Parshat Terumah; Exodus 25:1- 27:19 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Now that the Law has been given to Moses and the people at Sinai, God commands them to build the sacred shrine that will house the symbols of the law—the Ten Commandments. This week’s portion, Terumah, God gives the command to build the sacred ark that will be the vessel of the law and the tabernacle of the desert that will be the portable home of God on earth. The rabbis understood this earthly tabernacle to be a mirror of God’s heavenly tabernacle. As they say in Midrash Rabbah Exodus “You will find that everything God has created in heaven God has also created on earth.” (Ex.Rab.33:4) The Midrash continues further on: “What is more, those that are below are dearer to God than those above; as a proof, you can see that God left those things that were on high and descended to dwell among those that were below, as it says, And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Ex. 25: 8). A proof that “All that is in the heaven is in the earth’.” (Ex. Rab 33:4).

So the Israelites will build the earthly dwelling place of the Divine. But to do so the Israelites must assemble a wide array of materials gold, silver, and copper, animal skins, yarns, wood, spices and oils, cloth and gemstones. God is very specific about the materials needed to build the ark and Tent of Meeting. These items the Israelites will give as sacred donations and gifts to God. These gifts are called the terumah. Then these gifts will be transformed into the furniture and fixtures that will make up the Tent of Meeting. The people will serve as the craftsman and artisans eventually under the direction of Bezalel. But God is the Divine designer of the Tabernacle and all of its utensils, including the Ark of the Covenant.

How did a group of slaves and servants, the lowest class in the social pyramid of ancient Egypt have access to such beautiful materials? How did they bring forward to Moses the necessary gold and yarns and rich fabrics the God describes? Surely as brick makers in Egypt they did not dress in fine clothes to do their work.

The traditional explanation has to do with the several verses at the end of Parshat Bo. As the Israelites were leaving Egypt following the 10th plague of the death of the Egyptian first born, the Torah tells us that (Ex. 12:35-36) “The Israelites had done Moses’ bidding and borrowed from the Egyptians of objects of silver and gold and clothing. And Adonai had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request; thus they stripped the Egyptians.”

So on their way out the Israelites took the goods from the Egyptians. The rabbis comment that these were not booty –but rather to be seen as back wages and compensation for 400 years of slavery. Thus the gold and silver the Israelites took from the Egyptians became the donations for the sacred tabernacle and ark.

There is much written in our Torah about payment of wages for the laborer. The distinctions drawn between the practices of the Egyptians who with held proper wages from the Israelites and the Jewish tradition of paying the laborer the day of work is a powerful one. Our mitzvot require payment for work done and requires that we not delay the payment of wages earned. Thus we can learn from the experience of our ancestors whose pent up anger caused them to raid the Egyptians for their payment. And interestingly the Egyptians recognize that the Israelites must take their wages from them in kind.

Yet, Jewish tradition also teaches us that all we have come from God. Our earthly riches also come from God. We just happen to share in it. So when God asks the Israelites to bring the terumah, voluntary contributions—the very same booty and compensation that they took from the Egyptians now become tzedakah toward the building of the sacred precincts of the Divine. This turns those wages earned and unearned into something holy. Motivated by love of God and thanksgiving for liberation and freedom, the Children of Israel give to overflowing. May we all be motivated to give in the same way—seeing it as a privilege of our time to devote our terumah—our offerings to God.

Posted by Lee at February 27, 2006 09:09 AM