Parshah Summary – P’sha
The parshah opens with Hashem calling upon the Children of Israel to contribute thirteen materials toward the building of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary — gold, silver and copper; blue, purple and red-dyed wool; flax, goat hair, animal skins, wood, olive oil, spices and gems. On Mount Sinai, Moses is given detailed instructions on how to construct this Sanctuary so that it could be readily dismantled, transported and reassembled as the people journeyed through the desert. Within the Mishkan’s innermost chamber, behind a woven curtain, the ark containing the tablets of the testimony engraved with the Aseret Hadibrot (the Ten Commandments) would be housed. Upon the ark’s cover would be two winged keruvim (cherubim) hammered out of pure gold.
In the outer chamber would be the seven-branched menorah, and the table upon which the Leḥem haPanim, the “showbread” (literally the “Bread of the Faces”) was arranged. These sacramental loaves were to always be present, and thus might more accurately be translated as “Presence Bread.” The Sanctuary’s three walls would be fitted together from 48 upright wooden boards, each of which was overlaid with gold and held up by a pair of silver foundation sockets. The roof would be formed of three layers of coverings: tapestries of multicolored wool and linen; a covering made of goat hair; and a covering of ram and “takhash” skins. Across the front of the Sanctuary would be an embroidered screen held up by five posts. Surrounding the Sanctuary and the copper-plated altar in front of it would be an enclosure of linen hangings, supported by 60 wooden posts with silver hooks and trimmings, and reinforced by copper stakes.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃ וְזֹאת֙ הַתְּרוּמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּקְח֖וּ מֵאִתָּ֑ם זָהָ֥ב וָכֶ֖סֶף וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ Take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart moves them, you shall accept gifts for Me. And these are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper… -Shemot (Exodus) 25:2, Parshat Terumah
There is a story of Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, that whenever he would celebrate the Passover Seder and come to the passage about the Four Children, he would stop at the child who doesn’t know how to ask. “That’s me, Levi Yitzhak – I am the child who doesn’t know how to ask! I don’t know how to ask what this is all about, why we are here, and what the purpose is of all this suffering. And even if I did, how could I bear the answer? I do not want to know why I suffer as I do; I want to know for sure that my suffering is for You. And just as it says in the hagaddah, ‘you shall answer your child…’ so You, my Father, must answer!”
In this story, while suffering is certainly not the meaning of existence, it is the thing that causes us to ask the meaning of existence. And further: it is not the philosophical question of why that is of ultimate concern, but for Whom. In other words, it is a question not of the mind, but of the heart. This points to a central truth: the question of meaning is fulfilled only through the heart. That is the only reason to endure the suffering of life, because love is the ultimate meaning – shining even and especially at the very depths of our suffering. The mind searches for the question of meaning, but it can never really be satisfied with any conceptual answer, no matter how convincing. Trying to find meaning through the mind is like trying to taste food with your hands; no matter how much food you smear on your hands, you will never be satisfied. Only actual eating can satisfy hunger; only actual love can satisfy the hunger for meaning. וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ – Take for Me an offering from every person whose heart moves them… Through the movement of the heart, life can become a sacred offering – a life in which, since the heart desires to give for the sake of love, giving is actually a form of receiving. And, since everything we receive is taken as an expression of Divine love for us, receiving is also a form of giving: זָהָ֥ב וָכֶ֖סֶף וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת – gold, silver and copper… See – there are three levels of experience, which we can discern right now in our own awareness: thought, feeling and sensory perception. The feeling level determines the quality of experience – its mood – attraction and revulsion, adoration and anger, curiosity and boredom. This is the level of the heart from which love arises, and hence from which the meaning of existence is fulfilled. We might think, then, that the heart is the level of זָהָב zahav – “gold” – but it is not. Why? Notice: our feelings, as primary as they are, are ultimately determined by our thoughts – by how we interpret our experience. Think good, feel good; think bad, feel bad. Often, people will assume the opposite: we start to feel bad, and so we start thinking in a negative way. But wake up out of the seductiveness of your feelings by being present with them and accepting them, and realize: You can actually decide which thoughts to nurture and which thoughts to dismiss. That