When Bnei Yisrael bring their donations to Moshe for the mishkan this week, the medrash points out that ‘peace is so great,’ and proceeds to mention that the fact that the kohen receives the first aliyah in shul for leining is for the sake of peace – so people will not argue who gets the first aliyah, because everyone will know it’s the kohen who gets it.
The question is, what in the sedra made the medrash comment about the greatness of the quality of shalom; where do we see particular stress on shalom in the sedra?
An answer is given that Moshe was faced with a tough choice regarding the collecting of the donations for the mishkan. He could have (and would have loved to) go around personally collecting the donations from each family, thus expending more effort in the mitzvah.
But Moshe did not go around personally; instead he called Bnei Yisrael to come to him. Why? Because if Moshe would have gone round himself, there would be a problem; who would he go to first?! Whichever family he visited first would be extremely honoured, but the other families would feel offended that they were not visited first.
So, in order to avoid the problem and create shalom, Moshe ordered that everyone was to come to him with their donations;
hence the medrash pointing out here that, indeed, peace is a great thing.
