Parashat Terumah

February 28, 2025
30 Sh'vat 5785
Parashat Terumah
Exodus 25:1 - 27:19

Dear Friends,

Teaching is always a learning experience. This week, a core idea reasserted itself with great power. Whether in the Book of Ruth, the Book of Numbers, Megilat Esther, or this week’s Torah portion, the power and strength of the individual is enhanced by the support and presence of the community.

As always with the Torah, it depends on which lens you use to engage with the text. This week's Torah portion, Terumah, can be translated two ways, either as an offering or as something we lift up (Exodus 25:1 -27:19). The portion takes place between God and Moses up on Mount Sinai. We are about to hear instructions on how to construct a portable dwelling place for the Divine presence. What is being lifted? Could it be that the people were lifted through their actions?

We are told how the materials to create this dwelling place shall be acquired. “Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves them.” This is an incredible sentence. I invite you to read it twice. The people are not being commanded to do something, nor are they being given instructions on how to give. They are being told to open their hearts and let their hearts be their guide. We know from a latter Torah portion that indeed the people give with open hearts. The people are given agency to act from within.

The building of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, was the very first time that the people would be asked to be part of a community project, where every participant would be valued. Up until this moment the people had spent their time being nervous, fearful, and full of complaints, seeming to want to go back to Egypt. These are all very familiar reactions for many of us as we want to return to a time where all is “normal." But as our Torah teaches us, there is no going back, only going forward. What was, was, and what will be has not yet happened, so we will content ourselves with what is now and do our utmost to make the best of it.

Over and over again, we are reminded throughout our story that we are in partnership with the Divine. We are at our best when we do not look to miracles, but rather what we can do together. The Mishkan is built through the efforts of the people coming together to create something and ultimately being proud of what they have created together. We are taught “the greater the labor, the greater the love for what you have made” (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l) -- all the more so when the effort involved is freely given.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn