Exodus 25
| 1. The Eternal spoke to Moses saying: | | א. וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: |
| 2. "Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires to generosity, you shall take My offering. | | ב. דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת תְּרוּמָתִי: |
| 3. And this is the offering that you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper; | | ג. וְזֹאת הַתְּרוּמָה אֲשֶׁר תִּקְחוּ מֵאִתָּם זָהָב וָכֶסֶף וּנְחשֶׁת: |
| 4. blue, purple, and crimson wool; linen and goat hair; | | ד. וּתְכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ וְעִזִּים: |
| 5. ram skins dyed red, tachash skins, and acacia wood; | | ה. וְעֹרֹת אֵילִם מְאָדָּמִים וְעֹרֹת תְּחָשִׁים וַעֲצֵי שִׁטִּים: |
| 6. oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the incense; | | ו. שֶׁמֶן לַמָּאֹר בְּשָׂמִים לְשֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה וְלִקְטֹרֶת הַסַּמִּים: |
| 7. shoham stones and filling stones for the ephod and for the choshen. | | ז. אַבְנֵי שֹׁהַם וְאַבְנֵי מִלֻּאִים לָאֵפֹד וְלַחשֶׁן: |
| 8. And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst | | ח. וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם: |
| 9. according to all that I show you, the pattern of the Mishkan and the pattern of all its vessels; and so shall you do. | | ט. כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מַרְאֶה אוֹתְךָ אֵת תַּבְנִית הַמִּשְׁכָּן וְאֵת תַּבְנִית כָּל כֵּלָיו וְכֵן תַּעֲשׂוּ: |
| 10. They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. | | י. וְעָשׂוּ אֲרוֹן עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים אַמָּתַיִם וָחֵצִי אָרְכּוֹ וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי רָחְבּוֹ וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי קֹמָתוֹ: |
| 11. And you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and from outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make upon it a golden crown all around. | | יא. וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ זָהָב טָהוֹר מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ תְּצַפֶּנּוּ וְעָשִׂיתָ עָלָיו זֵר זָהָב סָבִיב: |
| 12. And you shall cast four golden rings for it, and you shall place them upon its four corners, two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side. | | יב. וְיָצַקְתָּ לּוֹ אַרְבַּע טַבְּעֹת זָהָב וְנָתַתָּה עַל אַרְבַּע פַּעֲמֹתָיו וּשְׁתֵּי טַבָּעֹת עַל צַלְעוֹ הָאֶחָת וּשְׁתֵּי טַבָּעֹת עַל צַלְעוֹ הַשֵּׁנִית: |
| 13. And you shall make poles of acacia wood and you shall overlay them with gold. | | יג. וְעָשִׂיתָ בַדֵּי עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתָם זָהָב: |
| 14. And you shall bring the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. | | יד. וְהֵבֵאתָ אֶת הַבַּדִּים בַּטַּבָּעֹת עַל צַלְעֹת הָאָרֹן לָשֵׂאת אֶת הָאָרֹן בָּהֶם: |
| 15. The poles of the ark shall be in the rings; they shall not be removed from it. | | טו. בְּטַבְּעֹת הָאָרֹן יִהְיוּ הַבַּדִּים לֹא יָסֻרוּ מִמֶּנּוּ: |
| 16. And you shall place into the ark the testimony, which I will give you. | | טז. וְנָתַתָּ אֶל הָאָרֹן אֵת הָעֵדֻת אֲשֶׁר אֶתֵּן אֵלֶיךָ: |
Guide Questions
1. According to Rashi on verse 3, of the gold, silver, and copper, what was given voluntarily and what was forced to be given on all of the people? Do you think charity should be purely voluntary, or do you think there is also a place to "tax" people in order to accomplish a goal? Why or why not?
2. According to the Stone Chumash (p. 444), this part of the Torah is written out of order, and the building of the Tabernacle is in response to something the Israelites did while at Sinai. What did they do? Why do you think building the Tabernacle was the solution?
3. In the Stone Chumash (p. 446), what does Sforno say on verses 8-9 about the purpose of the Ark? How is this reflected in synagogue sanctuaries today?
4. In the Stone Chumash (p. 447), Rabbi Chananel comments that the ark needed gold on the inside and on the outside, "from within and from without." How does he relate this to a person's life today?
5. In the Etz Hayyim chumash (p.486, lower commentary), from where does it say the gifts we take for God originally came? What does this say about giving and taking? What lesson does this teach for us today?
6. In the Etz Hayyim chumash, (p. 486, lower commentary), commenting on "I may dwell among them," where does it say God "dwells"? What does the midrash compare this to? Why? Compare this to a statement in Alice Walker's novel, The Color Purple: “...have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.” Where do you think God dwells, in a physical place, in people, or a combination? Why?
7. According to the Etz Hayyim chumash (p. 487), what is the connection between the Hebrew word for "Ark" and the Hebrew word for "light"? What does this say about the symbolism of the Tabernacle? How many symbols of light can you think of in Judaism, and what do they each represent?
