Subject: Torah Weekly - Terumah 5758
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 23:52:04 +0000
To: "Parasha-Page List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: "Ohr Somayach" <info@virtual.co.il>
To: " Highlights of the Torah weekly portion" <weekly@virtual.co.il>
Subject: Torah Weekly - Terumah 5758
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* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
Parshas Terumah
For the week ending 2 Adar 5758
27 & 28 February 1998
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Overview
Hashem commands Moshe to build a Mishkan (Sanctuary) and supplies him with
detailed instructions. Bnei Yisrael are asked to contribute precious
metals and stones, fabrics, skins, oil and spices. In the Mishkan's outer
courtyard is an altar for the burnt offerings and a laver for washing. The
Tent of Meeting is divided by a curtain into two chambers. The outer
chamber is accessible only to the kohanim, the descendants of Aharon. This
contains the Table of Showbreads, the Menorah, and the Golden Altar for
incense. The innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, may be entered only by
the Kohen Gadol, and only once a year, on Yom Kippur. Here is the Ark that
held the Ten Commandments inscribed on the two tablets of stone which
Hashem gave to the Jewish nation on Mount Sinai. All of the utensils and
vessels, as well as the construction of the Mishkan, are described in
extraordinary detail.
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Insights
__________ The Lair Of The Lion__________
"They shall make a Sanctuary for Me." (25:2)
A couple of years ago a well-know Israeli daily newspaper, not known for
its sympathy to religion, published a cartoon.
In the cartoon, a man was having a dream. Out of his head came the
statutory "think-bubbles." The bubbles got larger and larger until the
following scene unraveled: The man saw himself "upstairs" being questioned
by winged angels wearing black hats: "But why didn't you keep Shabbos?"
they asked. "You knew there was a thing called Shabbos didn't you? What
about Kashrus? You knew there was something called Kashrus?"
In the following bubble, the man wakes up in a cold sweat. Then a close-up
on his face. "Maybe they're right!" he says.
Why isn't everyone religious?
Why don't people think: "What if those religious fanatics are right?
After all, if they're wrong, at least they have wonderfully rich and
fulfilling lives, lovely families, etc. And if they're right, and I'm
wrong? I'm going to lose out on something eternal. I'm going to get to
the next world and I won't have the price of admission. I won't even be
able to get a cheap seat! Maybe I will have to give an accounting in front
of the real Supreme Court. I'll be religious just in case! Better safe
than sorry!"
Why don't people think like this?
In this week's Parsha the Torah starts a lengthy description of the
Mishkan. The sheer volume of this account outweighs almost every subject
in the Torah. What was the Mishkan and why does it merit such voluminous
expanse in the Book where nothing is merely descriptive and there is no
place for literary embellishment?
The word Mishkan comes from the word "to dwell." It was the place where
Hashem "dwelled" in this lower world. But how can a mere building house
the One whose glory fills the universe. How can the Omnipresent have a
"house?"
There is a difference between existence and presence. Hashem exists
equally everywhere. He is no more in one place than another, because there
is no place where He is not. Rather, the Mishkan was a place where the
presence of Hashem was palpable. You could see He was there.
Imagine sitting at a computer. You are typing away, lost in the great
American/British/Israeli novel. Unbeknownst to you, a lion enters your
room. It's a very quiet, well-behaved lion, and you carry on typing in
blissful ignorance.
The lion's existence is unaltered by whether you carry on typing or you
turn around and give yourself a bit of a surprise. However, the presence
of the lion has everything to do with whether you turn around or not.
The Mishkan allowed one to see and fear the Lion. Hashem's presence there
was palpable.
The word for "sight" in Hebrew is from the same root as "fear" -- yirah.
What is the connection between seeing and fearing? A person only fears
what he can see. Intellectual concepts don't frighten us. The biggest
proof is that even if we're religious and we know that there is a world-to-
come, a cosmic day of reckoning, even though we know these things clearly,
we can't see them, and so we don't really fear. Fear only comes from
seeing the Lion. Going into the Mishkan was like going into the lion's
lair.
__________ Heart Is Where The Home Is__________
"And they shall make a Sanctuary for Me, so I may dwell in them." (25:8)
The Torah's choice of the words "so I may dwell in them" is unusual, for
more correctly it should have written "so I may dwell in it." -- in the
Sanctuary.
However, the real meaning is that every Jew should make his heart into a
Sanctuary where Hashem will dwell. "And they shall make their hearts into a
Sanctuary for Me, so I may dwell in them."
__________ The Jewel In The Crown__________
"You shall cover it (the Aron) with pure gold, from within and without, and
you shall make on it a gold crown all around. (25:11)
The Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark, represents the Torah scholar. He must be
as golden on the inside as he is on the outside -- his inner character must
be consistent with his public demeanor. Then the Torah will be his crown
and he will be a crown for the Torah.
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Haftorah: I Kings 5:26-6:13
__________Built to Last__________
"This Temple that you build -- if you follow My decrees, perform My
statutes, and observe all My commandments..." (6:12)
Just as in this week's Parsha the Torah speaks of the construction of the
Mishkan, the Divine "residence" in the desert, so too the Haftorah
describes the first Beis Hamikdash which was built by Shlomo Hamelech 480
years after the Exodus.
Even though the physical statistics of Shlomo's construction are
staggering, what is important to Hashem is that the real construction be
built from the giving heart.
This is what Hashem is saying to Shlomo in the above verse: Don't think
that the construction of My house is by mere material means, by the
lavishing of silver and gold. These are mere illusions -- not the real Beis
Hamikdash. Rather, "if you follow My decrees, and perform My statutes" --
this is what the Beis Hamikdash is really built of.
And since the "materials" of its construction are really spiritual, so the
Beis Hamikdash, even after its physical destruction, even after its
material components have disintegrated, continues to exist:
"I will dwell within Bnei Yisrael, and I will not forsake My people
Israel".25
Kochav M'Yaakov
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Sources:
o The Lair Of the Lion - Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, Rabbi Mordechai Perlman and
Rabbi Naftali Kaplan
o Business As Usual - Rabbi David MiKotzk
o Heart Is Where The Home Is - Alshich
o The Jewel In The Crown - Rabbeinu Chananel
o Kochav M'Yaakov
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