ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי (כה:א)

During WWII, many Yidden ran away from the accursed Nazis and escaped to the city of Sambar, which was under Russian rulership at the time.  Local askanim – community activists gathered to discuss how to help the broken and needy refugees.

Reb Pinyela of Ostilya zt”l, a son-in-law of Maran Reb Yissacher Dov of Belz zt”l, and renowned for his chessed, led the meeting. Reb Pinyela spoke of the importance of collecting money for tzedakah and paraphrased the passuk: ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי – Rashi says on the passuk “לי לשמי” – for Me, means for Hashem’s sake.  What does Rashi imply? The passuk alludes to the ways people can go collecting tzedakah.  Sometimes they tell themselves that it is below their dignity to ask that person, or they may get less than anticipated, so it’s below their dignity to collect, too.  Therefore, the passuk say,s “ויקחו לי – לשמי” – collecting money for tzedakah has to be לשם שמים – for the sake of Hashem. “מאת כל איש” – one needs to collect from everyone and not leave out anyone, and “אשר ידבנו לבו” – one should accept whatever donation is given, more or less, “תקחו את תרומתי” – accept any donation as tzedakah.