TORAH SPARKS

Parashat Terumah March 3-4, 2017 – 6 Adar 5777

Annual (Exodus 25:1-27:19): Etz Hayim p. 485-498; Hertz p. 325-336

Triennial (Exodus 25:1-25:40): Etz Hayim p. 485-491; Hertz p. 325-330

Haftarah (1 Kings 5:26-6:13): Etz Hayim p. 499-502; Hertz p. 336-338

 

 

 

From Ethics to Objects

Rabbi Joel Levy, Rosh Yeshiva, the Conservative Yeshiva

 

Exodus Chapter 25:1. And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying, 2. Speak to the people of Israel, that they bring me an offering; from every man that gives it willingly with his heart you shall take my offering. 3. And this is the offering which you shall take from them; gold, and silver, and bronze, 4. And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, 5. And rams’ skins dyed red, and goats’ skins, and shittim wood, 6. Oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7. Onyx stones, and stones to be set on the ephod, and  on  the  breastplate.  8.  And  let  them  make  me  a  Mikdash (sanctuary); V’Shachanti B’tocham – that I may dwell among them.

 

In  the  last  two  Parshiot  we  were  getting  on  beautifully  with  the revelation on Mount Sinai; we had the Ten Commandments in Parshat Yitro and some very sensible and practical ethical-legal instructions in Parshat Mishpatim. Now suddenly, in Parshat Terumah, we are thrown into the weird and wonderful world of ornate ritual objects. In this parashah we begin to be told about God’s detailed requirements for the building of a Mishkan (Tabernacle) so that God might dwell in the middle of the camp. God says that the Mishkan must be built – “V’Shachanti


B’tocham” – “that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). The rules for the construction of this astonishingly complicated edifice fill chapters and chapters of the Torah up to the end of the book of Exodus.

 

How might we read this sudden wrenching switch from ethical revelation on  a  barren  mountaintop  to  reams  of  material  about  arcane  ritual objects? It appears that once-in-a-lifetime ecstatic experiences of God, like the one on Mount Sinai, are insufficient to sustain an ongoing relationship between humans and God. The Israelites were treated to the biggest and most impressive religious sound and light show in history, but  ultimately  a  people’s  commitments  cannot  be  sustained  by  an isolated  spiritual  high.  Even  while  Moshe  stood  at  the  top  of  the mountain, God told him that the memory of Sinai would not suffice to keep them going on the covenantal path. There would need to be some more permanent and tangible evidence of God’s continued presence in the community in order for the high ethical principles of the previous two Parshiot to be properly realized by this nation. The elaborately constructed Mishkan, incorporating many of the strange trappings of sovereignty that the people were familiar with from Egypt, would help them to feel that their relationship with God had been placed on a permanent footing.

 

There is a price to be paid when a culture embraces a complex life of ritual and religious objects. We are still reaping the benefits and paying the price for that choice now. We gain a sense of permanence and solidarity when the regularity of a life of ritual takes priority over unpredictably fleeting religious experiences. On the flip side we can very easily get lost in the ornate silliness of organized religion, and when the bells and smells of our religious institutions fail to induce any sense of V’Shachanti B’tocham, we are left with an absurd husk of ritual on which to pin our religious identities. Only when, sometimes to our astonishment, our ritual life evokes a whiff of Sinai, can we forget its absurdity and find ourselves yearning for its sanctity.


 

A Vort for Parashat Terumah

Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, CY Faculty

Exodus 26:7 commands that “curtains of goats’ hair be made for a tent over the tabernacle,” covering the gold-plated boards and bars, the gold rings, and the colorful   curtains   of   fine   twisted   linen. The Kinyanei   Kedem (R’   Yitzhak Nisenbaum, 1868-1942, Russia/Poland, died in the Warsaw ghetto) said that these simple outer curtains, connected with copper clasps (v. 11); come to teach the children of Israel how to deal with wealth.  A rich person should conduct himself outwardly in a simple and modest manner, so as not to be “showy” or to make others jealous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table Talk

Vered Hollander-Goldfarb, CY Faculty

 

The story of the Exodus pauses to focus on another story:  The building of the Mishkan (literary ‘a dwelling place) – the Tabernacle.  This week we get the instructions for making a portable temple.

This week the questions focus on the interior of the Mishkan.

 

1) ‘Mishkan’ means a dwelling place. What do you think is supposed to

be inside a dwelling place of God? Why?

 

2) The first of the furnishings of the Mishkan that we are told about is the Ark (25:10-16). What will it be made of? How will it be carried? Why do you think that the ‘carrying tools’ should never be removed from the Ark? What will be placed in it?

 

3) On top of the Ark there will be a cover.  What will be on top of the cover (25:17-22)? How do you understand their role? What will come forth from between these things?

 

4) Two  more  items  of  the  interior  of  the  Mishkan  are  described immediately following the Ark (25:23-30, 31-39). What are the items? What materials are they made of? Of these 3 items (including the Ark), which one is unique in its material(s)? In your opinion, which would be the most difficult to make? Why?

 

5) In  II  Kings  4:10  we  have  a  description  of  the  furnishings  of  a room/dwelling in the biblical period.   How does that compare with the furnishings of the Mishkan? What might this tell us about how the Torah answers question #1?

 

The weekly Haftarah Commentary

By Rabbi Mordechai Silverstein, Senior CY Faculty in Talmud and Midrash, may be found at; http://www.uscj.org.il/learn/commentaries/

 

 

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