Donating Jewelry | Imamother

Motek

Sun, Jul 03 2005, 2:22 pm

this thread was inadvertently deleted, so it is being reposted here:

Quote:

The Kinus Ha’Shluchos 5752 was held over the parshas Yisro weekend. On their way home to Toronto, Mrs. Chiyena Zaltsman and Mrs. Zelda Gansburg discussed their impressions of the convention. Zelda mentioned that she had heard that some Machon Chana girls had sent the Rebbe jewelry that had been in their families for generations with great sentimental value, as a gift. To everyone’s surprise the Rebbe did not return it as was his usual custom.

Shortly after their return home to Toronto, Mrs. Zaltsman related this incident to her friend Mrs. Sultana Nakkar. “This story immediately made me think about jewelry for the Beis Ha’Mikdash,” said Mrs. Nakkar. “How come? Because the way I looked at it, silver and gold was given to man solely for spiritual causes to hasten the Geula, and not merely to adorn oneself.

“We spoke about the women in the desert who happily donated their jewelry for the Mishkan. We felt we needed to follow in their footsteps, with the third Beis Ha’Mikdash about to be built at any moment. We felt a deep, inner need to be partners in this endeavor, to be the first to lay the ‘cornerstone’ with our donation.

“I suggested this to Mrs. Zaltsman and another Torontonian friend, Mrs. Bina Cole and they were both thrilled at the thought and wanted to be a part of it. Yet we wondered what the Rebbe would think of this “crazy idea.” Would he accept and appreciate our donation, or would he return it?

“Since we weren’t sure, we decided amongst ourselves to keep it our secret, and if the Rebbe accepted it then we’d tell other women so they could join in. We did just as the woman in the famous story, and before sending the Rebbe our jewelry we polished and shined them to the best of our ability.

“We deliberately chose those pieces of jewelry that were most beloved to us. I put them in a box that we had gotten back in Iraq. These were pieces of jewelry that I was particularly attached to. We also put in necklaces that were our only memento of three relatives who are no longer living. The box itself was golden and had originally served as a jewelry box. We wrapped our jewelry gently and lovingly and placed them in this box.

“We included our husbands in this project, and upon telling them of our plan they not only agreed to what we were doing but they added their contributions of gold watches. We included a letter with the jewelry that said we were dedicating this jewelry towards the building of the third Beis Ha’Mikdash, and that we did so with the approval and blessing of our husbands. Then we signed our names: Chiyena, Sultana, and Bina.

“All we needed was someone to take it to New York. R’ Mendy Dubov of Toronto was going that Thursday, so we brought him the box and asked him to be the shliach to bring it to N.Y. We didn’t tell him what was in it. We just asked him to give it to Mrs. Shterna Spritzer of Crown Heights. Mrs. Spritzer is my friend from when I was in seminary in Paris.

“The box of jewelry arrived in N.Y. the weekend of parshas Mishpatim. I called Mrs. Spritzer and told her what it was about and asked her to give the box to the Rebbe. That Sunday Mrs. Spritzer went for “dollars” and gave the box to the Rebbe.

“A few days passed and we were on tenterhooks. Did the Rebbe accept it or not? I jumped every time the phone rang, fearing that the Rebbe would return the jewelry to us. By Tuesday I couldn’t take it any longer and I called Rabbi Groner and asked him whether he knew if the Rebbe had accepted the box.

“R’ Groner said that if we sent a box it was certainly given to the Rebbe, and so it seemed it had been accepted. I calmed down a bit for the Rebbe had taken the box and he hadn’t sent it back yet. It was more or less what I wanted to hear.”

Right after the following Shabbos, “headlines” of what the Rebbe had spoken about at the farbrengen were sent out. In brief it said; “that men, women, and children were sending silver, gold, and copper, literally, for the Beis Ha’Mikdash.”

”As far as we were concerned,” said Mrs. Zaltzman, “this was a clear answer. Although the sicha that came out afterwards didn’t say this as clearly, from what we had heard had been said at the farbrengen, the answer was crystal clear and showed that the Rebbe had happily accepted our donation.

“We can’t begin to describe how thrilled we were. Anything we could possibly say would not do justice in describing our emotions at that time. Do you know what it means to be the first to donate towards the Beis Ha’Mikdash?”

When Sultana talks about it her voice shakes from emotion. “We decided to include the rest of N’Shei Chabad of Toronto. Once we had gotten the Rebbe’s approval, the time had come to include others. We held a farbrengen and told them about what we had done, and the Rebbe’s reaction.

“Excitement ran high and women were eager to join in. We took another box and put in all the new donations. We absolutely exerted no pressure on anyone. Nobody had to participate, and we didn’t suggest to anyone what jewelry to donate. Each woman did as she pleased and we made no list and didn’t keep track of anything.

“How moving it was to see the women happily giving away their precious jewelry. Without pressure. They gave what they gave lovingly and with the intention of being a part of the building of the Beis Ha’Mikdash. Wedding bands, wedding gifts – all were given openheartedly.

“My sisters in France and England sent their jewelry too. At first they wanted to send it all to us since we were the “pioneers,” but I felt that it wasn’t my place to be the intermediary and I said they should send their donations directly to the Rebbe.

“After 27 Adar some women were nervous about the fate of their jewelry. ‘Who knows where they are now?’ they worried. “Maybe we should ask for it back until things return to normal.”

“I told them – the Rebbe accepted the donation and he’s responsible for them. I’m not worried.

“After 3 Tamuz,” says Chiyena, “the library was opened to visitors. My husband and I went there and spoke with Rabbi Berel Levin about what was there in the library. The topic was the walking sticks the Rebbe had from the earlier Rebbeim. There was even one stick that was presumed to be the Baal Shem Tov’s.

