parashat truma The Torah Needs You
The Torah portion publicly read in synagogues around the world this week is parashat truma. Truma means lifting up an offering. Parashat truma is where the children of Israel first take up contributions. Parashat truma runs from Exodus chapter 25 to almost the end of chapter 27. Reading Exodus 25:1-9.
“And HaShem spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel that they should take me an offering, from every person whose heart volunteers you shall take my offering. This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze. Blue and purple and scarlet, fine linen and goat hair, and ram skins dyed red, and porpoise skins, and acacia wood. Olive oil for lighting, fragrances for the oil of anointing and for the incense of spices. Onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle among them. According to all which I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its utensils, thus you shall make.”
Issachar Ber ben Israel Parnas Eilenburg, who was the rabbi of Gorizia in Italy four hundred years ago, noticed something unusual about the wording of our Torah portion. Why doesn’t God say, “let them make me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle in it?” That would seem the logical purpose for building a house, so that somebody can live in it. But instead of “it,” God says “them:” “Let them make me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle among them.”
From the unusual wording of our parasha, Rav Eilenburg concluded that God doesn’t really tabernacle in the sanctuary, but rather God actually tabernacles in Israel. Israel is God’s real tabernacle, not the little tent his children pitch for him in the wilderness. Do you see any merit in Rav Eilenburg’s suggestion?
Actually, Rav Eilenburg’s approach is very biblical. Listen to what God says about his house in Isaiah 66:1, 2.
“Thus has said HaShem, ‘Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. What sort of house which you would build me; what sort of place of my rest? All these things—it is my hands that made them; and all these things came to be,’ oracle of HaShem.’ But to this I will look, to the humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word.’”
In parashat truma the children of Israel have just trembled at God’s word at Mt Sinai. When they saw the voices and the torches [Exodus 20:18], the people moved and stood far away. The prophet Israel says that sort of response is exactly what God is looking for; people who tremble at his word.
Speaking as his spokesperson, the prophet Isaiah says HaShem is also on the lookout for the humble. Isaiah says that HaShem tabernacles with the lowly. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15.
“For thus speaks the high and exalted One, who tabernacles forever, whose name is holy. ‘I tabernacle in a high and holy place, yet with the broken and lowly in spirit.’ To revive the spirit of those who are lowly; To revive the heart of those who are broken.”
Well, if God’s true tabernacle is with the humble and lowly, why in parashat truma does he ask for building materials? What is the Creator of the universe going to do with a gift of goat hair, porpoise hides and acacia wood anyway?
The fact is, even before he asks for construction materials, God has already disclosed that he has a sanctuary. It’s not like he’s lacking real estate. Look at the lyrics which the children of Israel sing after God brings them through the sea. Exodus 15:17. We read this in the parasha three weeks ago.
“You brought them and planted them on the mountain of your heritage, the cosmic foundation of your sitting. You acted, HaShem. Your hands, O Lord, established a sanctuary.”
God has a cosmic sanctuary which his own hands have established. We’ve determined then, that God did not invite his children to build him a sanctuary because he lacked suitable housing or decent furniture. The sanctuary evidently serves some other purpose. What might be the purpose of the sanctuary?
For one thing, the sanctuary reminds Israel that it is HaShem who has liberated them from Egypt. This may sound too obvious, but the children of Israel are in peril of attributing their liberation to the wrong god. Listen to the children of Israel’s thinking when they make the calf. Exodus 32:3, 4.
“All the people broke off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took it from their hands and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it a molded calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
When people fail to give credit where credit is due, they’re on the verge of false worship. This has been proven in human experience over and over. The sanctuary serves to remind Israel of who it is who’s liberated them. Exodus 29:45, 46.
“And I shall tabernacle in the midst of the children of Israel and I shall be their God. And they shall know that I am HaShem their God who brought them out from the land of Egypt for my tabernacling among them. I am HaShem their God.”
