Transcript

So continuing in the Ramban here at the beginning of Parshas Terumah

והנה הם קדושים מעת שיהיה בהם מקדש להשרות שכינתו ביניהם ולכן צוה תחלה על דבר המשכן שיהיה לו בית בתוכם המקודש לשמו והנה עיקר החפץ במשכן הוא מקום מנוחת השכינה שהוא הארון.

So it's clear according to the Ramban the definition of Mikdash is a Bayis or a Makom l'hashras hashcheina. The Velt points out that this is in contrast to the Rambam's definition. The Rambam has at the beginning of Hilchos Beis Habechirah

מצות עשה לעשות בית לה' מוכן להיות מקריבים בו הקרבנות וחוגגין אליו שלוש פעמים בשנה שנאמר ועשו לי מקדש.

So the Rambam defines Mikdash as a Bayis which is מוכן להיות מקריבים בו הקרבנות and which is the address for Re'iyas Panim, shalosh pe'amim bashanah, yira'eh kol zechurcha, וחוגגין אליו שלוש פעמים בשנה. Not for the tachlis of the Mishkan is not for the hashras hashcheina. The definition of Mishkan and therefore the ikkar tachlis of Mishkan, Mikdash, is muchan l'hakravas hakorbanos, וחוגגין אליו שלוש פעמים בשנה. L'chora just in terms of how the Rambam and the Ramban respectively learnt pshat in the pasuk, so the Ramban clearly says a pshat ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם that the pshat is ve'asu li mikdash so that v'shachanti besocham. That's how the Ramban reads the pasuk. How does the Rambam read the pasuk? So before we come to how the Rambam reads the pasuk, l'chora the Rambam would say that his definition of Mikdash is also meforash in Chumash. The Lechem Mishneh already raises the question, here in Hilchos what I mean this question is not so much critical for our present focus. Here in Hilchos Beis Habechirah the Rambam quotes the pasuk. Ve'asu Li Mikdash. The Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Melachim when the Rambam quotes the Gemara in Sanhedrin of שלוש מצוות נצטוו ישראל בשעת כניסתן לארץ limnos lahem melech, livnos beisa habechira and להכרית זרעו של עמלק. So here the Rambam quotes I said it in the wrong order it's להכרית זרעו של עמלק then livnos beisa habechira so here the Rambam quotes livnos beisa habechira לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה. He quotes the pasuk from Parshas Re'eh. Okay so maybe we'll come back to the teretz on the Lechem Mishneh's kashya but be that as it may if you look at the pesukim in Parshas Re'eh so the Rambam lichora would just say the pesukim in Parshas Re'eh the pshuto shel mikra is my definition.

לא תעשון כן לה' אלהיכם כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלהיכם מכל שבטיכם לשום את שמו שם לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה.

So you should inquire you should look to identify the place uvasa shama and what's the next pasuk

והבאתם שמה עלתיכם וזבחיכם ואת מעשרתיכם ואת תרומת ידכם ונדריכם ונדבתיכם ובכרת בקרכם וצאנכם.

It's פרק י"ב פסוקים ה' and forward

והבאתם שמה עלתיכם וזבחיכם ואת מעשרתיכם ואת תרומת ידכם ונדריכם ונדבתיכם ובכרת בקרכם וצאנכם.

And then again Pasuk Yud Aleph moving forward

והיה המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלהיכם בו לשכן שמו שם שמה תביאו את כל אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם עולתיכם וזבחיכם מעשרתיכם ותרומת ידכם וכל מבחר נדריכם אשר תדרו לה'.

So lichora the Rambam would point to these pesukim that's where at least the first part of the definition of Mikdash as בית שמוכן להיות מקריבים בו קרבנות. What's pshat in the pasuk in Parshas Terumah ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם? So itachen according to the Rambam what it means is like this that the pshat is Kedushas Mikdash to create a Mikdash so Hakadosh Baruch Hu says it's going to be a cooperative venture. You're going to have to do part and I'll do part. Ve'asu Li Mikdash you'll do your part you'll in terms of the Mishkan b'Midbar so you'll take up a collection and you'll donate vechulu and the u'v'zalel and and all the others will build but that won't create the Mikdash then I will finish the job v'shachanti besocham. Not that the v'shachanti besocham is the to'eles and the tachlis of Mishkan the way the Ramban learns pshat in the pasuk but the way the Rambam learns pshat is that as it were that's the gmar habinyan that's the gmar ha'asiya that's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's part in in creating the Mikdash. What's the Mikdash for? So here in Parshas Terumah the Torah doesn't tell us. In Parshas Re'eh so you have the definition לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה and what's it about what do you have the Mikdash for v'havaseim shama it's מוכן להיות מקריבים בו קרבנות. Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Vayikra quotes the drashos Chazal on takrivu korbanchem so תקריבו מלמד ששנים מתנדבים עולה בשותפות korbanchem melamed shehashutfim. היא עולת קיץ המזבח הבאה מן המותרות. So what do they do with the leftover trumas halishka? Right? So this is this week's parshas Shekalim, no? This week's parshas Shekalim. So באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים, so that they would contribute in chodesh Adar for the coming year's trumas halishka, the fund from which they would purchase korbanos tzibbur. What did they do if there was any? So the fiscal year in Mikdash was from aleph Nissan until the end of Adar. So what did they do if there was leftover money from the come this Rosh Chodesh Nissan? What do you do with last year's leftovers? So one of the things you do with it is you use it to buy an olas nedava of the tzibbur if the mizbe’ach is if people are not waiting to be makriv korbanos on the mizbe’ach, the mizbe’ach is just standing empty. So it's a funny thing, so let the mizbe’ach stand empty, no? Let the mizbe’ach stand empty. No one has a chatas they need to bring, good, wonderful. No one has an asham they need to bring, okay. No yechidim are bringing olas, okay. So what does it bother us that the mizbe’ach should be standing empty? No, it sounds like no, it shouldn't be empty. So yitachen that the pshat at least al pi the Rambam is that the definition of Mikdash, as we just read here in the beginning of Hilchos Beis Habechira, the definition of Mikdash is to build a בית מוכן להיות מקריבים בו הקרבנות. So yitachen that it's a continuation of that mitzvah. You see that the mitzvah is midin ve'asu li Mikdash is not just to put up the structure, but the point is to have a makom where you're makriv korbanos. And that's the source for why you don't want the mizbe’ach to be standing idle. And if there's no one waiting, so then we bring an olas nedvas tzibbur. Lichora, there will also kamidomeh that there will also be a machlokes the Rambam and the Ramban. I'm sorry, one second. Yeah, I think kamidomeh that a similar machlokes to how you taytsh the pasuk of ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, that the different understandings of Mikdash should also, when Shlomo HaMelech davens upon completion of the Mikdash, so the Ramban towards the end of this Ramban, towards the end of our Ramban, if you see where he quotes the pasuk, uvibiyur amar,

