A Place? Without a Place?

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.

Ex. 25:1 – “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering; of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.” 

            What is the Tabernacle, and why is it necessary to build one? These may be obvious questions, but they merit serious thought. As pointed out by Rabbi Moti Bar-Or (Myjewishlearning.com, 2/17/15), of all of the commands in the Bible, this one may be about the most “voluntary” of them all. Donations are not required, but donations should be made willingly. (Aside: think about this when you consider dues systems in our congregations).

            First, what is the Tabernacle? In short, it’s a portable, tent-like structure on the outside, and it seems to have been without a roof. On the inside of the goat-skin walls, we have a series of implements used in connection with ritual sacrifices. The Torah uses around 450 verses to describe the tent and its contents, a rather remarkable fact when one considers the Tabernacle was to be replaced by the Temple.

            Second, why build a Tabernacle? Bar-Or suggests that the Tabernacle should be compared with the Garden of Eden narrative. Both explain (in their own ways) the relationship between God and humanity. But while in the Eden story we have God’s divine act for humans, in the Tabernacle we have human “creativity” to make space for God amongst them (see Ex. 25:8).

            But this is, of course, diametrically opposed to the very concept of a universal God who is everywhere at all time. So why did God want to people to build it? The Sforno, a medieval Italian commentator, suggests the need for the Tabernacle was like an anchor to a concrete place, and perhaps was God’s recognition (after the incident of the Golden Calf) that some physical manifestation of His Presence was needed. Others suggest that God intended to allow Himself to be reduced, and to be able to “inhabit” this world, he needed a place (in Hebrew, “makom.” Indeed, one of the names of God today is “Makom.”

            So, we are left with two diverse ideas of God: one who is “ein-sof” (without a place) and one who is Makom – the place. In addition to the theological disparity, these contrary views carry with them serious political ones as well, not the least of which is the divergence of religious authority points of view in Israel and in the Diaspora.

            In the Jewish history class I teach, we recently discussed the Babylonian Exile, when the Psalmist wrote, “By the waters of Babylon, we sat and wept over thee, Jerusalem…How can we sings songs to the Lord while in a foreign land?” More than 2,500 years ago, the Jewish exiles could not conceive of a way to connect with God when not in Zion. They clearly conceived of God as “Makom.” Yet within a scant few decades, Jeremiah was teaching them to pray for the welfare of the city in which they dwelt (Jer. 29), and indicated that God could hear their prayers from anywhere: God was “ein-sof.”

            How we deal with the poles of opinion is theologically difficult. This parasha, with its emphasis on a Tabernacle suggests God must dwell among us. History teaches the opposite.