Tabernacling among his people is God’s declared reason for bringing them out of Egypt. We learned two weeks ago in parashat yitro, that God gave the Decalogue for the same reason, in order to remind Israel who it was who brought them out of Egypt. Exodus 20:1-5a.
“And God spoke all these things, saying, ‘I am HaShem your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves. There shall be to you no others gods before my face. You shall not make for yourself a sculpture or any picture of what is in the sky above or of what is on earth below or of what is in the water under the earth. You shall not prostrate to them nor serve them.”
Many Christians know that God has saved them, but they don’t feel the necessity of his sanctuary or his Decalogue to remind them of the fact. They imagine that since they’re been delivered, they’re no more in danger of enslavement to false gods. parashat truma teaches us that after delivering us, God must reside with us to insure our liberation. You see, enslavement runs deeper than a slave imagines. Egypt is deeply engrained. Egypt enslaves us from within as well as from without. Without God’s indwelling presence we quickly turn back to the degradation and shame of other gods. God’s residence with us insures our total escape from slavery.
The Final Portion of Scripture reinforces the Torah teaching that God’s people are his temple. In order for God’s people to function as his temple, to be bearers of his indwelling presence, they must be totally separate from false gods. If worshipers are carrying any other gods around, by definition, they are not bearers of HaShem. Divided loyalty doesn’t work. 2Corinthians 6:14-17.
“Do not be mis-yoked with the disloyal. For what partnership has righteousness with anti-Torah? Or what friendship has light with darkness? What harmony has Mashiach with Beliyael? Or what portion has a loyal person with a disloyal person? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Just as God has said, ‘I shall dwell among them and walk among them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from their midst and be separate, says HaShem. Don’t touch the ritually unclean object, and I will receive you.’”
The commandment to make the sanctuary is in the plural. In other words, it is incumbent on every individual in the camp to carry out this commandment.
“And let them make me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle among them.”
Interestingly, this plural language continues with the first article of sanctuary furniture. I quote from the midrash. Midrash means “search.” Midrash is the ancient search to tease out additional meaning from the grammatical details of our Torah. I don’t quote the midrash in order to impose Jewish interpretation on non-Jewish people, but because Jewish interpretation often preserves insight that has escaped attention. Insight is insight, whether it was invented here or not. Midrash Tanchuma then.
“We find that when the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moshe to make the tabernacle, regarding each and every item he told him W(&YT ‘you shall make’ [in the singular]. But regarding the ark he said, W(&W ‘you shall make’ [in the plural]. Why the difference? The holy One, blessed be He, commanded all Israel to make it, that no one would have the excuse to say to his fellow, ‘I contributed more to the ark; so I learned more and have a bigger stake than you! You didn’t contribute hardly anything, so you don’t have a share in the Torah.’ …And why was the Torah given in the wilderness? Just as the wilderness is not possessed, but is available to every person, so the words of Torah are available to whoever wishes to learn them. No person should claim, ‘I’m a son of Torah and Torah was given to me and to my ancestors, but you and your ancestors aren’t sons of Torah, because your ancestors were only converts!’ For this reason Scripture says (in Deuteronomy 33:4) ‘It is the heritage of the congregation of Yaaqov,’ that is, for everyone who congregates among Yaaqov. Converts who are engaged in Torah are considered just as important as the High Priest.” [Tanchuma, WYQHL 8, p. 325]
Let me expand the idea of Midrash Tanchuma. The command to build the ark is plural because the ark contains the Torah. Torah can’t stand still, any more than God’s people can stand still. God’s tabernacle is portable and the people who constitute it are on the move. His Torah must move with them. Our parasha directs that the handles for carrying the ark, once inserted into their sockets, were never to be removed. That’s in Exodus 25:15. For me, this symbolizes the fact that the ark and its precious contents must accompany God’s people in their walk with him. The ark is always rigged to go, because the Torah isn’t static. In every generation the Torah must be carried. The Apostle Shaul affirms that God has delegated Israel as the carrier of his Torah throughout human history. Romans 3:1-2.
