T’rumah
Exodus 25:1-27:19
Précis: As the Israelites continue
their journey through the wilderness, God tells Moses to ask the people for
gifts to build the Tabernacle. “T’rumah” (voluntary donations) of fine
metals, yarns, skins, and woods are offered by the People. God gives Moses
precise instructions as to the interior and exterior construction of the mishkan (tabernacle). Specific items
include an altar for burnt offerings, a curtain (parochet) to separate
the main room from an inner sanctum, elaborate candlesticks, incense burners,
and other tools. There will be a special Ark to be placed in an area called the
Holy of Holies to house the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Precise measures
are given for all spaces as well as specific materials designated for the
composition of the mishkan.
As noted by my friend Rabbi Marc
Israel in his Torah Thought for the Day
(5/6/11), we were commanded to work for six days and to observe Shabbat on the
seventh. The rabbis note that just as Israel is commanded on the positive
commandment to observe Shabbat, so we are commanded to work [on the six days.
Speaking to the issue of the importance of labor, Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah
says, “So great is labor that God’s presence did not dwell among them until
they had performed labor. As the Torah [as cited in this verse] says ‘Let them
make me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them’” (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai 20:9).
The great Chasidic master Rabbi
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk asked some learned men who were visiting him, “Where
is the dwelling place of God?” Laughing, they responded, “What a thing to ask!
Is not the whole earth full of God’s glory?”Menachem Mendel then answered his
own question: “God dwells wherever we let God in.” Another Hassidic Rabbi once
asked, "Why does the Torah say, 'Build a sanctuary for me and I will dwell
in them (plural)?' Wouldn't it be more correct to say, 'build a sanctuary and I
will dwell in it (singular)'?” The answer teaches us that the sanctuary is a
metaphor for what we need to build for ourselves, in ourselves: a place for God
to “dwell” and be part of our lives.
In current days, our understanding
of what it means to have God dwelling within us stands in stark contrast to of
nihilism of the Islamic terrorists of ISIS and Al Qaeda. How (or even whether)
we can impart to them the essential need for allowing God to “dwell” within us
is the challenge of the age.