CHOCHMAS NASHIM: TERUMAH: POT LUCK MEAL
By: Suri Davis
When I was first married, I took a lot of pride in inviting people for holiday meals. I wanted them to come and feel like guests and be served and enjoy. When people asked what they could bring, I would reply, “just your appetite.”
Time passed, and my friends and I started inviting each other over for pot luck meals. I would have 40 people or more in my home for Thanksgiving, and each one brought something, and I realized that there was something special about everyone investing their specialty food in the meal to make a multi-course feast. It wasn’t about relieving me of cooking, because I enjoyed it, it was about the joint effort.
The name of this week’s Torah portion is Terumah, which is a gift that Jews gave to the priests or to the Tabernacle, which was a temporary Temple in the desert. These gifts were used for the building of the Tabernacle and to sustain the priests and levites who worked in the Tabernacle/Temple. Why wasn’t the Torah portion entitled Tabernacle, since that is the topic of the Torah portion, why name it after the gifts that the Jews brought.
In my opinion, it has to do with the effort which G-d asks the Jews to put into the Tabernacle. Surely, G-d could have created it Himself, without human intervention or gifts to G-d and to his holy priests. The answer I would say is that G-d wanted the Jews to feel vested in the Tabernacle. A gift is nice, but a person who donates to a cause in money and effort feels more vested in the cause.
Furthermore, G-d sees the love and effort that the Jews put into following the minute instructions for building the Temple and he stores the Jews’ good will in a bank, the Jews have a credit with G-d so to speak.
We see this credit is necessary when the Jews sin and distance themselves from G-d. Jeremiah 2:2:
Thus said Hashem: I recall for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land.”
While we are on the topic of good will, there is a common saying, “you reap what you sow,” which I do not believe. One must sow, to show hishtadlut/effort, and not to rely on miracles, but it is up to G-d if you reap, what you reap, how much you reap, and whether it is beneficial to you.
The Rabbis tell us that we are to emulate G-d and His attributes. The Jews in Egypt did have merits, they didn’t change their modest dress, change their Jewish language or names. Yet G-d had to redeem us quickly because our spirituality had sunk low. We didn’t sow good will with G-d, yet G-d redeemed us nevertheless. He was and is magnanimous.
The naming of the Torah portion appears to memorialize in G-d’s “mind” the love we had for Him in the desert by donating our time and efforts in building the Tabernacle in which his divine presence could rest. A meeting place for man and G-d, with a joint effort, a desire to be together, and rest with each other’s spirit forever.
We pray fervently for the rebuilding of the Temple, to resume this joint residence and love, which we pray should be rebuilt speedily in our time. Amen.
Gut Shabbos
Suri