Parshat Teruma
PARSHA OVERVIEW
Hashem commands Moshe to build a Mishkan (Sanctuary) and supplies him with detailed instructions. The Bnei Yisrael are asked to contribute precious metals and stones, fabrics, skins, oil and spices. In the Mishkan's outer courtyard is an altar for the burnt offerings and a laver for washing. The Tent of Meeting is divided by a curtain into two chambers. The outer chamber is accessible only to the Kohanim, the descendants of Aharon. This contains the table of showbreads, the menorah, and the golden altar for incense. The innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, may be entered only by the Kohen Gadol, and only once a year, on Yom Kippur. Here is the ark that held the Ten Commandments inscribed on the two tablets of stone which Hashem gave to the Jewish nation on Mount Sinai. All of the utensils and vessels, as well as the construction of the Mishkan, are described in great detail.
PARSHA INSIGHTS
Being a Mensch
"And let them take for Me a portion, from every man whose heart motivates him, you shall take My portion." (25:2)
"Being a mensch" is one of those untranslatable Yiddish phrases which define what it means to be Jewish.
A few years ago an El Al flight to London was carrying a young child in need of an urgent and critical operation. Apart from the child’s medical problem, there was another problem: money. The parents had barely enough to cover the cost of the flight to London, which involved the purchase of a whole row of seats to accommodate the stricken child and his medical support systems.
During the flight, a religious Jew who was traveling in first class came to the back of the plane to pray with a minyan. On his way back to his seat he went over to the father of the child and asked how the child was doing. In the course of the conversation the father mentioned he had no idea how he was going to be able to cover the cost of the operation. He was already way over his head in debt with the medical expenses that he had already incurred. He would need nothing short of a small miracle.
Without further ado the man took his leave, walked back to the first class cabin, pulled out his hat, and proceeded to tour the aisles of the first-class cabin collecting for the operation. In approximately ten minutes his hat contained checks to the value of some $100,000, sufficient for both the operation and the flights and all the medical expenses to date.
If Jews excel at anything, it’s tzedaka — charity.
"Charity," however, really doesn’t translate the word tzedaka. Tzedaka means "righteousness." Unfortunately, as we live in a largely selfish and unrighteous world, the
word righteousness usually finds itself being used with the reflexive pronoun "self" as in "self-righteous." However, "righteousness" is no more than "rightness," doing what is right. A Jew gives tzedaka not because its charity, not because he is charitable, but because that’s what’s right. The definition of what is right is what
"And let them take for Me a portion, from every man whose heart motivates him, you shall take My portion."
There are three kinds of tzedaka, and they are all hinted at in this verse.
The highest level is "let them take for Me a portion." Here the giving is "for Me" — because that’s what
And the third level is the person who would really prefer not to give at all, but he is too embarrassed to say no. About him the verse says, "You shall take My portion.”
No one will ever know from which of these groups were the passengers in that first-class El Al cabin, but one thing is clear: whatever a Jew’s motives, he knows what it means to be a mensch.
- Source: Nachalat Chamisha in Iturei Torah
