Vayakel excerpts

ויקהל
Shabbat Shalom

(35:27) The princes/Nisiim donated the Shoham stones.

Ooooh! The Shoham stones. That sounds nice. And in a strong sense it is nice.

Rashi- The Torah leaves out a letter, because they were lazy וn the donations to the Mishkan. (Tabernacle). Later on, we see that they donate right away for the services, because nobody wants a shorter name. 

And you all have taken out a syllable. How many claps have you taken out of your names? You should be ashamed...We've got Bob over here. Tim. Kate. Jon. Chris. Pete. Babs. Becky. 

Saying 'We will let others' is not necessary a positive trait. I used to do that with my tests and of course, Mrs. Funsten, the apikores, would fail me.

In this case, nobody has donated anything to this shule. This shule has still not finished its original renovations. And the rich people....Do not worry. I will give this speech again on Yom Kippur...

It is act of kindness for all the millionaires to give everybody else a chance, for the past 30 years. It would be nice if I had a shtender to speak from. A lecturn for the rich people, who don't need to understand Hebrew...That is why we have the left side of the pages in the siddur....

(35:21 and the whole Parsha) The ones whose spirits and hearts are generous- that is who brings the donations.

The Torah goes through a huge list of all the stuff people brought.

Not once does it say 'expensive.' Money has nothing to do with it...It has to do with the wise of heart. Look at Mr. Fishmen. Donated our most prized possession. The Havdalah candle. He didn't put a plaque on that. He didn't spend more than 3 dollars on it. It is a woven one Berns...He didn't pay his dues...

It is kind for the rich people to allow the poor people to pay their due first...

 

Separating yourself, even if you think it is to give other people a chance, is lazy...Let us talk about laziness. Are good friend owns the finest hotel chain in all of the Midwest. He invests in his Motel 8. However, when it comes to shule. He never has time. Mr. Birkwood is always busy with cleaning the bed sheets...how good of a job does he do on that?...However, when it comes to shule, he never has time. He tells us, 'I will donate what you need...put a plaque, so I can get some good PR.'

The man spends no time at shule. He waits for us to tell him the needs and then he purchases plaques for the shule...

Join this congregation now. Make us a success and purchase a Havdalah candle...Mike.

***These are excerpts from the sermon. For the sermon in its entirety, come see David Kilimnick perform at the Off The Wall Comedy Basement, in downtown Jerusalem.
David also tours as a Maggid with very few stories, if you invite him.
Shabbat Shalom uMvorach