8. According to Plaut's Modern Commentary (p. 614), What is the symbolism of the Tabernacle according to Josephus, Philo, and the Midrash? Which do you like best? Why?
9. According to the Women's Torah Commentary (p. 467), what crafts did men specialize in, and what crafts did women specialize in? What does this say about who contributed to the Tabernacle? What lesson might we learn from this today?
10. According to Rebbe Nachman (vol. 2, p. 216), what is referred to by the word "testimony" in verse 16? What two things does Rabbi Nachman teach you need in order to testimony to be considered true? According to Rabbi Nachman, what are they, and how does this work?
From Giselle and Kol:
ReplyDeleteWe used the commentator Rashi for question #1. Rashi said that they gave their gold silver and copper voluntarily, however, they divided their silver equally. We think that this is good because giving things voluntarily is really nice thing to do. We think that even though giving tzedakah involuntarily would be good for the community, it wouldn’t make people feel as good. When you are forced to give tzedakah, you might not be as happy to give it. We think that people shouldn’t be forced, however, they should be suggested to give.
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
Deleteif something n the community needs to be fixed or built, it would be better to give tax. but if someones house burns down, or if someone breaks their leg and can't pay the doctor, then it would be nice for people to volunteer to donate money to them
DeleteIn a way, we are be commanded to give tzedakah because giving tzedakah is a mitzvah, or a commandment.
DeleteYou know, now that I'm thinking about it, how did we humans form our idea of what is and isn't "good," or at least morally acceptable? How do we know that stealing someone's jewelry is bad, for example? Or how do we know that helping someone cross the road is good?
DeleteWe agree. We believe that charity should be voluntary. When being forced to do charity the intention gets lost.
Deletedanielle & rebecca
The public library may depend on taxes, but they also may get book or money donations from people in the town as a nice thing.
DeleteWe did Rashi's Commentary on verse 3
ReplyDeleteRashi says that the Silver was taken equally, one half-shekel for each person, but everything else was given voluntarily, however much they wanted.
Ben Katzman said that charity should only be given voluntarily, but I [Alexander] think that there should be a minimum of everyone giving in order to really make a difference.
Alexander and Ben K
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
DeleteYou're not going to have people giving a charity to the government, are you?
DeleteAnd some things aren't completely necessary, but are good causes.
I agree with Ben L on this.
DeleteIt says either in the Torah or in the Mishnah (I'm not sure which) that doing something when commanded to do it has more merit than if you do it voluntarily.
DeleteWe did the question According to Rashi on verse 3, of the gold, silver, and copper, what was given voluntarily and what was forced to be given on all of the people? Do you think charity should be purely voluntary, or do you think there is also a place to "tax" people in order to accomplish a goal? Why or why not? We found that all of it was given voluntarily except the silver. We thought this is because there needs to be some taxes on the community so it can survive but also we need to give charity from our hearts.
ReplyDeleteGive an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
DeleteI agree. The basic composition and living power of all society is the tribute and labor of the population. The society needs resources to distribute and cover expenses. Without taxes, there is no society but simply a population. People are greedy and aren't always willing to give and not always generous. For the survival of the population as a whole, every individual needs tribute. But its always generous to give from the heart rather than involuntarily.
DeleteIn a soup kitchen it is all maintained by voluntary giving but when it is bigger like someones living they need help by taxes.
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ReplyDeleteHow is this reflected in synagogue sanctuaries today? (Do the second part of the question?)
DeleteSforno was an Italian rabbi and a biblical commentator. He lived from 1475-1550.
DeleteI have heard otherwise
DeleteMr. Spitzer said that the cherubim were guarding the Torah.
DeleteNowadays, the ark is usually located in the front, center part of a room to show the centrality of the Torah like how the ark was used to show this.
DeleteAdin and I chose to use the Woman's commentary. This commentary focuses on the specific jobs of the men and the women while building the Mishkan. Today in some branches of Orthodox Judaism, people think women should be in the house all day. But in the time of the building of the Mishkan, women helped to create a large segment of the Mishkan. They made the textiles for the tent of meeting and the clothes for the Kohanim. From this, we learned that time progresses but sometimes not in the right way.
ReplyDeleteAri and Adin
When it comes to men and women, do you believe men and women are equal? How or why? Does equal mean interchangeable? But what is the problem with "separate but equal"?
Deleteyes, i agree. I don't think that they should be saying that about women, and time really didn't help the women
DeleteYes men and women are equal.
DeleteI agree, but at the same time Judiasum is blossoming and know there are Rabbi's who are women, that would never happen back then.
DeleteYou can't change the fact that women and men are really different, but I don't think one is better than the other inherently.
DeleteI agree but why would women go from helping build the mishcan to staying in the house all day?
DeleteInteresting question...
DeleteWomen should be able to go in the Mishkan as much as men!
