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Terumah- The Art of Educating
For this year’s Parsha Lesson I will be applying the lesson that can be derived from the Dvar Torah to the world as we know it today.
Background
This week’s parsha begins the process of the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Mishkan was the ‘house of G-d’ from when the Jewish people received the Torah, and became Hashem’s chosen people, until the building of the Beis Hamikdash- around 480 years later. The Mishkan traveled with the Jewish people throughout their journeying in the desert, and the Mishkan was then later set up at different sites in Eretz Yisroel (Israel) after the Jewish people entered the land.
In the ‘building campaign’ to assemble the Mishkan, Hashem instructed Moshe to solicit the entire Jewish nation to contribute towards the Mishkan but to not force anyone to give. Only the donations of those who had a ‘generous heart’ were accepted in the building of the Mishkan. Any coerced, pressured or somewhat less than gracious donations were not accepted.
Question
The Gemara in Bava Basra (8b) says that the tzedakah (charity) collectors can force people to give tzedakah! In fact, one who is collecting tzedakah should pressure people to give money. Why is it then that for the Mishkan, the great house of Hashem, that Hashem did not accept any forced donations?
If pressuring people to give charity is a good thing, by pressuring people you are helping them to overcome their stinginess and enabling them to merit in this great mitzvah, why would the same not hold true when it comes to giving to the Mishkan?
Answer
The Jewish nation at the time of the building of the Mishkan was on a very high level of spirituality- they had just received the Torah from Hashem Himself! As such, for them to be forced to give money to the Mishkan would deprive them of the added spiritual growth that they would have by forcing themselves to do the right thing and contribute towards the Mishkan. The ‘generosity of heart’ that Hashem wanted the Jewish people to develop, necessitated their arranging their hearts properly to give generously to this important project. Any amount of forcing or coercion would have been counterproductive.
At that point of their spiritual development, the Jewish people were expected to ‘rebuke themselves’ and force themselves to give, and not resort to the crutch of having someone else’s help to overcome their stinginess. As such, for them to use the crutch of pressure would have been to stunt their development and harm their character growth.
So while it is true that one who could not get themselves to give to the Mishkan would have lost out on this great mitzvah. However, the chance for that person to develop real, genuine, generosity- even if just to struggle towards attaining it- was a more important growth which was applicable to them at that time.
Lesson for our world
So often, in the world today education is conveyed in lists and rules of dos and don’ts, an instruction manual of sorts, as to how one should go about educating. This completely misses the boat as to what the goal is and how to go about it.
In order for a parent or teacher or a person with themselves, to be able to properly guide and direct, it is incumbent upon the ‘director’ to have a goal in mind as to where the other person must get to- and then connect to and understand where the person currently is and figure out how to bring them along properly. Formulating the proper goal is important and a significant part of the job, but connecting to where the child currently is and using the proper means to connect to and draw along the child properly- is the main work and ‘art of educating.’
How important it is to be attuned to the journeys of our children, our students and ourselves. We need to be aware of what is needed in order to develop properly, with the proper character and ideas. At times certain means may be necessary in order to develop properly, while at other times those very same means may be wrong and even harmful to proper development and growth. Sometimes we do need to direct more, sometimes we do need to be more insistent, but sometimes we need to allow them to ‘figure it out on their own.’ There is no right or wrong way, but rather a right and wrong time, place, and person.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
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