Parshas Terumah - Humility in contributing to the mishkan

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (25:2)

דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה

Speak to the benei yisrael and they should take for me terumah.

• Why does the passuk not say ויתנו לי תרומה – and they should give terumah to me?

The Chasam Sofer explains as follows:

The gemara in Bava Basra (10b) says

תניא אמר להן רבן יוחנן בן זכאי לתלמידיו בני מהו שאמר הכתוב (משלי י"ד, ל"ד) צדקה תרומם גוי וחסד לאומים חטאת נענה רבי אליעזר ואמר צדקה תרומם גוי אלו ישראל דכתיב (שמואל ב' ז', כ"ג) ומי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ וחסד לאומים חטאת כל צדקה וחסד שאומות עובדי כוכבים עושין חטא הוא להן שאינם עושין אלא להתגדל בו כמו שנאמר (עזרא ו', י') די להוון מהקרבין ניחוחין לאלהה שמיא ומצליין לחיי מלכא ובנוהי ודעביד הכי לאו צדקה גמורה היא והתניא האומר סלע זה לצדקה בשביל שיחיו בני ובשביל שאזכה לעולם הבא הרי זה צדיק גמור לא קשיא כאן בישראל כאן בעובד כוכבים

It is taught in a baraisa: Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to his students: My sons, what is the meaning of that which the passuk states: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but the kindness of the peoples is a sin” (Mishlei 14:34)? Rabbi Eliezer answered and said: “Righteousness exalts a nation”; this is the benei yisrael, as it is written: “And who is like your people Yisrael, one nation on the earth?” (Divrei Hayamim I, 17:21). “But the kindness of the peoples is a sin,” meaning that all the acts of charity and kindness that the nations of the world perform is counted as a sin for them, since they perform them only to elevate themselves in prestige, as it is stated: “That they may sacrifice offerings of pleasing aroma to the G-d of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons” (Ezra 6:10). Even though they donated offerings, they did so only for their own benefit.

The Gemara asks: And if one acts this way, is it not full-fledged charity? But isn’t it taught in a baraisa that one who says: I am contributing this sela to charity so that my sons will live, or if he says: I am performing this mitzva so that I will merit a share in Olam Habah, this person is a tzadik gamur, as far as that mitzva is concerned, even though he has his own welfare in mind? The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. Here, the statement that he is considered to be a tzadik gamur is with regard to a yisrael; while there, the statement that such a contribution is not counted as tzedakah is with regard to a goy.

• Why is there a difference in halachah between the yisrael and the goy, concerning donating tzedakah conditionally?

The Chasam Sofer explains that when the yisrael gives tzedakah, he does not think that his money will directly ameliorate the distress concerning which he is giving the tzedakah, rather he understands that the money he gives comprises a tefillah that Hashem should improve the lot of the ani using the money which he has contributed to the ani’s cause. However when the goy gives tzedakah, he thinks that his money will directly affect the salvation of the ani.

Subsequently, if the goy’s conditional expectation in giving tzedakah is not met, he regrets having given the tzedakah. For did not he affect the ani’s rescue? Hence he too should have received a salvation.

However if the yisrael’s conditional expectation in giving tzedakah is not answered, he does not regret having given tzedakah, because he understands that, even if the ani’s lot improved as a result of the tzedakah he gave, he was not the one who created the imperative for the ani’s lot to improve, rather this was a salvation that Hashem wrought using the money that he donated. Therefore he does not see it as unjust that the lot of the ani improved and his lot did not. (In other words, he understands that his conditional donation of tzedakah comprises a tefillah, and just as when any tefillah seems to go unanswered, the yisrael knows that the tefillah did not go unheard, but rather that which happened in the end was part of Hashem’s greater plan for the world, so too does the yisrael believe with his tefillah of giving tzedakah.)

In this way, that which the gemara says that the goy gives tzedakah in order to aggrandise himself, and that which the gemara implies that if the goy gives tzedakah conditionally and then the condition is not met, then he will regret having given the tzedakah, are both the same idea. When the goy gives tzedakah, he aggrandises himself because he feels that he personally wrought the salvation of the person whom he gave the money to. For the same reason, if the condition on which he gave tzedakah is not met, he will regret having given the tzedakah.

Based on this idea the Chasam Sofer explains that we can understand why the passuk says וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה and not ויתנו לי תרומה:

If the benei yisrael had felt that they were donating the actual money for the mishkan, and because of this they were directly responsible for the success of the mishkan’s construction, then the passuk would have said ויתנו, and they should give (the money).

However seeing as when the benei yisrael gave the terumah they understood that they were not giving the money as such, because לה׳ הארץ ומלואה, but rather they understood that they were effectively making a tefillah that the mishkan should be able to be built using the money which they had donated, so that it was effectively their מעשה הצדקה (and not the צדקה itself) which they were placing before Hashem, therefore the passuk says וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה, and they should take [terumah and place before] me [the action of giving] terumah.