Hello fellow builders,
The parsha (weekly Torah portion) we read this shabbat is all about haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) how to build the mishcan (tabernacle). It starts with haShem telling Moshe to tell the children of Yisrael to take for god a trumah (raising-up) offering from every man that has a desire in his heart to volunteer. The parsha is called Trumah for this reason.
HaShem gives Moshe a list of the things that can be given for the purpose of making a mikdash (a sacred place) so haShem can reside within them. HaShem then shows Moshe what needs to be made, along with telling him details like measurements and materials for each object.
The first thing described is the ark, after which the testimony will be put into it. The ark cover instructions naturally. HaShem tells Moshe that when all this is done, above the ark cover will be the place he will speak from.
The next object to be described is a table. After the table comes the description of the menorah.
Following these things are the curtains of the mishcan. We read of the inner curtains, and then the curtains that will cover the inner ones. Next are the details of the wooden planks
After all these are made, Hashem tells Moshe to erect the mishcan according to the directions. This includes a special veil to separate the holy from the holy of holies where the ark will be. We are also told at this point where the table and the menorah will be put, and then we are told of another curtain that is a screen for the entrance to the tent.
Now that we have all these things in place, god tells Moshe how to build the altar and all its tools, and finally we end with the curtains that make up the courtyard of this building Hashem wants made.
Talk about an easy parsha.
Ok, maybe it isn’t quite so simple.
This parsha I find to be one of the deepest in the torah. Why? I have no idea.
Perhaps because it is the intersection point where the infinite meets the finite and so it is the place of paradox, or of discontinuity, or of things that can never be made obvious. Whatever the reason, I have found some amazing things in it the last few years. This year is no exception.
Before I get into what I saw, I need to share one of the teachings I have learned from our family tradition. The teaching goes like this:
There is not just one house for god.
First there is the mishcan that Moshe is told to make. Then there is the temple that Shlomo haMelech (King Solomon) built that got rebuilt and will be rebuilt again.
But there are more.
Inside each one of us, inside our very bodies is the potential for a mishcan or dwelling place for haShem.
This is alluded to in our parsha (Shmot/Exodus 25:8) which reads, “And you will make for me a sacred place and I will reside within you-all” Btocham is the Hebrew word that ends this sentence, and god is speaking.
Now it could refer to god hanging out in the mishcan.
But if that was all it meant, it would have used a different word (bkerbanoh in Hebrew). By using btocham, the Torah is hinting that god will be WITHIN all of us, providing we make a sacred space inside ourselves.
The question is how do we do this?
The answer to this question is one of the secrets in this parsha.
Now, I don’t claim to understand it all, or even very much of it. However, the one piece I was given has to do with the order of things.
The Torah lays out a very specific order to building the mishcan. It does not start with the courtyard and work in; rather, it starts in the very center, at the heart.
It starts with a generous heart. Are we willing to take our treasures and willingly give them up to something bigger than ourselves? If so, we start to open ourselves up, to make room within ourselves for something bigger and more valuable.
The next thing we are told is to make is a place for the gift that haShem has given each of us. If we make that space correctly, god will always have a place within us to speak to us.
After we have made a container for haShem’s gifts, and the other pieces that go into god’s sacred space, we then need to make the room within ourselves for these holy, sacred objects.
Once we have cleared a sacred space within ourselves, we can put these gifts of connection to haShem within us.
Following all this work comes the building of the altar where only specific things can be consumed.
This could be telling us to think of our digestive track as an altar and to be very careful of what we eat. The reason I suggest this, is that the process of digestion seems parallel to what happens to a sacrifice on an altar.
Finally we come to the courtyard and the outer-walls. My guess is that this is our skin.
The final result is our body has become a sacred, holy place for the divine to live and speak to us and through us.
The key to all of this though is the order: you must start within and work out!
If you start on the outside and try to work in, you will never be able to remove the basic core, and the result is there will never be room for divinity.
It turns out that this principle can be the foundation to creating successful projects.
Let’s say you want to help the world. Well, if you start there, without first helping yourself and putting yourself in a stable place, you will not be successful in helping anyone, or anything.
When a good friend of mine got married many years ago, the rabbi gave this explanation for why we get married under a hupa (marriage canopy – another sacred space in our tradition). He first asked why is the hupa help up by four poles? The answer he gave is that the first pole is self. You must take care of yourself, otherwise you are no good to anyone else. Once you have taken care of yourself, then you can move to the second pole which is family. Once you have taken care of your family, then you can move to the third pole which is community, and finally to the last pole which is the world.
Just like our parsha’s teaching, don’t you think?
If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.