Exodus Cycle Five Terumah

Terumah

Abodes Upon Abodes; Lights Beyond Lights

by Chava Lion

Let’s look at Terumah in context. Clearly, it’s post liberation. According to Rashi, we come to it after the movement of Moses up-down the mountain, revelation, the breaking of the tablets, the golden calf, movement up-down the mountain again. At the end of Mishpatim Moses is behar, literally in the mountain. In any case, why is this important? Because this is where we get the game-plan or the blue print for the tabernacle. We get it from the space within the earth-core of a sacred mountain. The transmission (in other words) feels solid. It’s almost as if God is saying….from this earth, from your being, construct My sanctuary and I will dwell among you (25:8).

This is not an easy undertaking. In 1 Kings 5:27, the building of Solomon’s Temple (also an abode for Hashem) necessitates the toil of 30,000 men. Here, in Terumah, it seems a lot less taxing. We just need to do some raising up if the incentive is in our hearts.

Like I said though, whatever the picture, it’s hard work. It’s hands-on. We need gold, silver, copper, ram’s skins, wool, red and blue dyes, the sewing of tapestry, stones, oil, rings, poles, beams, more gold, bowls, frames, plenty of measuring rods (please), acacia wood, loops, fasteners, discernment, sharp attention to detail, focus, persistence, organization, order. All these things we must pull-up from within our beings. As Rabbi Arthur Green says in his translation of the nineteenth century mystic the Sfat Emet: In our soul we light a lamp for God, set a table, raise up an altar. And in a world that identifies itself with external influences like lightning-fast news flashes and billboards raised oh so high above the long slice of highway… we have that inner work cut out for us.

It’s exquisite work though. It begins at the inner chamber, the Ark. We then make the cover and the two cherubim. We allow a space between them from which God’s voice will be heard. We continue in-sight-out until we get to the courtyard. This, according to Rabbi Jose, though it contains only 100 by 50 cubits, can miraculously hold the entire Israelite people (Lev Rabbah 10:9). No doubt, this is a group project.

And it’s a worthwhile one. We yearn for this, for a place with boundaries that can contain the radiance of God, that can consolidate that fine un-earthly light, that can act as a sounding board for the tight vibrations of the holy so they can be heard and echoed in our midst, for a God abode that is protected, grounded yet transitory. Perhaps, given this world with golden calves everywhere, we yearn for our true selves.

This brings us to a quote from the Zohar: (There are) abodes upon abodes, lights beyond lights, diverging (1:130a). In my opinion, here we have reflections among reflections like two mirrors facing each other, one above, one below. We have the tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple and more. Sages like the Ramhal (Padua, 18^thcentury) have compared the tabernacle to the Future Temple as well as to God’s creation in Genesis. And to us. So we also are a reflection of the tabernacle. We are the very tabernacle that we build. As individuals and as a community.

So, may we labor to raise up the elements from our blood, the sparks from our souls, the teachings from our sages, the exquisite order of our bone structure, the silent space from our human core, the song from our hearts. And may we merge these gifts and create ourselves anew. This way, despite the blur of past events and beyond our wildest mistakes, we can be tabernacle and temple. May we keep eyes open to the phenomenal design of God’s creation, each pattern, each weave, each moment of melding gold, each word of Torah so that God will dwell withinus. With compassion, purpose and patience may we follow the blueprint and construct ourselves into One being and rest in the light of Divine Love