Hi,

The Temple in the desert was built with donations.

Voluntary donations.  No pressure.

And no mandatory “building fund”!

The response was amazing.  The whole nation mobilized.

Men and women brought gold, silver and other materials.

… And then something amazing happened.

And you may want to sit down for this!

… There was too much money!

The Jewish People brought more than was needed.  (36:5)

Something that never happened again for the rest of Jewish history!

But there’s something else surprising.

Moshe’s response to the “problem”!

… What does Moshe do?

He issues a proclamation.  A commandment!

“Stop bringing gifts for the Temple”

And the people were “restrained” from bringing.”  (36:6)

What was the problem here?

… Here’s one way of looking at it.

Donations to the building of the Temple had to be from the heart.

On the deepest level.

Only then could it become a place to connect to G-d on the deepest level.

The Torah repeats it over and over again.

It had to come from the heart.  Or it couldn’t be used.  (Exodus, 35:5, 29)

… And when we’re involved in a cause with our heart?

We should always be conscious of what we’re working for.  Why we’re working for it.

What our goal is.  And when we reach it.

And what happened here?

The Jewish People got so “into” what they were doing that it took on a life of its own.

Just kept bringing and bringing.   

And they lost sight of why they were working.  And lost sight of the goal.

There wasn’t enough heart in it.  And it couldn’t be used for the Temple.

… It’s sometimes easy to forget why we’re doing something.

I once read about a rally that got out of hand.  It became violent.   And people were hurt.

What was the rally for?

Peace!

All the best,