Terumah is a 96 verse instruction manual explaining how to build the Mishkan, God’s ‘temporary dwelling place’ in the desert, and all of its contents.
It begins ‘The Lord spoke to Moshe saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and have them take for me an offering’ (Shemot 25:1-2). Actually they are all being asked to give something to help make the Mishkan, so the question is why does God say ‘take’?
In this week’s sedra there is give and take. The second pasuk of the sedra relates Hashem’s instructions to Moshe for raising funds for the Mishkan; “Take for Me an offering from everyone whose heart impels him to give" (Exodus 25:2). Why is the word ‘take’ used; would it not be more appropriate to say ‘and they shall give to Me a donation…’?
Today’s Torah reading begins with the gifts that the people will offer in order to beautify the mishkan – the sanctuary. Veyikhu li terumah, “Let them take a terumah to me”.Tikhu et terumati is in the plural. Not Moses, but the community, is to take the gift.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch(1808-88), the forefather of modern orthodox Judaism, comments “Each individual’s gifts for divine purposes must be given through the community, since it is not the individual, but the community that must build for and protect the Jewish people”.
In this week’s sidrah we learn about the building of the mishkan (portable sanctuary) and it’s components, built by Betzalel.
Our sages teach that the Mishkan was built as an atonement for the sin of the golden calf. However, reading the sidrot in order, the episode of the golden calf has yet to occur!
We learn from this that before any malady or calamity occurs, G-d always provides the cure. The purpose of the Mishkan was to bring the Jewish people close to G-d by building a ‘home’ for G-d on this earth. The result of the golden calf was a distancing from G-d.
The name of the Sidra, T’rumah, means contribution. The entire Sidra is devoted to the construction of the Tabernacle which required generous contributions from the entire nation. The Hebrew word ‘T’rumah’ comes from the root RUM, which means ‘to raise’. This term is used because, when the people made their contributions, they lifted them up and separated them from the rest of the ir possessions. The opening verses contain the sentence VE’IKCHU LI T’RUMAH, which means: “Let them take a contribution for my sake”.
“Every child who comes to our Children’s Service knows that ‘Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere’!
In this week’s parashah, Terumah (Shemot 25:8) we read: 'They shall make for me a Mishkan so that I may dwell among them’, an idea which gives rise to much puzzlement and cuts to the heart of the creation of the Mishkan.
In our sedra today God commands Moshe to build a Mishkan or dwelling, a portable sanctuary, which the Children of Israel were to carry through the desert.
The Sidra of Terumah is devoted, in its entirety, to the building of the Tabernacle and the furniture that stood in it. It existed for 647 years. After travelling in the desert with the Israelites for almost 40 years it continued to be the centre of worship until King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. The building of the Tabernacle was to be a constant reminder for the revelation at Mount Sinai. Franz Rosensweig, the famous German philosopher who died in nineteen twenty-nine, writes that its construction was the high point in the story of the Exodus.
This week's parashah and haftarah are an exercise in counterpoint. Superficially, the common theme is the construction of a sacred space. The Torah portion takes up the erection of the Mishkan in the wilderness, whilst the Book of Kings recounts the building of the First Temple by Solomon in Jerusalem some 480 years later.
This week’s sidrah speaks about the construction of the tabernacle (portable sanctuary) in the desert. There are numerous lessons to learn from this portion but I would like to briefly outline one specific teaching.
