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Who owns the Beis Hamikdash—God or the Jewish people? Through a Yerushalmi requiring the Kohen Gadol to announce entry via bells, the shiur reframes "v'asu li mikdash" and "v'yikchu li terumah": the "li" means designation of use (lishmi), not ownership. The Mikdash is Klal Yisrael's house where Hashem (ה׳) visits, creating relationship through presence rather than possession.
The shiur opens with a surprising Yerushalmi cited by Rashbam in Pesachim: before entering one's own home, a person must knock to avoid startling the household. The Yerushalmi derives this from the bells on the Kohen Gadol's me'il (robe)—"venishma kolo b'vo'o el hakodesh"—which announced his entry into the Beis Hamikdash. This raises an immediate difficulty: why would we need a proof from the Kohen Gadol entering the Mikdash to teach about entering one's own house? In someone else's house, knocking is obvious—you need permission to enter. But the Beis Hamikdash is God's house, not the Kohen Gadol's, so how does it serve as the source for the chiddush that even in your own home you should knock? Rabbi Zweig argues that the Yerushalmi must understand the pasuk "v'asu li mikdash" differently than Rashi (רש"י) does. Rashi interprets "li" as "lishmi"—for My sake, with proper intent. The Maharal explains Rashi's difficulty: everything already belongs to Hashem (ה׳), so "make it for Me" cannot mean ownership; it must refer to kavanah. But the Yerushalmi, Rabbi Zweig proposes, reads the verse to mean that the Mikdash actually belongs to Klal Yisrael. The "li" means only lishmi—designation of use for Hashem, not ownership. Similarly, "v'yikchu li terumah" means they should take materials for themselves, designating them for God's use.
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Parshas Terumah, Shemos 25:8
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