Exodus 25:1-27:19 – 1 Kings 5:26-6:13 – Luke 8:22-39

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Teruma
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Teruma

1. The word li "me" in Exodus 25:1-2 seems to be unnecessary. Would it not have been sufficient to say, "Take an offering?" What does this teach us?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

Midrash Tanchuma answers this question as follows,

"Speak to the children of Israel, and you will have them take a teruma offering for me." Anytime the blessed Holy One, uses the expression li ["to me"], it is in effect both in this world and the world to come." In what way? "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine belongs to me [li] (Leviticus 25:2)," in this world and in the World to Come. "For every first-born belongs to me [li] (Numbers 3:13)," in this world and in the World to Come.  "The Levites shall belong to me [li] (Numbers 8:14), in this world and in the World to Come. And Israel because it is written "And you shall be to me [li] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6)," in this world and in the World to Come. "You will have them take a teruma offering for me [li] (Exodus 25:1)," in this world and in the world to come.

From this midrash we learn two things. First, the teruma offering is not something that is limited to this world. Even in the days of Messiah, God will still ask his people to give freely with a generous heart in recognition and appreciation of this kindness toward us.

Second, those who honor God by giving to divine purposes will not only be blessed in this world but also in the next. In reality, all we have is from God and ultimately everything belongs to God. It is just on loan to us as, for example, the land of Israel. Not using our God-given wealth to support God's work and help those in need is very foolish for the only lasting investment is the one we make in God's Kingdom.

Hillel assembled his students in a large lecture hall and asked them, "If an individual has a thousand dinars and gives three hundred for tzedaqa (charity), how much money will that person have left?" His students confident of their answer shouted in unison, "Seven hundred dinars." Hillel slowly shook his head. "No, you are all wrong.  For if a person has three hundred dinars engraved in God's annals, the reminder of the seven hundred is not left to the individual. Such a person cannot take that money to the grave, robbers may take it from him, fire may consume it and all that it can purchase. Therefore, a person cannot count the money left in one's pocket to be permanent. It is only the money distributed toward tzedaqa - to feed the poor, or to cloth the poor, or to provide drinks to the thirsty - only this money has lasting eternal value. The correct answer to my question then is that there will be no money left. The only money that a person really has is the money he or she gives away on behalf of God to help others.

Avot de-Rabbi Natan

Hillel's statement is very astute, and similar to the teaching of Messiah Yeshua in the Besorot:

Yeshua said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Matthew 19:21

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

The wise person freely and generously sets a side a portion of his or her wealth for God's work, like Israel did in this week's Torah portion, so that they might be blessed in this world and in the world in the World to Come.

2. How does this week's Torah portion connect the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings with God's presence residing among the people of Israel?

Joshua Brumbach

This week's Torah portion, Parashat Teruma, centers on the instructions concerning the building of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) and its furnishings. This raises an interesting question. If the Bible's overall theme is about God's relationship with humanity through the Jewish people, then why is so much attention given to the details of objects? The answer is deeply connected to the purpose of the Mishkan, its services, and the manifest presence of the Divine.

The Torah states, "They shall make for me a Sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8)." The Hebrew name for the Tabernacle is Mishkan, which means "to dwell" or "dwelling."  As such, even the word Mishkan denotes God's presence that would dwell among the people of Israel. 

The Jewish sage, Ibn Ezra, comments, "while Moses was still on Mt. Sinai, God commanded him concerning the tabernacle so that it would be a permanent place among the people for the glory that had rested on the mountain" (Artscroll Chumash on Teruma).  Further, Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch notes that the key to the Tabernacle is directly related to Israel's calling in verse 8.  The Sanctuary represents Israel's obligation to sanctify itself in its personal life. When the nation carries out that primary responsibility, God responds by dwelling among them.  

God has always desired to tabernacle among his people. The purpose of the Mishkan was to be a constant reminder of God's presence residing among the Jewish people. The Mishkan represents God's Shekhina (from the same word as Mishkan) - God's manifest presence on earth.

The author of Revelation writes that this continued presence of God among the Jewish people will continue beyond the second coming of the Messiah and even into the "New Jerusalem." "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God'" (Revelation 21:3).