BS'D
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This
week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored
לעילוי נשמת
לאה בת אברהם
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Quote of the Week:
“Money is our madness, our
vast collective madness.”
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Miller’s Musings
תרומה
Crazy
Rich
If there’s one thing the Jewish
people have always excelled at, it is giving.
Throughout history, individuals and organisations have been there to
provide for the destitute and support those in need. The donations for the materials to construct
the Mishkon and its utensils was something that every Jew was asked to participate
in. Rather curiously though, our Sages
tell us that Moshe was instructed to ask the Jewish people in a manner meant to
appease the loss of money that would be incurred. This would beg the question why this would be necessary.
After their plundering of Egypt and the spoils
they amassed at the Red Sea, they certainly had enough riches. Would it really
require appeasement for them to contribute towards one of the greatest endeavors
they would ever embark upon? To bring G-d into this world to ‘live’ amongst us.
Hashem asking them to be a part
of this magnificent enterprise was perhaps a way of ensuring that they were
personally and profoundly invested in this Sanctuary. Giving of themselves towards its creation
meant that each individual felt directly connected to the resting place of
Hashem. Every Jew must have seen this and
understand its significance and yet they seemingly still needed placating. This enigma, says the Saba MiKelm, is one
more example of the power of the Yetzer Horah, our Evil Inclination and his
ability to not only convince us to do that which we anyway desire, but even to
bring us to the point of madness and lose all rational thought. It is able to blind the eyes of the most sagacious
of people and confuse even the most judicious, in particular when things we
value, such as money, are threatened. It
was this realm of insanity from which the Jewish people had to be extracted
through the careful words chosen by Moshe.
It is from within this folly of the jurisdiction of the Yetzer Horah
that we must escape by whatever means are necessary, whenever we fall prey to
his deceits.
Knowing the tremendous power of
our own Evil Inclination is incredibly important on two levels. It firstly allows us to understand ourselves
and the foolishness that we are capable of, no matter how astute or learned we
might think we are. Nobody is unsusceptible
to the stupidity and complete lack of integrity that it has the ability to
wreak in our lives, especially when it comes to defending that which we hold
dear, such as our family, friends or anything we have invested time into. This is something we must be aware of, alert
to, and look for, so that we can seek means to overcome it. But secondly it may give us some insight into
the behaviour of others that seem to scream at us as misplaced, blatantly improper,
or emphatically immoral. It may help us
to somehow understand when we are let down or mistreated so cruelly by
another. For when it is something that
means so much to them, the Yetzer Horah can grab hold of a person and drag them
to a place that reason may not enter. We
may see it more clearly in others, but we must be vigilant to see it in
ourselves too.
*May
this Shabbos open our eyes to who we are and who others are too*
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