TERUMA_EXODUS XXV:1-XXVII:19
Moshe had great difficulties with the elaboration of the Menora, the candelabra whose light was to radiate the inner enclosure, the Kodesh HaKodashim, of the Mishkan, and that centuries later would illuminate the Beit HaMikdash. This difficulty also appeared with other elements that had to be included in the Mishkan. It seems that the fundamental problem for Moshe was how God, an Infinite Being, could be contained in a limited enclosure occupying a specific area. Apparently, it was a transition. While God had manifested Himself publicly, especially in Egypt, through the ten plagues, after the revelation at Mount Sinai, he will communicate through a particular compound in the Mishkan. In the more distant future, he will project his voice from the place of the Keruvim who were on the Kaporet, the solid gold lid of the Aron HaKodesh of Yerushalayim’s Beit HaMikdash.
From the beginning, the world had been created within the canons of dialectics, one had to choose between options: good and evil, what is ethical and what is immoral. One had to choose between matter and spirituality. Or perhaps, the human being had to learn to synthesize matter with spirit, to live with apparently antagonistic elements, a task that seems logical because man contains both elements in his being.
The challenge of life can be seen as the resolution of the conflict between duty and passion, obligation and pastime, Mitsva, and the call of carnal desire. The fundamental task of the man of faith is to establish a climate of harmony between these adverse impulses.
For the construction of the Mishkan, the contribution of precious metals was required: gold, silver, and copper; wool and leather, all with vivid colors that contrast with the idea that God is not present within a framework of opulence but, on the contrary, within an environment of simplicity.
The donation needed to make the Mishkan forced the people to choose. Would one part with gold for a noble purpose? The contribution to the Mishkan was an instruction about the double function of things. The miser cannot part with his gold, it is his priceless treasure, but at the same time, we see that from gold, a candelabra can be made whose light symbolizes knowledge.
The Talmud and other traditions abound with the example of the tongue, which can be a delicious delicacy from an animal. In contrast, the human tongue can edify and destroy and be used to teach or slander.
In Gan Eden, there was only one rule to obey to remember the existence of only one God, to Whom worship was due. The rule was simple: do not eat the forbidden tree’s fruit. It was perhaps hoped that the human intellect could deduce, on its own, what rules or behavior lead to social coexistence and the emotional and spiritual development of the person. The material element was not underestimated because man is composed of body and soul. The human intellect was challenged to incorporate or elevate the material component to a spiritual level.
The first couple’s internship at Gan Eden was short-lived. Adam and Chava were cast out to appreciate the fruit of the sweat on their brow and, through pain, to value their offspring. The Korbanot that would be offered in the Holy House had the purpose of “lekarev”, to bring man closer to God and the matter closer to spirit. By parting with an animal, by offering part of his goods for the construction of the Mishkan, the Hebrew who had come out of Egyptian slavery showed that he was mastering his desires, that he did not bow before them.
The contribution had to be commensurate with asher yidvenu libo, “what the heart gives,” the victory of faith over the desire to accumulate possessions. Learning had an effect because even after the destruction of both buildings of the Beit HaMikdash, the various persecutions and exiles had the effect of entrenching the notion that above the material is the spiritual ingredient. What accumulated in the material order could be removed, but the spiritual element remained intact or strengthened.
MITSVA: TORA ORDINANCE IN THIS PARSHA
IT CONTAINS 2 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 1 PROHIBITION
- Exodus 25:8 Build the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple)
- Exodus 25:15 Do not remove the rods from the Ark
97. Exodus 25:30 Fix the bread of proposition (lechem hapanim) and the incense.