“R’ Levin suggested we go downstairs and look around. It was truly amazing. A huge collection of things that people had sent the Rebbe. There were pictures and sefarim, all sorts of things. Everything was catalogued. There was jewelry too, that women had sent for the Rebbetzin, but our jewelry wasn’t there.

“When the Rebbe’s room was opened to the public, I went there and behind the Rebbe’s desk, in the bookcase in the corner of the room, on the top shelf on the left, I saw some boxes piled one on top of the other, that the Rebbe had placed there himself and had not sent to be catalogued.

“One of those boxes was familiar, and on top of it was another smaller gilded box that we had put our first donations into. Before 27 Adar the Rebbe had cleaned his room and sent all the objects and sefarim in it to the nearby library, leaving only certain items in his room.

***
“Some time later,” concluded Chiyena, “ when I went to work in the preschool in Toronto, a little boy brought me a mitzvah note from his mother which said, “Reuven sent a dollar to the Rebbe Melech Ha’Moshiach today for the Beis Ha’Mikdash.” And that was worth more than anything …”

carrot

Mon, Jul 11 2005, 7:08 pm

wedding bands?????? shock

sarahd

Sun, Jul 24 2005, 3:34 am

Interesting and inspiring story? Confused

Motek

Mon, Jul 25 2005, 6:19 pm

Since this article was so extremely puzzling to a few women, I will highlight the lines that bring out the point of the article and explain why I posted it:

Quote:

the way I looked at it, silver and gold was given to man solely for spiritual causes to hasten the Geula, and not merely to adorn oneself.

“We spoke about the women in the desert who happily donated their jewelry for the Mishkan. We felt we needed to follow in their footsteps, with the third Beis Ha’Mikdash about to be built at any moment. We felt a deep, inner need to be partners in this endeavor, to be the first to lay the ‘cornerstone’ with our donation.

We included a letter with the jewelry that said we were dedicating this jewelry towards the building of the third Beis Ha’Mikdash, and that we did so with the approval and blessing of our husbands

Ladies:

Do we truly think Moshiach is coming today?

Do we really think the Beis Ha'Mikdash will replace the mosques on the Temple Mt? In our time?

Do we believe the statement of the Arizal that the generation that will greet Moshiach is a reincarnation of the generation that left Egypt?

Do we believe that just as it was in the merit of the righteous women of Egypt that our ancestors were redeemed, that it will be in the merit of the righteous women that we will have the true and complete Geula?

Did we learn that the women of the desert were ahead of the men when it came to donating towards the Mishkan and that these same women refrained from giving their jewelry towards the making of the golden calf?

Well, some women, namely the women in this article, do believe this. And rather than relegating their belief to the realm of the theoretical, they took ACTION that showed that they "walked their talk."

How fitting that we discuss this during the Three Weeks, a time of mourning for the destruction of the Beis Ha'Mikdash, a time when we are made uncomfortable with various halachos that are meant to get us thinking and missing the Mikdash, and more importantly - taking action so that we see the 3rd Beis Ha'Mikdash immediately.

"Whoever does not have the Mikdash built in his time, it is like it was destroyed in his time."

It's food for thought.

sarahd

Tue, Jul 26 2005, 6:40 am

Since we know that the third Bais Hamikdash will descend from Shomayim fully built, what need will there be of our jewelry? I think I'll wait till the request for donations comes straight from Moshiach.

Motek

Tue, Jul 26 2005, 5:59 pm

Quote:

There is a classic difference of opinion between our Rabbis regarding the construction of the Third Beis HaMikdash. The Rambam states[1] that the Beis HaMikdash will be built by man, more specifically by Mashiach. Indeed, its construction will be one of the signs of Mashiach's advent.
Rashi,[2] by contrast, explains that the Beis HaMikdash has already been constructed by G-d and exists in the heavenly realms, waiting for the time when it will descend to the earth. For the Third Beis HaMikdash will be "the Sanctuary of G-d, established by Your hands."[3] When the setting within the world is appropriate, this heavenly structure will descend and become an actual reality within our material world.

Each of these views is based upon sources in the works of our Sages

for a reconciliation of these views see:

http://www.sichosinenglish.org.....4.htm

Sure we can wait to be given an order, but let's do some soul-searching and think about why we wouldn't want to take the initiative.

sarahd

Wed, Jul 27 2005, 4:35 am

Well for one thing, practically speaking to whom would I give my jewelry? Moshiach hasn't arrived yet and Bezalel's not around either.

queenie

Sun, Jul 31 2005, 6:11 pm

Exactly how do these women know that they are the first to donate towards the building of the beis hamikdash? No one else in the entire world has done anything? How exactly is donating jewelry going to hasten the building of the beis hamikdash?

And when the 3rd bhm comes down where will this jewelry go?

Motek

Sun, Jul 31 2005, 6:18 pm

sarahd - there is no need to copy other people's approach

the point the story brings out and the point I was making about soul-searching is how real is it to us

there is no end to technical reasons one can come up with as to why there's nothing one can do, but if one WANTS to do, they just ... do.

queenie - I'll make the same point that I made previously - there are dozens of questions that can be asked, but they are all besides the point. The point is, how real is Moshiach's coming TODAY to us?

Tefila

Sun, Jul 31 2005, 7:29 pm

Quote:

The point is, how real is Moshiach's coming TODAY to us?

So if we truly believed moshiach was coming would we buy a new home be on ima mother, rush to pay the bills etc. buy new clothing etc embarrassed

Ok motek I've got the point embarrassed

so that is why the Lubavitcher Rebbe said by saying constantly we want moshiach now it will eventually b/come part and parcel of our whole being. So yes we want moshiach now Exclamation