Midrash sobre Êxodo 25:2

That they take for me an offering (Exod. 25:2). May it please our masters to teach us: What did they do with the surplus offering?¹The surplus offering was from the funds contributed for the building of the Sanctuary (M. Shekalim 4:4). Thus did our masters teach us: They fashioned with it the hammered gold overlay for the Holy of Holies. You find that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose two offerings (terumot): the offering (set aside) for the building of the Tabernacle and the priestly offering. The priestly offering (was given to them) in order that they become students of the law.²These offerings increased their opportunity to study the law. The midrash compares these offerings because both are called terumah. R. Yannai said: Any priest who is not a student of the law, it is permitted to eat the offering on his grave.³Etz Joseph suggests that an ignorant priest would even permit eating the terumah offering, which must be maintained in a state of ritual purity, in a cemetery, from which priests are generally barred. The intent may be that the priest, in his ignorance, probably collected his dues improperly, and so it is really common, and thus may be consumed even on his (i.e., the ignorant priest’s) grave, since he is worthy of death.

That they take for Me an offering (Exod. 25:2). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not My teaching (Prov. 4:2). R. Simeon the son of Lakish explained this verse as follows: Once there were two merchants who were traveling together. One of them held a bolt of silk material in his hand, while the other held some pepper. They said to each other: “Let us exchange our merchandise.” One took the pepper and the other took the silk. What one of them had previously owned was no longer his, and that which the other had owned was, likewise, no longer his. With the law, however, this is not so. If one man studies Tractate Ze’raim, and another Tractate Mo’ed, and they instruct each other, each possesses knowledge of both. Truly, is there any merchandise more valuable than this? Therefore, For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not My teaching.

[(Exod. 25:2:) AND LET THEM TAKE (rt.: LQH) FOR ME A PRIESTLY SHARE.] The Holy One said to them: The Torah was mine, and you undertook them (the commandments).¹⁰Cf. Tanh., Exod. 7:3: “And you undertook it (the Torah).” Take me along with it. (Ibid.:) AND LET THEM TAKE (rt.: LQH) ME AS A PRIESTLY SHARE.¹¹So the midrash interprets this part of Exod. 25:2. Resh Laqish said: Thus have our masters taught (in Ter. 1:1): THERE ARE FIVE WHO DO NOT SEPARATE OUT THE PRIESTLY SHARE; AND IF THEY DO SEPARATE IT OUT, THEIR PRIESTLY SHARE IS NOT A < VALID > PRIESTLY SHARE. <THE FIVE ARE > THE DEAF, THE INSANE, THE MINOR, ONE WHO SEPARATES OUT A PRIESTLY SHARE WHICH IS NOT HIS OWN, AND A FOREIGNER WHO SEPARATES OUT A PRIESTLY SHARE FROM WHAT BELONGS TO ISRAEL. [EVEN IF IT IS WITH PERMISSION], HIS PRIESTLY SHARE IS NOT A < VALID > PRIESTLY SHARE. Now all of them are derived from this verse (i.e., Exod. 25:2): <SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND LET THEM TAKE FOR ME A PRIESTLY SHARE; YOU SHALL TAKE MY PRIESTLY OFFERING FROM EVERY PERSON WHOSE HEART MOVES HIM.>¹²yTer. 1:1 (40a). SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: A deaf person is exempt because he does not hear. WHOSE HEART MOVES HIM: An insane person is exempt because his heart is not being moved. FROM EVERY PERSON: The minor is exempt because he is not a <grown>person (ish). Also one who separates out what is not his, as stated (ibid.): FROM EVERY PERSON, i.e., from what belongs to them. Also the foreigner who separates out a priestly share of what belongs to Israel, even with permission, as stated (ibid.): SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, is exempt because he is not from Israel.