet mdash he's saying build a sanctuary for me I can't build the bet mikash but the verse is still relevant so how could it be relevant you have to build a a sanctuary for hem to be among you how can you build a sanctuary for hm to be among you now if you build a church that publicizes some guy that died 2,000 years ago how is that building AA sanctuary if you're building a MOS that publicizes some guy that says that an angel spoke to him in the middle of a desert and says to kill the chosen people how is that publicizing hasem if you're building some zoo and you're getting the elephant a new cage how is that building a sheema sanctuary but if you're investing into the Torah the tah that is the instructions the love letter from God if you're investing into the world of T to help more people learn tah to help more people that are already learned tah learn even better learn even more so without having the financial hardships that they do then what you're doing is you're actually fulfilling this verse and building yourself not only an ET where that money is actually valuable but even more so in this world you're building a sanctuary for Hashem in your heart because what ends up happening is that now that you've made a commitment not as at one time I'm excited let me just donate a bunch of money and then you don't hear from the guy for 6 years no you made a commitment no matter how big or how small to take 10% of your money and donate it as soon as you get it you're not waiting for months you're not waiting for days as soon as you get it it's like automatic why because I want to make sure that number one God knows I want him God knows I want him I want him in my life and I'm recognizing the fact that he really gives me 100% the least I can do is take 10 of it and invest it into publicizing his name