Thursday, August 30, 2007

Stop the Donations!

    ו וַיְצַו מֹשֶׁה, וַיַּעֲבִירוּ קוֹל בַּמַּחֲנֶה לֵאמֹר, אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה אַל-יַעֲשׂוּ-עוֹד מְלָאכָה, לִתְרוּמַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ; וַיִּכָּלֵא הָעָם, מֵהָבִיא.

    6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: 'Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.' So the people were restrained from bringing.

    ז וְהַמְּלָאכָה, הָיְתָה דַיָּם לְכָל-הַמְּלָאכָה--לַעֲשׂוֹת אֹתָהּ; וְהוֹתֵר. {ס}

    7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. {S}

    ~Exodus 36:6-7

Every single time I was taught this verse, my teacher said something along the lines of, "If only we had that problem today! If only we had too many people who were willing to help or give tzedakah or otherwise donate their time; if only we were like them and had to be restrained from bringing!"

Well, I happen to know the most fantastic people, because in fact something similar to this verse did occur today.

Basically, I thanked a particular person and then realized some other people might want to thank him, too. I suggested this to a few people and apparently the thank-you letters inundated this person's mailbox to the point that it was disruptive and I basically got the same message, "Stop the Thanks!" (Actually, redirect the thanks.)

Do I not know the most incredibly fantastic people?!

YU students just rock.