II-7 Terumah Making a Sanctuary from Scratch

Torah: Ex 25-27:19

Haftorah: 1Kgs 5:26-6:13

Aliyot: 1. Ex 25:1-16

2. Ex 25:17-30

3. Ex 25:31-26:14

4. Ex 26:15-30

5. Ex 26:31-37

6. Ex 27:1-8

7. Ex 27: 9-19

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Terumah provides a list of raw materials required for the construction of the Mishkan, the tabernacle, that will become the center of the movement of religious worship. The materials are to be taken as a voluntary donation: gold, silver, copper, wool dyed sky-blue, dark red, and crimson, linen, goats wool, ram skins, acacia wood, oil, spices, incense, and precious stones. Detailed instructions are given for the altar for shewbread, the detailed description of the menorah and ark within the Holy of Holies to be carried with the tribes of Israel.

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The Lord said to Moses saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him. And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them Ex 25:1-2, 8

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Terumah follows Mishpatim, the social laws that govern the relationships between man and man, providing compensation for damages and standards for interpersonal relationships and behavior. A simple drash on the Magen David, the six-pointed star comprised of two triangles is that the upper star with its nose pointed downwards represents God descending on Mt Sinai to communicate with man. The traingle with its nose upwards, is man calling to God. Some people see it a slightly different way, stating that the triangle with the lowest base is God spreading his arms around man, like a father who holds his child, while the triangle with the higher base is man, desperately clinging to God for redemption.

The relationship between Yisro, Mishpatim and Terumah can be interpreted in this manner. Yisro is God delivering to man the Holy Law while Mishpatim is man striving to reach upwards through his actions. Terumah is that middle area, that holy time and place where we step outside conventional society and daily labor to encounter God privately within the inner sanctum of our lives.

When relations with our fellow man are good and we have not violated the sanctity of human trust through dishonest dealings or exploitation, our gifts are acceptable before God. However, if we have cheated in any business dealings or benefited through the offense of another, whatever we bring before God is for nothing. If we double charge a customer, have false balance on our scales, the gift brought before God is unacceptable as a product of an impure life and heart. In the Last Days when the Book of Life is opened, anyone who has exploited his fellow man through business or personal dealings, shall be held accountable; the 100,000 or 1,000,000,000 dollar tax deductible donation will have little effect in the heavenly court. Such dealings are not acceptable before the Almighty Judge: you cannot steal from your neighbor and offer the profit to God.

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