Parashat Terumah

Parashat Terumah

Adar 6, 5773 ~ February 16, 2013
by David Carasso

 

In this parsha, God tells Moses to create a dwelling place for God, where the Jewish People can bring Him gifts or offerings (“trumah”). He details what the Mishkan (portable Temple) should look like and how it should be made. The Mishkan includes an ark, two cherubim, curtains, and a menorah.

In the first aliya, a list of raw materials necessary for building the Mishkan was presented to the Jewish People.  In looking at the thirteen different items that were needed for the building of the Mishkan and its vessels, they are mentioned in descending order of value: gold, silver, copper, turquoise, purple and scarlet wool, linen, goats' hair, ram skins dyed red, ram skins, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the incense. Afterwards, however, it mentions the precious stones brought by princes. Why were these precious stones not mentioned first, as they were the most valuable

In Divrei Mordechai, Harav Mordechai Eliyahu, zt"l, writes that the Torah comes to teach that what one gives with all one's heart carries more weight than the actual value of the gift. The princes decided to wait and see what the others brought, rather than giving right away as did everyone else (so much so that the people were told to stop bringing their donations because there was enough).  Because of their arrogance, the gifts of the princes would be counted last.  Run to do a mitvah!

Rashi adds that when the verse says “Speak to the Children of Israel and they shall set aside trumah for Me” (Shmot 25:2), the word “li”, which would normally mean “to me” is translated as “for me” here. All items in this world already belong to God -- Trumah cannot be given to God, but donated in His honor. A real gift should be for the honor and glory of the recipient and not the giver. 

Another reading on this verse says “take for Me an offering”, even though people were giving, the verb used is to take.  Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Beis HaLevi) notes that the only money that a person has is the money he has given away as charity.  Everything else can disappear. Your house can be foreclosed, your job and paycheck can disappear, and your retirement portfolio can tank. But the charity you gave away, no one can take away. You’ve used your power and influence over others, for their good. You were created in God's image, and you took some of your resources and acted like God.

A number of commentators have noted the similarity between the Torah's description of two acts of creation: God's creation of the universe, and the Jewish Peoples' creation of the Mishkan. But, in looking at the few details describing the creation of the universe, and the many details describing the Mishkan, one might think the amount of text given to each is cosmically wrong. The Torah, however, is not Man's book of God, but God's book of Man. God can easily make a home for Mankind. What is difficult is for Man to make a home for God.