“Consequently, what advantage does the Jew have, or what profit is circumcision? Much in every respect! For starters, they were entrusted with the utterances of God.”
In Midrash Tanchuma the rabbis teach that converts to Israel also have a part in carrying the Torah. Everybody who congregates among Yaaqov has a part in carrying the Torah. I’d like to expand what the rabbis say here about converts to include Christians.
Because Christians pick up their Torah already prepackaged, we tend to suffer under the illusion that there’s nothing left to do but distribute the package as is. Christians read a Torah which has been predigested for us by pioneer missionaries. The Christian Bible is an educational product, which translates the Torah into a conceptually Christian framework using familiar Christian terminology. This sometimes gives Christians the illusion that the Torah is a finished product.
But among Christians too Torah is a living organism. Because Torah is alive, it must be cultivated and grown. We sometimes call the Torah a tree of life [Proverbs 3:18]. The difference between a tree of life and dead wood is cultivation. If the Torah is neglected, it withers and dies. Of necessity, Christian listeners, like Jewish listeners, must interpret and expand Torah. Christians also carry the Torah. Christian engagement with the written text of Scripture is Torah. The pattern of Christian obedience is Torah. The development of Christian teaching is Torah. God’s gift of Torah is not a one-time event. God’s gift of the Torah didn’t stop at Sinai.
Here I want to access another midrash. The midrash in Pesikta DeRav Kahana seizes on the fact that wherever the Bible describes the taste of the manna, it describes it differently. From the difference in descriptions the midrash derives that the manna must have tasted different to different people.
“When the holy One, blessed be He, spoke, each and every individual of Israel could say, ‘He’s talking to me.’ It isn’t written, ‘I am HaShem your God )LHYKM [in the plural], but rather, I am HaShem your God )LHYK [in the singular]. Moreover, said Rabbi Yosi bar Rabbi Chanina, He was addressing each and every individual according to his or her capacity. Do not wonder at this. When the manna came down to Israel, each and every individual tasted it according to his or her capacity: babies according to their capacity, young men according to their capacity, old men according to their capacity. Infants in keeping with their capacity. Like the milk which baby sucks at momma’s breast was the taste of the manna to the infant. As it is written (in Numbers 11:8), ‘It’s taste was like rich cream.’ Young men in keeping with their capacity. Of the manna which they ate it is written (in Ezekiel 16:19), ‘My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey I fed you.’ Old men in keeping with their capacity. Of the manna which they ate it is written (in Exodus 16:31), ‘The taste of it was like wafers made with honey.’ Now if each and every individual was enabled according to his or her capacity to taste the manna, how much more was each and every person enabled according to his or her particular ability to hear the divine word!” [Pesikta DeRav Kahana, piska 12]
What the midrash is saying is that if you don’t take part in the enterprise, the Torah just won’t be the same. The Torah needs your tastebuds in order to express the full range of its flavors. The Torah requires your ears, your life experience, your angle on truth.
Some people might suppose that their personal perception won’t make any great difference. You might be tempted to leave your Torah insight to those who’ve walked with God longer, or to those with more education, or to those who’ve made more disciples, or to those who’ve raised more children. But for the world to get the whole message, every single listener makes a difference. You are indispensable to the construction of the tabernacle, to making the ark, to carrying the Torah, and to the accomplishment of the mission for which God has sent his Word into the world. Every listener has to echo Sinai.
This is the lesson of parashat truma. Each one of us has a unique contribution. Each one of us has a unique place in God’s plan. The mission task God has for you can’t be done by anybody else. HaShem isn’t terribly interested in more contributions of goat hair and porpoise hides and acacia wood. HaShem is interested in your contribution. I don’t know your contribution, and you don’t know mine. Maybe neither of us yet senses what we have to contribute. Although Torah always has an organic unity with God’s leading in the past, the future shape of the temple and the Torah haven’t been predetermined. Like the tabernacles and its furnishings, the pattern [Exodus 25:9] has been revealed, but God leaves the implementation up to his covenant partners. In parashat truma God invites you: make your contribution!
