Terumah
Even as we move through the cycle of readings in Torah, I am struck by how often these ancient words have relevance to our lives today. As Ben Bag-Bag advised, “Turn it and turn it again, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and grey with it. Don’t turn from it, for nothing is better than it.”
This week we are reading Parashat Terumah; we are building the Mishkan, the Sanctuary, that will be the house for the Aseret HaDibrot, the Tablets with the Utterances given at Sinai.
Terumah
February 15, 2021 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: mishkan, terumah •
This week we read and learn about the building of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary in the Bamidbar, the Wilderness. All manner of exotic building materials are required and the building begins! And yes this transition seems a tad abrupt! Just last week we were in Mishpatim and learning the mishpat, the social laws and now we are building contractors and interior designers! Sometimes Torah seems to proceed in a linear fashion and sometimes we take leaps forward. Terumah is one of those leaps. Terumah means portion – a hint of Shabbat Shekalim, perhaps, where each of us brought our half-shekel portion towards the cost of construction of the Mishkan.More