Torah Reflections on Parashat Terumah
Exodus 25:1 – 27:19
6 Adar 5767 February 24, 2007
To many of us, the word Menorah
evokes images of a nine-branched Chanukah lamp illuminating a festive holiday
table. The original Menorah, however, had seven branches instead of nine; stood on the
south wall of the Sanctuary opposite the table with the show bread; and was
built in the
This original Menorah
of our ancestors was a human sized lamp (18 handbreadths high, or somewhere
between 54 - 72 inches) 1 that was designed to shed light on
itself. As was commanded by God, this Menorah was hammered out from a single ingot, or bar, of gold;
hammered out as one, unbroken, continuous piece. Its architecture was such that the six outer
branches faced and illuminated its innermost stem, which served as the central
seventh branch.
In Exodus 25:8, Moses was commanded to build a Sanctuary in
the desert where the Almighty’s presence could be felt. The 17th century commentary ¦Zedah La-derech (“Provision for the Way”) interprets that the phrase, “And they shall
make Me a sanctuary—and I will dwell in their midst,”2 means that
what God is seeking is not entering into the sanctuary, but into their hearts.3
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz says this
verse can also be translated as meaning that every person should make him or
herself into a Sanctuary wherein the Divine Presence can rest; 4 and
the Rebbe of Kotzk said of
these words, “If you build sanctuaries within yourselves, then I will dwell in
them.”5
Our tradition teaches that we are made in the image of God,
and that within us is a spark of the divine creative force. Wouldn’t that mean that God already dwells
within us? Why would we need to build a
Sanctuary, or to hammer a block of gold to produce a lamp that illuminates
itself?
Hammering is a process in which the form of something
changes as the result of repeated and hard blows. Through pounding and striking, a single block
of gold was transformed into a seven-branched candelabra,
and done in such a way that all of its parts were intact. Parts could not be made separately, or broken
off, and then attached. That the result
of this feat of force was designed so that its branches were turned inward,
therefore lighting its inner core, is a powerful symbol.
The Spanish-Jewish Bible commentator, Abravanel,
supports the necessity of seeking an allegorical explanation of the Tabernacle,
“…the prophet [Ezekiel] admonished them to study carefully every detail of the
plan of the
Each of us is a block of gold that accepts the inner and
outer blows of our life. We hammer
ourselves internally with our strivings, insecurities and self doubts, and the
external world hammers us with models of success and beauty, as well as all
manner of mental and physical toxins. As
we live through life’s challenges, joys, and traumas, our characters and our
bodies are hammered out, experience by experience. How each of us responds to and survives these
visible and invisible blows, creates our personal Menorah. The question each
of us must pose is not about why we
experienced the blows; the question we must ask is about the resulting
architecture: has this hammering
transformed me into a source of illumination?
Like the Menorah in the
Sanctuary, do I have insight and shed light on myself, while also giving light
to others?
That we were made in the Divine image implies that a Godly
element already resides within us, but that does not necessarily mean that we
are in touch with it. Our inner
sanctuaries are continuously being built as we become sensitive to the
subtleties of the Divine creative force in and around us.
The Talmud tells us that our prayers are our opportunities
for connection and conversation with the Divine; that they act as substitutes
for the daily sacrifices and service that took place in the ancient Temple.7 Rav
Kook said that prayer should not become a rote repetition of words, but rather
be a meaningful dialogue with the Creator.8 Through our prayers and our insights, may we
succeed in transporting ourselves to our innermost sanctuaries. And may the precious moments we spend there
fill our lives with spirituality, and help us to meet God in ourselves, and in
the world.
1
Talmud, Menachot 28b; Rashi
commentary on Exodus, 25:35.
2
Exodus, 25:8
3
Nechama Leibowitz, Studies in Shemot, p. 463, WZO, 1986. ¦Zedah La-derech, a
super-commentary on Rashi’s interpretation of the
Bible, was written by Rabbi Issachar
Baer ben Israel-Lazer Eilenburg (
4
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD, Twerski on Chumash, p. 160, Shaar
Press, 2003. Rabbi Horowitz (c.1565
5
Gideon Weitzman, Sparks of Light:
Essays based on the Philosophy of Rav Kook, p. 114, Jason Aronson,
1999. Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk
(1787-1859) was a Hasidic leader in
6
Leibowitz, op cit, p. 500. Don Isaac Abravanel (1437
7
Berachot, 26b
8
Weitzman, op cit, p. 114. Rav Avraham Yitzhak Ha-kohen Kook
(1865
© Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, Leah Golberstein
This Torah Reflection was
written by Leah Golberstein, MA, MFA, Mother, Artist, and Teacher,
from The Twin Cities Jewish Healing Program,