It states (37:1-2), ...שטים עצי הארן את בצלאל ויעש ומחוץ מבית טהור זהב ויצפהו, "Betzalel made the aron from shittim wood... and covered it with pure gold, inside and outside." The pasuk says that there were three aronos, one inside the other. The innermost box was gold, the outermost was gold, and the middle was made of wood.
This represents the three stages of teshuvah:
- The golden era is the beginning of one's teshuvah. That is when Hashem is helping him, and he is succeeding in his teshuvah process.
- Then comes the struggle because it isn't easy forever. Hashem takes away the initial euphoria and "light" that prevailed at the beginning of the teshuvah, and now the person must walk on his own. He is confronted with hardships and tests and isn't confident he can succeed.
- If he keeps trying, he will reach the golden, third era. He will succeed in his teshuvah.
Chazal tell us that Moshe understood how all the utensils of the Mishkan should appear, but Moshe didn’t comprehend the design of the menorah. Therefore, Hashem instructed him to throw the gold into fire, and it miraculously became a menorah. Which aspect of the menorah didn’t Moshe understand? The menorah was made from pure gold; it didn’t have any wood at all. Wood represents the yetzer hara, challenges. Moshe didn’t understand why Hashem would have a nachas ruach, pleasure, from any mitzvah that is perfect like gold, without any challenges or yetzer hara at all.
These three stages also exist when one desires to grow in Torah. At the beginning of his resolve to learn Torah, he is interested, inspired, and excited. The Torah is sweet to him. Then come the challenging times: He doesn't understand; he is not keeping up with the pace he initially set for himself. He wonders whether success in Torah is possible for him. But if he keeps trying, he will reach the third stage, which is when he truly loves Torah, and understands it. The Torah will now be sweeter to him than ever before.
The aron's three boxes represent these three stages. But notice that the aron is called, שיטים עצי ארון, an aron of wood. It isn't called זהב של ארון, "a golden aron." To teach that the essential stage and the real purpose is the struggle (represented by the wood).
When the Torah lists the items that Yidden donated to the Mishkan, they are listed in the order of the most precious to the least expensive. As it states (35:5), וכסף זהב ונחשת, gold, silver, and copper..." and so on. But then it states (35:9), מלואים ואבני שהם אבני, the precious gems that were to be used for the כהונה בגדי. These gems were the most precious items – more precious than gold and silver – but they are listed at the end of the list. Why?
The same question appears in parashas Terumah when Hashem told the Jewish nation to donate these items to the Mishkan. The pasuk begins with (Shemos 25:7) ,וכסף ,זהב ונחשת, listing the items in the order of most precious to the least expensive. And then, at the end of the list, the precious gems are listed. As it states (25:9), מלאים ואבני שהם ואבני ולחשן לאפוד.
The Or HaChaim (Terumah 25:7) asks: "We have to understand why שוהם אבני מלואים ואבני are written only after the eleven items. Since the stones were more precious, it would be proper to write them first, before ונחשת וכסף זהב."
One of the Or HaChaim's answers is that these precious stones were brought without toil since they came down with the mon. The nesi'im only had to go and pick them up. Although they were the most expensive, the donation ranked lower because they were brought without toil. They didn't compare themselves to the donations that people gave from their own pockets, even when those donations were of a lesser value.
This is an important lesson for us. If you find avodas Hashem difficult, be happy with that because that is how avodas Hashem is meant to be.
There was a soldier in Czar Nicholai's army who enjoyed drinking, and when he ran out of money, he gave all his weapons to the owner of a tavern, as collateral, in exchange for drinks. To appear that he was armed with weapons, he carried a large bag around, so people would think his weapons were inside the bag. One day, Czar Nicholai visited the army base. He was pleased with the order and discipline he saw. But then he called over this soldier and asked him to open the bag. It was filled with straw, and he was punished severely.
Rebbe Asher of Stolin zy'a repeated this story and asked: How did Czar Nicholai know to ask specifically this soldier to open his bag? Other soldiers were going about carrying their bags, and the Czar didn't suspect them. What about this soldier that roused his suspicion? The answer is, the Czar saw that the soldier was carrying his bag without difficulty. That aroused the Czar's suspicion because weapons are heavy.
Rebbe Asher of Stolin said that similarly, avodas Hashem is meant to be a challenge. If it is easy, that's a sign that something is wrong. There should be struggles. One should feel like he's working hard, putting in an effort. If it is too easy, something is lacking. If avodas Hashem is easy, the reward is far less.
As it states in Avos d'Reb Noson (3:6), "Performing the mitzvos once with tzaar is equivalent to a hundred times without hardships." And Sefer Chassidim (145) states, "When one triumphs over his yetzer hara, the reward will be greater than the reward given for a hundred mitzvos, performed without hardships." And as Chazal (Avos 5:23) say, אגרא צערא לפום, "the reward is in accordance with the hardships."
Pirkei Avos is Mishnayos, which are written in lashon hakadosh. So why does it say (Avos 5:23), אגרא צערא לפום in Aramaic? Tosfos (Brachos 3.) writes, "We say Kaddish in Aramaic because it is a beautiful praise, and we don't want the malachim to understand what we are saying and be jealous of us." Similarly, the phrase אגרא צערא לפום is written in Aramaic, because it is a great praise when a Yid overcomes his challenges to serve Hashem. We don't want to rouse the malachim's jealousy. Therefore, it is written in Aramaic.
A group of chassidim complained to the Chidushei HaRim zt'l about their yetzer hara. The Chidushei HaRim told them, "What purpose would there be to life if there wasn't a yetzer hara?"