DeleteOur question, 1. According to Rashi on verse 3, of the gold, silver, and copper, what was given voluntarily and what was forced to be given on all of the people? Do you think charity should be purely voluntary, or do you think there is also a place to "tax" people in order to accomplish a goal? Why or why not?, was answered by Rashi. He said that the gold and the copper was given voluntarily and the silver was forced. We think that charity should be given voluntarily because would you rather have a lot given with hate, or a little given with love?
ReplyDeleteWe disagree with Rashi because we think everything according to charity should be given voluntarily.
Itai and Jared
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
DeleteAn example of a need is when people retire and end up losing money so they go into poverty. Before people retire they need to pay a fund called social security to make sure that people in the future will have the money they need to survive. An example of when voluntary giving is better is that if you are poor or homeless would you rather get a dollar with love from someone or twenty dollars with hate from someone that is yelling at you to get a job.
DeleteI think you should have a choice. It should be up to you. It's not like everyone won't donate money, but there are gonna be some people who won't. But chances are people will donate money.
DeleteClara and Leora.
ReplyDeleteWe are answering question number 4 in the Stone Chumash (p. 447), Rabbi Chananel comments that the ark needed gold on the inside and on the outside, "from within and from without." How does he relate this to a person's life today? Rabbi Channanel relates this to a person's life because just like gold is on the outside of the ark and the inside of the ark, a person should act outside as they would inside studying Torah. They should be prosperous,or act with proper adequate and responsibility all the time.
A person's inside should be like her/his outside is about integrity or honesty. What does this have to do with Rabbi Chananel's teaching?
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DeleteJust like we have to act with the same responsibility and adequate in public and in private, we should act with the same responsibility in our thoughts as in our words.
DeleteThough, we are different from our outside and our inside. How can we change that?
DeleteOur question was number one which says what was forced and what was voluntary tribute from the Israelites to the Priests and Hashem? What are the effects of involuntary tribute instead of voluntary offers? Rashi says that the gold and copper was voluntary based on generosity and will to give. The silver was a taxed tribute and each person must contribute half shekel to the Tabernacle, Priests, and Hashem. We think that charity should be partially budgeted in the taxes. The rest should be voluntary tribute.
ReplyDeleteGive an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
DeleteOur question is #1. It asks of the materials needed from the people for the Temple, which of those were given voluntarily and which were asked to be given involuntarily?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is that all the materials were given voluntarily except silver. They gave the silver equally- a half shekel for each person. We believe that charity should be a voluntary deed because people usually do something to get something for themselves out of it. The action is really meaningful when you help others just for them and you don't expect anything in return. The happiness you get from helping others should be enough.
<3
Rebecca and Danielle
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
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ReplyDeleteOOH I wonder what it was!
Delete*eye roll*
DeleteJules, Liora, Noah,
ReplyDeleteWe are doing question 1.
The people gave Moshe their gold, sliver, and copper as an offering to G-d. So how much did the have to give? In verse 3 it says the people gave from inspiration of their hearts, but there must be a minimum, because if there wasn't only some people would give and others wouldn't. Rashi says that everyone gave at least 1 beka (half a shekel). We believe that this was more like a tax than charity. We think this because people HAD to pay, unlike having a choice.
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
Delete
ReplyDelete1. According to Rashi on verse 3, of the gold, silver, and copper, what was given voluntarily and what was forced to be given on all of the people? Do you think charity should be purely voluntary, or do you think there is also a place to "tax" people in order to accomplish a goal? Why or why not?
gold, silver, and copper, etc.: They were all given voluntarily; each person [gave] what his heart inspired him to give, except [for] the silver, which they gave equally, a half-shekel for each individual. We do not find throughout the entire work of the Mishkan that more silver was required, as it is said: “The silver of the community census was…a beka per head…” (Exod. 38:25, 26). The rest of the silver, which was given there [in the work of the Mishkan] voluntarily, they [the workers] made into service utensils.
-Aurora and Aaron
Give an example of when a need in the community can only get met by a tax, and give an example when voluntary giving is better.
DeleteMaya and Josh
ReplyDeleteWe are answering question 3:
Sforno says that the tabernacle represents the centrality of the Torah. The cherubim on top of the ark are always looking at the Torah to show that Israel's focus is always on the Torah. Nowadays, the ark is usually located in the front, center part of a room to show the centrality of the Torah like how the ark was used to show this.
Sforno was an Italian rabbi and a biblical commentator. He lived from 1475-1550.
We did question #4 and it said that our inner self has to match our outer self
ReplyDeleteShai Tani
Micah Kanter
ReplyDelete1. According to Rashi on verse 3, of the gold, silver, and copper, what was given voluntarily and what was forced to be given on all of the people? Do you think charity should be purely voluntary, or do you think there is also a place to "tax" people in order to accomplish a goal? Why or why not?
What was given voluntarily was gold, silver, and copper. However, extra silver was forced on the community to give to complete the Mishkan. I think that it is totally right to "tax" because not everyone is generous and if we are going to get the generosity out of everyone, we have to force the not so generous people to give.