February 4th: Terumah
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Our Torah portion begins with a shopping list: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved. These are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns; fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting—for the ephod and for the breastplate.” (Exodus 25.1-8)
Then God explains the purpose of these items: “Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.”
This list and the instructions that follow were very important 3200 years ago. The Mishkan, the portable tent-Temple, provided a place for our people to encounter God and worship during their years in the wilderness and their first centuries in the Promised Land. The bulk of this week’s and next week’s portions involve the construction of the tent complex and the crafting of its furniture and utensils. It was not enough to be granted freedom. The freedom was for a purpose: encountering God and living consciously in the Divine Presence.
One could ask, however, why we moderns need these instructions for a no-longer-used Mishkan. While we did use the tent-temple from around 1200 to 950 BCE, we then moved our worship to the stationary Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. The First Temple functioned from around 950 to 586 BCE, and the Second Temple functioned from around 516 BCE to 70 CE. Then, since 70 CE, we have worshipped God in synagogues—not a sacrificial temple and not a tent! In other words, we have not needed or followed these tent-temple instructions for a long, long time. Why should we study them every year?!
The answer is that our Tradition has transcended this sacred irrelevancy by looking at the text metaphorically. Though we do not follow these particular details, we are urged to approach our worship with care and respect—realizing that every gesture and motivation is reflective of our encounter with the Eternal One. Every breath and movement can either connect us to God or strain that connection. This is true in the devotional sense and in every other aspect of life. Our attitudes and actions can make God feel “at home” in our midst—or we can alienate the Divine Presence. Remember the affective mitzvah: “Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.”
The breadth of our calling to make God feel comfortable in our presence was made clear a few weeks ago in the Ten Commandments. Whereas most other ancient religions focused exclusively on treating the gods right, we were commanded to treat both God and our fellow humans right. More than half of the Ten Commandments deal with ethical treatment of other people. God is invested in all of us and wants all of us treated with justice and compassion.
This double mitzvah—to love God and to love people—is the theological basis of our Prophetic call to social justice. “Let justice well up like water, righteousness like a mighty stream!” (Amos 5.24) In fact, for Amos and Isaiah, prayers without righteousness are affronts to the Lord.
As much as God wants us to live prayerfully—relating to the Divine with sincerity and intensity, God also wants us to establish and maintain a society where our brothers and sisters in humanity can feel safe and secure. Thus are we called to our various social action causes—feeding the hungry, healing the sick, freeing the captives, and keeping faith with those whose lives are dangerously close to oblivion.
Among the many realities that call us to action is the recent arrival of the refugees from Afghanistan. After the tragic fall of Afghanistan’s hope for democracy and progress, thousands of Afghans—people invested in the reforms we tried so hard to establish—found themselves in need of rescue from their homeland. Those who were fortunate enough to escape and arrive on our shores can count their blessings, but their resettlement is not yet complete. They need to be assisted in finding new homes and building new lives.
Fortunately, our congregation’s Social Action Committee is working with organizations both local and national to help in this important resettlement. We recently sent out a description of the work and a call for assistance. This would be a good time to help, and I urge you to contact either Naomi Altman (nsa1@psu.edu) or David Post (post@psu.edu) to find the best way for you to participate.
One of our synagogue’s hallmarks is the depth of volunteerism and social justice work done by congregants of all ages. Our members are hard workers in dozens of local, regional, and national charities. We take seriously the injunction to be God’s Hands in the world, bringing the blessings of heaven to all the earth.
As Hillel counsels, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But, if I am only for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?” (Avot 1.15)