ויקחו לי תרומה
And they will take a donation from me
Rashi quotes the Gemara in Megillah that in this parsha it mentions “Terumah” (portion) 3 times. Each time its referring to a different type of Terumah. The first Terumah refers to the collecting for the sockets of the Mishkan, the second Terumah refers to the collecting for the sacrifices, and the third one refers to the collecting for the 13 materials which will be used to build the Mishkan.
There are a few differences between the first two Terumahs and the last one. The first two Terumahs, the pasuk says ויקחו לי- “you will take for me”. But by the last Terumah, it says תקהו מאיתם- “take from them”. The second difference is that the first two Terumahs says "take" before Terumah, but with the last one, it says Terumah before "take".
Abarbanel explains that the first two contributions were given with humility, and everyone gave there contribution in equal amounts. Nobody could boast about how much money they gave, or belittle those who gave less. This is why HaShem said in those first two Terumahs to “take for me”. Those two Terumahs were pure in intent and were only for HaShem. Also, just as the way they gave the money was through humility, the use for this contribution also represented humility. The sockets that the contributions went to were the lowest part of the Mishkan, but were the foundation that held everything up. Also it is alluded in its Hebrew name, “Adanim”. It means master, hinting that anyone who lowers themselves to HaShem’s will will become a master.
The second contribution also was like this. It was the Korbanot which were equal and the same every day. It was the same sheep in the morning and sheep in the evening, no less no more.
This is why the first two Terumahs Hashem says take it for me. But by the last one, rich could donate more and brag about it. There HaShem didn't say take it for me. That is why when we list all the materials we start with important materials and end with important materials. It teaches us that it doesn’t matter what you give. A thousand dollars could be a rich man’s stingy contribution, while 20 dollars could be a poor man’s sacrifice.
וזאת התרומה אשר תקחו מאתם זהב וכסף ונחושת
And this is the donation that you will take from them gold, silver and copper'
Tosfot says there are three levels giving charity: A healthy person giving is like gold. A sick person who gives charity in merit of his healing is like giving silver, because it’s not from his heart. When someone dies after living 120 years, and the left over money gets given to charity, it’s considered copper because they didn't do it with any intention at all. It was done for them. From here we learn a very important lesson: If you can help other people, do it with all your heart, and don't wait until you're forced to, because that's not the most valuable charity to HaShem.
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם
They shall make a sanctuary for me so that I should dwell among them.
There are so many lessons we can learn from this pasuk: The Alshich HaKadosh explains that there is no Divine presence among wood and stones. Rather, it's within you, within the people, the Kahal.
The Malbim explains that all the worlds come together as one person, the whole universe is like one huge human being. Just as all the limbs and organs of a person have a different purpose, but they are all connected as one body same with the world. Each person may have a different purpose, a difference mindset, but they all come together as one unit, one body. That's why a person is called a small world. The soul is a piece of HaShem that spreads that spreads through the whole small world. The human body is split into three parts: The skull, where the brain dwells, and knowledge is there. From the neck downward is considered the middle part, controlled by the heart and is the Nefesh. Then the lower part is compared to the vessels of the body, and is like nature.
עשו ארון עצי שטים
They should make an ark of acacia.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains that Aron is from the word “Orah”, light, because the Torah that is in the Aron is called light. The Ark represents those that support and help others to study Torah. We cover it with pure gold to allude to the special shade that Hashem will make for both those who learn Torah and those who don't. The reason why there's half a cubit with all the measurements of the Ark is to show that a Torah Sage should never be satisfied with where he is now, and should always look for more.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that the word Aron has the numerical value of Nezer, the crown of the Torah, that is above and beyond all the other crowns. This is why there is a gold crown surrounding the Aron. Since the Ark represents Torah, where it represents all different parts of Am Yisrael, the Pasuk says, “ועשו ארון” they should make, as apposed to all the other things that it said ועשיתא, that you shall make an ark, to teach us that the Torah can only be learned if the Jewish people come together and keep the Torah. For example, the Cohen cannot give the 24 gifts that he receives and a Yisrael cannot work in the Beit HaMikdash, so the only way to keep the entire Torah is if we all become united. This is why it says “ועשו ארון” (Orach Chaim). The Malbim explains that the reason why the ark is the first one to be mentioned is because he was supposed to bring down the luchot and build the Mishkan and the first important thing was to have a place to put the Luchot.
כרובים
Cherubim
Rashi points out that the Cherubim had the faces of babies. There is question to be asked: HaShem created the world with hundreds of thousands of different creatures and angels, so why did HaShem use the face of babies for the Cherubim out of all the different creatures?
Perhaps we can say that the Torah is trying to teach us the valuable lesson that children that are learning and growing spiritually are very precious in the eyes of HaShem. The Cherubim symbolize a child that is learning and growing spiritually, and he knows he is lacking in knowledge. That's why HaShem speaks from in between these Cherubim, because when He will see those baby faces, He will see that Am Yisrael is still learning and will forgive them.
ונתת על השולחן לחם פנים לפני תמיד
And put the Lechem HaPanim on the table always before me.
In a story that took place in the times of the Arizal, one of the Jews that lived during the times of the crusades and was forced to convert and did so but only openly, came to Tzfat. As soon as he came to Tzfat, he happened to be by a rabbi’s lecture. The rabbi was speaking about the significance of the Lechem HaPanim. At the end of his speech, the Rabbi sadly said that now we don't have any source to bring down abundance.
This individual heard what the Rabbi said and asked his wife to prepare two loaves of bread from fine flour because he wanted to offer it to HaShem in the synagogue, just as it was offered in the Temple. Every Friday his wife would bake these two loaves of bread, and he would take them to the shul and pray and beg that HaShem should accept these loaves of bread and eat it. At the end of his prayers, he would place these loaves of bread in the ark and leave home.
Later on, the shamash would come every Friday and see those nice, fresh loaves of bread, and would, being a poor person, take it for himself. In the evening, when the man who placed the loaves there would go to shul to pray Friday night, he couldn't find the bread, and he was very happy that HaShem accepted those loaves.
One Friday, when the man came to shul, the rabbi was sitting there and learning. Suddenly the rabbi saw this person taking those two loaves of bread and placing it into the ark and started to pray, not noticing that the rabbi was looking at him. The rabbi came up to him and asked him not to do it anymore because G-d doesn’t eat bread or drink. For sure the Shamash is taking them, and thinking that HaShem was eating them was very naive. When the person heard this, he started to cry, and he begged the rabbi to forgive him that he didn't understand his speech about Lechem HaPanim, and he felt so bad, thinking that he was doing a good thing, but he was doing a sin, or so he thought.
While he was still crying, a special messenger came from the Ari HaKadosh. He told the rabbi that in the name of the Arizal, he should go back home, and tell his family that he's going to die tomorrow at the same time he's giving his speech, and it’s already declared in heaven. The rabbi was shocked at hearing this bad news and immediately went to the Ari HaKadosh to ask him why does he deserve this terrible punishment. The Arizal said that since the destruction of the Temple until today, HaShem did not have any Nachat Ruach, but this innocent act of this person brought HaShem a lot of Nachat. This is why there is a terrible decree upon you, and sadly this decree came to be.