Parashat Terumah

February 26, 2020

Eric Bassin, High School Principal

If you build it, God will come!

Parashat Terumah details instructions for how Bnai Yisrael is to build the mishkan (tabernacle), a portable temple, while Bnai Yisrael wanders in the desert. 
The instructions for building the mishkan are replete with meticulous detail—everything from the exact dimensions of various parts of the mishkan, to the specific materials to be used, to the ornamentation. Yet in laying out the instructions, God offers an odd grammatical construct: “V’asu li mikdash, v’shachanti b’tocham” (Exodus 25:8) (“And let them make Me a holy sanctuary, and I will dwell amongst them”). Since God was speaking about the mishkan, one would think He would say, “V’asu li mikdash, v’shachanti b’tocho” (“And let them make Me a holy sanctuary, and I will dwell within it”). So why the plural, “amongst them”? It is not the mishkan itself that defines the holiness of the space, but the people themselves who build a holy community. Bnai Yisrael must create a space that welcomes and embraces God’s presence.
 
In essence, if you build it, God will come. But the “it” is not just the mishkan; it’s the community.

But who is to fund the building of the actual mishkan? Unlike other projects, there is no tax or other revenue-raising device that creates a fund for the mishkan. Rather, God tells Moshe in Exodus 25:2, “v’yikchu li terumah me’et kol ish asher yidvenu libo” (“you shall accept gifts for Me from any person whose heart so moves him”). 

God is setting a paradigm for how to build a sacred community. It’s the people who seek to build something special—their generosity, their giving of themselves, their vision—that creates a community of holiness and attracts people to it, rather than something that is forced upon people. The community is created and renewed each day by the people who comprise it. 

Like the mishkan, The Leffell School was built with meticulous detail. Yet it was never the building itself that would define the sacredness of the community or its work. Our school has never been just an academic institution; it strives each day to be a sacred community that grows moral beings—a place of growth, of nurturing, of belonging, of diverse skills and talents, and of joyous Judaism. It is the 940 people who walk its halls each day, and the thousands of others beyond its walls who support this holy mission, who, moved by their hearts, create a space worthy of God’s presence. 

Shabbat Shalom