Welcome to The Morning Scroll! I'm Rabbi Deena Cowans from Mishkan Chicago and you're listening to what will be a quick dive into this week's parsha. If you’ve been meaning to brush up on your Jewish literacy, or you’re looking for some inspiration, you’ve come to the right place. This week, we read Parashat Terumah, “Gift” or “Sacrifice”, the first of many weeks in which we learn about the construction of the Mishkan. We’ll start with a brief recap:
God tells Moses to collect donations to build a Mishkan, traveling sanctuary, saying “Have them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell with them.” God then, like an Ikea construction manual, lists the items needed and quantities for each, and begins describing the construction. Construction begins with an ark made of gold-plated wood, with special poles to carry it. The ark was to be covered with gold, winged cherubs. There was also supposed to be a special portable, gold covered table, a seven-branched gold menorah, a sanctuary that would be a sort of multi-layered tent made with wool, linen and tachash (often translated as dolphin skins). The walls of the Mishkan were also made of gold-plated wood, with very specific instructions for how many beams go where. God then describes the Mishkan’s two sanctuaries- an innermost holy of holies, where the ark would live, and an outer chamber which would hold the special table and menorah. There should be two curtains made of dyed wool and linen, god says, one of which covers the holy of holies and one of which covers the entrance to the tent. Additionally, there is to be an outdoor altar made of copper-plated wood, also fitted with transportation rings and poles. This outdoor altar sits in a courtyard that will be enclosed with mesh curtains, about 150 by 150 feet. To be continued…
Let’s zoom back to the beginning of the parsha, when God opens this instruction manual with a pretty compelling reason: The Israelites are to build this sanctuary, SO THAT God can live among them. It’s pretty uncommon for God to give a reason for a law, and even more uncommon for that reason to feel… logical, but here it does- God wants to live among the Israelites, and to do so, God needs a home. So why do we get this explicit description of why the Israelites should obey these commands?
It seems to me like this is God’s way of saying, “Eyes on the prize, folks.” The construction of the Mishkan is going to be very costly, both in terms of physical donations and time commitment, and getting it exactly right is crucial for god and the Israelites. By helping the Israelites identify a concrete goal, God’s physical presence, I think God makes it easier for them to make space, literally and figuratively, among themselves.
While we might not all be engaged in communal building projects for the divine, we do all have ways we need to make space in our lives for something big, important, or holy. And, like the Israelites building the Mishkan, we often need to dedicate significant time or resources to making that space. So I kind of love that God starts this project by naming the end goal, and I’m feeling re-inspired to name my own goals on the things I’m working towards, and to think about how I can keep those goals front and center.
So this week, I want to offer a blessing to the Israelites, who I suspect are going to have to keep reminding themselves of this goal as they do the hard work of construction. And the same blessing goes for every one of us, who has to make sacrifices and changes in pursuit of a goal, and who might appreciate the chance to check in with the goal as we do the work.