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Terumah

by Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon

In a mitzvah that is at the heart of Jewish religious experience today, in our portion of Terumah this week God commands the Israelites “Asu li mikdash, v’shachanti b’tocham—make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among you.”

With this statement, the book of Exodus moves from practical laws to ritual ones.  The plans for the creation of the Tabernacle in Wilderness, first site of national worship, and for the building of the ark of the covenant are explained and detailed.  In order to create the new central shrine for prayer, the place which God’s presence will actually inhabit, Moses calls on the people of Israel to donate materials from the best of what they have—what comes to be called a Terumah offering.

And a remarkable thing happens: when the people are asked to donate gifts to build the holy structures needed to worship God, they come forward immediately and give much more than is required.  Moses actually has to ask the Israelites to stop bringing so much gold and silver, and so many precious fabrics.

This marks the first and only time in history when a temple building campaign brought in more than was asked for or required.  May it happen again sometime soon… perhaps here!

In any case, the word for this experience is Terumah, a freewill offering, a gift to God out of the goodness of the heart.  This generous freewill offering is a powerful thing indeed.  For when it is constructed the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, built from such free generosity, immediately is filled with God’s presence. 

When we give freely of ourselves to our temples today—in time, love, care, or funds—we seek to recreate that freewill offering, the full gift of heart and hand of our ancestors in Moses’ time.  And when we succeed in doing so, we, too, bring God’s presence, and love, into our lives. 

The great Israeli poet Yehudah Amichai wrote beautifully and sensuously on the subject of the synagogue in his final book, Open Closed Open:

I studied love in the sanctuary of my childhood,

I sang, “Come, Sabbath bride” on Friday nights

With a bridegroom’s fever, I practiced longing for the days of the Messiah,

I conducted yearning drills for the days of yore that will not return.

The cantor serenades his love out of the depths,

Kaddish is recited over lovers who stay together,

The male bird dresses up in a blaze of color.

And we dress the rolled-up Torah scrolls in silken petticoats

And gowns of embroidered velvet

Held up by narrow shoulder straps.

And we kiss them as they are passed around the synagogue,

Stroking them as they pass, as they pass,

As we pass.

May we find love of God, and holiness, in our own way in our sanctuaries today.