Parashat Trumah, Exodus 25:1 - 27:19

This week’s portion – Trumah (literally, a donation) – deals with God’s decree to Moshe to build the Tabernacle – Mishkan (literally, the place of dwelling) – a portable shrine to accompany the People in their desert travels

God’s instructions on how precisely to build the Mishkan are amazingly detailed, even tedious at times. (See, for example, the ten verses dedicated to the building of the Menorah alone – Ex. 25:31-40; these verses are also proof that the American-Jewish use of the term “Menorah” to describe the eight-day lighting device for Chanukah is simply misguided.) Yeshayahu Leibovitz, who loves to inquire deeply into such issues (as in “why are the instructions so detailed?”) notes that the creation of the entire universe – including all the planetary heavens, the oceans, mountains, living and growing things, and humans, of course – has received less than 40 verses in Genesis, while the building of the Mishkan alone has received more than 400 verses (ten times that). Leibovitz sees that as ultimate proof to his view that the Torah is not a book that is meant to provide us information about the world; rather it is a book about Avo’dat E’lo’him – the service of God, and that alone. That is why things of that nature – how precisely to serve God – receive so much attention in the text.

I would like to make, as usual, two quick notes on issues the Portion raises.

The Basis of Modern Fund-Raising

(This section is lovingly dedicated to my wife, who taught me everything I know about fund-raising).

Surely God – who just parted the Red Sea, drowned the largest army in the region, provided food and water in the desert, and performed a host of other miracles – could have easily built the Mishkan by himself. God needs no human assistance. In addition, even if God prefers, for some reason, human participation, He could have simply ordered Betz’al’el Ben-Uri to perform the task. (compare Ex. 31:2).

But God prefers another model altogether. He would like the building of the Mishkan to become a community effort. In His mind, “it takes a village” to build the House of Worship. And how may the community participate? Through voluntary donations. The donations are voluntary in two ways: First, there is no duty to participate at all; and second, there is neither minimum nor maximum contribution suggested. Each may donate “as their heart orders them.” The idea here is that everyone will contribute to the extent they can – some more, some less – and will feel partners in a community that acted together towards a common project. And this is how the text describes God’s instructions to Moshe in the dramatic opening of this week’s portion: “And God spoke to Moshe and told him: Speak to the People of Israel and they shall provide me donations, from each person whose heart so moves him you shall take my donations; and this is the donation you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper.” (Ex. 25:1-3). [To those keen-eyed readers who wonder where would the Israelites find gold in the middle of the desert, please refer to the eve of the Exodus, where God – who plans everything in advance – instructed the then-slaves to “borrow” from their neighbors “objects of silver and objects of gold.”(Ex. 11:2)].

And these instructions, believe it or not, form the basis for the entire industry and science of modern fund-raising. From the suggested donation at the Met Museum to the frequent “please support us” mail that you receive daily to the million-dollar contributions that the Bill Gates of the world bestow upon their favorite projects – the theoretical basis is always identical: (i) The actual act of donation is voluntary; (ii) If you do choose to donate, the amount is a matter of which “your heart should instruct you” (to be sure, fund-raisers all over the world would try to make sure that “your heart” instructs you the maximum figure, but the principle remains); (iv) The fund-raising person would notify you exactly what kind of donation they want, although today that is, in the vast majority of cases, a gift of money (as opposed to time, talent, or other resources); (iv) The donation is a part of a community effort to built together something that is bigger than any one donor can establish, and therefore beneficial to all – or at least a large part – of the community (if not to the world at large).

And while fund-raising may be used for the noblest of causes, religious or otherwise, they can also be abused for a variety of causes – for example, to perform the worst of religious sins – the construction of the Golden-Calf (Ex. 32:3 “And the People of Israel took off their gold rings and brought to Aharon.”) So one has to be selective in choosing their fund-raising projects.

So much for fund-raising.

Why Do We Need the Mishkan At All?

Beyond the method in which God preferred to establish the Mishkan, a far deeper question lies: Why do we need the Mishkan at all? Why do we need a House of Worship, when God is all around us, every single day, leading the way with a smoke pillar during the day and fire pillar at night? And how exactly is this Mishkan differ from the Israelites’ “worst sin,” the Golden-Calf?

Obviously, this post in not the right venue to discuss this extremely deep question. I will provide, however, initial clues for the answer. First, God understands (or, to take an agnostic stand, the writers of the text understood) the need to balance between the “pure” belief in God – that which is correctly based on the First Commandment (“I am the Lord Your God”), and on that decree alone – and the all-too-human need for actualization of everything transcendental, including God Himself (hence the so-called “white-bearded Grandpa” image of God, heavily promoted by some Christian sects). This exact balance also explains many things in our world today – for example, Lance Armstrong’s ingenious “yellow rubber bracelet” invention, which brought cancer-research millions of dollars, is a perfect example of balancing between the need to think about cancer-survivors and the risk that cancer presents to all of us, and the actualization of that thought through the carrying of a small yellow rubber bracelet reading “live strong.” (It also, to be sure, includes an aspect of fund-raising, to create a perfect match to our Portion). There are many other examples.

Second, God is keenly aware – and advices us to do the same – of the difference between a House of Worship and the place where He actually dwells. As he instructs Moshe: “And they will make me a shrine, and I will dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8) That is, the fact that a shrine – even if it called “a place of dwelling” – exists, does not suggest that God is actually there, or just there; God is everywhere, but most importantly – in the peoples’ hearts. That is where God resides, and if He is missing from there, then none of the Houses of Worship, as beautiful as they may be, would ever be of help.

Shabbat Shalom,

Doron