Everything depends on good will.
?Have them bring Me an offering. Take My offering from everyone whose heart impels him to give [yidvenu].? (Exodus 25:2) Rashi comments: ?Yidvenu derives from nedava, which means good will.? In other words, the Tabernacle was built through the good will of the Israelites, who contributed generously.
Not just the Tabernacle was founded on good will, but the whole universe is founded on G-d?s good will. As Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook writes (Orot HaKodesh 3:43): ?Good will is the foundation of all existence. The whole universe is based on it. The foundation of this world is revealed through the will of man.? - i.e., the will of men following G-d?s pathways and clinging to His traits. ?The L-rd is good to all and His kindness is over all His works.? (Psalm 145:9).
Today, the State of Israel, our national home, and the private home of every one of us, must be founded on good will.
Good will is revealed through giving, through readiness to give and to contribute, without calculating what anyone else is giving. It happens when people are not envious of one another; when they are motivated not by vested interests, but by mutual love and responsibility. Especially during the politically, socially and economically difficult and complex period in which we find ourselves, we have to transcend narrow, petty calculations and contribute to the rebuilding of the People, Land, Torah and State of Israel.
By such means we will be privileged to see with our own eyes the rebuilding of the Temple, soon in our day, Amen.
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Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UbeEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il/.
?Have them bring Me an offering. Take My offering from everyone whose heart impels him to give [yidvenu].? (Exodus 25:2) Rashi comments: ?Yidvenu derives from nedava, which means good will.? In other words, the Tabernacle was built through the good will of the Israelites, who contributed generously.
Not just the Tabernacle was founded on good will, but the whole universe is founded on G-d?s good will. As Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook writes (Orot HaKodesh 3:43): ?Good will is the foundation of all existence. The whole universe is based on it. The foundation of this world is revealed through the will of man.? - i.e., the will of men following G-d?s pathways and clinging to His traits. ?The L-rd is good to all and His kindness is over all His works.? (Psalm 145:9).
Today, the State of Israel, our national home, and the private home of every one of us, must be founded on good will.
Good will is revealed through giving, through readiness to give and to contribute, without calculating what anyone else is giving. It happens when people are not envious of one another; when they are motivated not by vested interests, but by mutual love and responsibility. Especially during the politically, socially and economically difficult and complex period in which we find ourselves, we have to transcend narrow, petty calculations and contribute to the rebuilding of the People, Land, Torah and State of Israel.
By such means we will be privileged to see with our own eyes the rebuilding of the Temple, soon in our day, Amen.
--------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UbeEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il/.