decision is itself a thought, arising from a deep wisdom beyond the gravity of feeling and the seductiveness of the mind. That wisdom is awareness itself – hokhmah – beyond both thought and feeling. That is why the mind, though it cannot ultimately bring us any real fulfillment by itself, is primary and the heart secondary: the mind rules the heart. Thus, the mind is זָהָב zahav, gold, and the heart is כֶּסֶף kesef, silver. The word for “money” in general is also כֶּסֶף kesef, hinting: it is ultimately the heart from which true value arises. The third level is sensory experience, corresponding to action. Action is an expression of the heart, which is in turn ruled by the mind. We don’t act unless we are motivated to act; we have to first want on the level of heart, and that determines our action. Thus, action is the third level of נְחוֹשֶׁת nekhoshet, copper. Interestingly, the word for copper, נְחוֹשֶׁת nekhoshet, is related to נִחוּשׁnikhush, “guess,” hinting at this basic quality of action: our deeds are often “guesses,” approximations of the heart, not perfect expressions. For example, after discerning the true desire of our heart, we make take a job which seems to give us the opportunity to express that desire. But after some time, we may realize that the job isn’t right for us; we learn through doing, and we refine our actions through “guessing” what to do, doing it, and seeing what happens, As it said in last week’s Parshat Mishpatim, נַעֲשֶׂ֥ה וְנִשְׁמָֽע na’aseh v’nishmah – “We will do and (then) we will hear!” This is also instructive in understanding that the essence of Torah is its principles, not its specific prescribed actions. The Torah says, tzedek tzedek tirdof – “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Some of the mitzvot are good expressions of justice today, but some are not, such as the legality of slavery. This debatable nature of action is not a new idea, but is in the Torah itself; debate is, of course, the most Jewish thing: when God tells Abraham that Sodom and Gemorah must be destroyed for their sins, Abraham argues with God that total destruction would not be a good expression of justice. In Parshat Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law Yitro (Jethro) suggests appointing wise leaders to make decisions of law and action, and Moses does so, further reinforcing: the Torah does not contain perfect prescriptions for action, but principles from which we must continue to “guess” which action is the right path, seeing the result, and then making the next decision. How do we do that וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה – Take for Me an offering… We guess and discern again and again with the mind; this is the level of זָהָב zahav, “gold” because it is source of intention. With thought, we can decide to frame our action in the world as an offering, guess what our offering should be, and then discern whether our guess was accurate. If not, we can then guess a new path of action, until we get it right. But how do we frame our actions as offerings? מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־אִישׁ֙ – from every person… The key is to dedicate our actions to the benefit of people – both to the of benefit others, and to the benefit of ourselves: רַבִּי אוֹמֵר, אֵיזוֹהִי דֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה שֶׁיָּבֹר לוֹ הָאָדָם, כֹּל שֶׁהִיא תִפְאֶרֶת לְעוֹשֶׂיהָ וְתִפְאֶרֶת לוֹ מִן הָאָדָם. Rabbi said: which is the straight path that a person should choose for oneself? One which is an adornment to oneself, and also which earns adoration from others. - Pirkei Avot 2:1 But, there are an infinite number of paths that our minds might guess will be of benefit to oneself and others; how can we possibly choose? אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ – whose heart moves them… Again, the heart is the key; meaning, we must listen to the truth of what we truly love. But to do this, we must be alert and not be fooled by the sometimes overpowering and unconscious impulses of the heart; what we truly love is often not the same as what feels comfortable, what we think will protect us from that which we fear, and so on. To be motivated by the heart in a true way means to transcend the heart, to know that we are transcendent of the heart, and transcendent of the body and the mind as well; we transcend all three levels, because we are the awareness within which they arise; this is the fruit of meditation. Without this knowledge of what we really are, beneath our thoughts, feelings and sensory experience, our thoughts are sometimes ruled by the unconscious impulses of our hearts, leading ultimately to unconscious and reactive actions – in other words, bad guesses! But being aware that we are the awareness behind all experience, we can choose our thoughts, and thus guide our hearts to our true and wholesome desires, and then guess our course of action from that place of radiant love, shining through all of it. Then, Life can become a Sanctuary of Presence for That which dwells within us, as us. This is the Path of ק Koof – the sanctification of all of Life, moment to moment…
Read past teachings on Terumah HERE.
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