Dear Friends,
Imagine this.
You are a newly freed slave.
For years you owned nothing. Your labor wasn’t yours. Your time wasn’t yours. Your future wasn’t yours.
And then, almost overnight, you walk out of Egypt carrying gold and silver. The Torah tells us the Jews left Egypt with great wealth. For the first time, you actually have something.
No house yet.
No land yet.
Just the uncertainty of the great desert — and pockets full of treasure.
And then G-d instructs Moshe to tell the people to build the first Mishkan(Temple), a house for the Divine:
“Take for Me a contribution… from every person whose heart inspires him.”
If you were there and being asked to give to a brand new building fund- how would you react?
“Hey, I just got this. We’re in a desert. We don’t know what tomorrow holds.”
That’s a completely understandable reaction.
But it’s also the voice of scarcity.
But the Jewish people showed they changed from slaves. The Torah later says they gave so much that Moshe had to tell them to stop. There was more than enough.
They stopped seeing themselves as former slaves who might lose everything again. They began seeing themselves as people blessed with abundance, and to be a channel for that blessing to make a difference.
That’s a completely understandable reaction.
But it’s also the voice of scarcity.
But the Jewish people showed they changed from slaves. The Torah later says they gave so much that Moshe had to tell them to stop. There was more than enough.
They stopped seeing themselves as former slaves who might lose everything again. They began seeing themselves as people blessed with abundance, and to be a channel for that blessing to make a difference.
Scarcity says: “If I give, I will have less.”
Abundance says: “I have been given — and I am tapped to be a blessing.”
The donations were not just about money. It was about redefining identity.
It was a choice of how to look at themselves. It was proof that they were no longer passive slaves with no agency. "Take for Me a contribution… from every person whose heart inspires him.”
A heart confident with G-d's abundance and trust.
And then comes the promise to those blessed hearts: “They shall make for Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.”
Not in it — among them.
When we live from abundance, we create space for G-d in our lives.
The donations were not just about money. It was about redefining identity.
It was a choice of how to look at themselves. It was proof that they were no longer passive slaves with no agency. "Take for Me a contribution… from every person whose heart inspires him.”
A heart confident with G-d's abundance and trust.
And then comes the promise to those blessed hearts: “They shall make for Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.”
Not in it — among them.
When we live from abundance, we create space for G-d in our lives.
When we cling from fear, we shrink.
When we give from confidence, we expand.
The Mishkan (Temple ) was built not by wealthy people — but by people who chose to see themselves as blessed.
And that internal shift built the first Dwelling place for the Divine.
Let's choose to take their example and make our lives and homes a channel for abundance.
Shabbat Shalom,
The Mishkan (Temple ) was built not by wealthy people — but by people who chose to see themselves as blessed.
And that internal shift built the first Dwelling place for the Divine.
Let's choose to take their example and make our lives and homes a channel for abundance.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yitzi Hein