כי האומנם ישב אלוהים את האדם על הארץ, הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך.

So Shlomo HaMelech says, posing a rhetorical, well, I don't know, it's either a question or exclamation. Shlomo HaMelech, quote from Shlomo HaMelech: כי האומנם ישב אלוהים את האדם על הארץ? What this Mikdash, this beis laHashem, he... הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך the whole vast cosmos doesn't accommodate Hakadosh Baruch Hu, right? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Mekomo Shel Olam, Ein Ha'olam Mekomo, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Mekomo Shel Olam. So הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך, so אף כי הבית הזה? So the question is what is Shlomo Hamelech saying in that Pasuk? So Kemidumeh that according to the Ramban, the Pshat in that Pasuk is that it's with an exclamation point, that Shlomo Hamelech is saying look at this extraordinary quality of Bais Hamikdash that even though obviously הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך but your Shechina resides here. And that it's a I think according to the Ramban, you have to look it up and make sure this is correct, that the Ramban would punctuate with an exclamation point. The Rambam Lichora punctuates with a question mark and says, and I think if you look in some of the Meforshim in the Mikraos Gedolos there in Melachim, some of them say this explicitly, that the Pshat is that obviously by building a Bais Lashem we don't mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is moving in, unpacking his bags and moving in, because הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך. What it means is that there's going to be a special Hashgacha on this place, which those two Pshatim will align with the difference between the Rambam and the Ramban in how to learn Pshat in the Pasuk of ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם as well. Sorry, could you say more fully what he means by question mark versus exclamation point? I'm not fully understanding. Yeah, I'll try Bezrat Hashem. When Shlomo Hamelech says, again it's a Hey Hasheila I think, האומנם ישב אלוקים את האדם על הארץ? can Hakadosh Baruch Hu reside with man on Earth? הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך. So what's he saying? So Kemidumeh that according to the Ramban, and again you have to review this, make sure this is correct, but according to the Ramban what that Pasuk means is that Shlomo Hamelech is sort of talking about the miraculous extraordinary character of Mikdash that even though obviously since Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Mekomo Shel Olam, Hashamayim you can't restrict, you can't contain Hakadosh Baruch Hu in a particular place, and Af al pi chen, I don't know, Af al pi chen somehow miraculously there's a Hashra'as Hashchina in Mikdash. And he's expressing his Hispa'alus at the miracle of the existence of the Bais Hamikdash. So Kemidumeh that's how the Ramban understands the Pasuk, I think that's I think maybe in context here that's why he's quoting it here as well, but check all this. Le'umaso, for the Rambam, what it means is that Shlomo Hamelech is saying I'm not misunderstanding what Mikdash means. I recognize that it doesn't mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sort of contained or restricted here because obviously that's absurd, הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך. So then what is it? So the implication is, and I think this is what the next Pasuk then talks about. The next Pasuk is something about Tefilla, what's the next Pasuk does someone have? ופנית אל תפלת עבדך. Yeah, thank you. So I think the way the Malbim and some other Meforshim say Pshat is that what Shlomo Hamelech is implying is, no, what Mikdash means is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sort of as it were pays special attention to the Makom Hamikdash. There's a special Hashgacha there, right? Which is what as we... So for the Rambam, it's not commenting on this dialectic of on the one hand השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך, and on the other hand, this is your house. No, it's saying, no, we know what Mikdash isn't. What Mikdash isn't, it doesn't mean that, again, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu lives here. That's not what it means. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mekomo shel olam. השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך. What it means is that you exercise a special hashgacha over this place, and that's the segue to the next pasuk, that that Mikdash is mekom hamesugal for tefillah because kabbalas hatefillah is one major aspect and expression of hashgacha. Okay, we'll stop here. Thank you.