This week’s parasha is Terumah, and deals with the materials that were used for building the mishkan. The Ark, its cover and the Cherubim are described; and we are told that the Ark is to be made from acacia wood, that thorny shrub/tree that one associates with Africa: think of Elspeth Huxley’s The Flame Trees of Thika. According to Rashi it was Jacob who planted the acacia in Egypt, and when the Israelites departed they took the wood of this tree with them. Perhaps the tree stripped of its thorns, symbolic of the pain of slavery, became a smoothed wooden case containing the Decalogue, laws that are the hall-mark of an ethical society.
There has been much debate about the amount and weight of gold used in covering the Ark. Estimates range from 150 – 2500 pounds of pure gold for the cover alone. Later in the parasha there is a description of the shulchan, the menorah, the parochet, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Mishkan, the Mizbeach, altar, and the outer enclosure. There are many linear references; for instance, the Ark’s dimensions are specified. To give you some idea of what that equates to in our everyday lives, imagine a 6½ foot internal house door. The length of the Ark was just over half the height of the door and the width approximately the same as the door. In Shemot 2539 the weight of gold to be used in manufacturing the snuffers and trays is given as one talent – 75½ pounds. There is a lengthy discussion in the Talmud as to the respective weights of the utensils. Although there is much detail in the parasha, many of the technical aspects of construction remain obscure.
The word terumah is often defined as gift or offering, and is usually interpreted as the contributions made by the Levites and Israelites to the kohanim during Temple times. Superficially, this could be seen as a mere thank-offering to G-d in recognition of deliverance from bondage in Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Sinai; but there is a more profound meaning here which is encapsulated at the beginning of the parasha: דבר אל–בני ישראל ויקחו–לי תרומה
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering. These are not the words of a G-d who is saying, I delivered you from slavery; I worked wonders on your behalf; now it’s payback time. You are to offer Me subservience, obedience and expiation of sin through sacrifice.
The Midrash Rabba presents us with an alternative view – G-d said to Israel: I have sold you my Torah, but with it, as it were, I also have been sold. The union between G-d and Israel is a marriage that cannot be broken; it has stood the test of time, witnessed triumphs and defeats, endured the horrors perpetrated by people motivated by ill-will; and the journey continues
The midrash Tanchuma emphasises that the phrase to Me refers to accepting G-d along with the Torah. In the Targum, terumah is interpreted as separate, but the term may also be derived from the Hebrew word harma, to raise up. For some people there is no contradiction in melding these ideas. It is by separating oneself from mundane affairs, by studying Torah and performing mitzvot that one is raised higher and higher so that G-d will wish to dwell in mystical union with such devotees. However, most of us are worldly sorts and this option may either be untenable or undesirable; so we have to find our own way of sharing space with G-d.
Rabbi Berekiah said that when a man sells something belonging to his home, usually through economic necessity, he grieves; but G-d gave Israel the Torah and rejoiced. When a man buys an article he does all he can to safeguard it: the Torah does not need to be protected: it guards those who possess it. The gift of Torah and G-d’s wish to dwell among us is a celebration of life and the wonders of the world in which we live.
The Temples are gone, the paraphernalia of sacrificial worship is a relic of history but the G-d who brought us out of Egypt, dwelt with our ancestors in the wilderness is still very much part of us and, indeed, the world; because the G-d of Israel is no longer a local/tribal deity but is accepted by billions of people as the father of Humankind. This revelation of the unity of G-d is one of the great gifts or offerings made possible to humanity by Adonai’s special relationship with the Jewish people.
Peter Beyfus