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The SA/TO & Rel/Ed
Connection
Parshat Terumah:
And HaShem spoke to Moses, saying: 'Tell the children of Israel to bring
me an offering; you shall accept offerings for me from every person whose
heart moves them [to give].' [Exodus 25:1-2]
Around the same time that the Israelites received the Torah, they also
received instructions to build a place of worship that they could carry
with them in their travels. This structure is called the mishkan or the
dwelling place of HaShem’s presence. HaShem’s first commandment
concerning the mishkan was that the entire community be invited to participate
in its construction.
The Torah hints in several places that the mishkan is not just the Israelites’
local shrine, but that it stands as a symbol for the world, which we are
commanded to transform into a holy place, a place of meeting between the
nation of Israel and HaShem. One of these hints is the fact that the mishkan
was set up for the first time on “the first day of the first month”
as cited in Exodus 40:2, thus indicating a second creation. Other clues
are found in the way that distinctive words from the creation story are
repeated in the sections of the Torah that deal with the mishkan. By taking
all of this, it can be concluded, despite the fact that we are no longer
wandering in the desert, the passages of the Torah that describe the building
of the mishkan can teach us important lessons about how we can work together
to build a world filled with HaShem’s presence. Here are just two
examples:
- You shall accept contributions for me from every person whose heart
so moves them [to give]. This teaches that every person must contribute
whatever is good in his or her heart. For the mishkan is built out of the
goodness found in each individual, the “gold and silver and copper,
the blue, purple and crimson yarns, the fine linen and goats’ hair”
(Exodus 25:3). Each one brings the particular good thing that he or she
has to offer, in his or her particular way. [Adopted from the teachigns
of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav]
- Once Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (Chofetz Chayim), a great scholar, needed
to raise funds to build a building for his yeshivah. A wealthy man came
to him and said: “Rabbi! HaShem has blessed me with riches, and I
want to use my wealth to perform the great mitzvah of establishing a center
of Jewish learning. Let me pay to build your yeshivah!” The Chofetz
Chayim said to him, “Sir, your intention is noble, and HaShem will
reward you for it. But, I cannot accept your offer. Building a yeshivah
is a mitzvah, and everyone must have an opportunity to participate in it.
We can see this from the Torah’s instructions for building the mishkan.
Even though, according to tradition, each one of the Israelites was wealthy
enough to contribute the entire amount, HaShem said, ‘You shall accept
contributions for me from every person whose heart so moves them [to give],’
in order to give each and every person a share in the construction of the
mishkan.”
[Adopted from Itturei Torah, Vol. III, p. 206]
Question:
Why do you think the building of the mishkan was one of the first projects given to the Israelites on
their way out of slavery in Egypt?
B'ahava,
Justin Turnofsky,
2005 SA/TO Int'l General Board
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