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והבריח התיכן בתוך הקרשים מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5774

The middle bar inside the planks shall extend from end to end. (26:28)

The Briach HaTichon was an amazing component of the Mishkan. It basically kept the walls together, thus stabilizing the Mishkan structure. The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel explains how this pillar functioned. Avraham Avinu planted a tree in Beer Sheva. When Klal Yisrael walked through the miraculously split Red Sea, the angels uprooted the tree and flung it into the sea. The tree floated on top of the water. At that point, an angel proclaimed, “This tree was originally planted by the Patriarch Avraham; it was at this tree that the Patriarch would pray and call out to others in the…

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Home -> 5774 -> Terumah

ועשית את הקרשים למשכן עצי שטים עמדים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5774

You shall make the planks of the Mishkan of Shittim wood, standing erect. (26:15)

Chazal teach that the Kerashim, Planks, of the Mishkan were from a tree, she’eino oseh peiros, that was non fruit-bearing. One would think that the edifice from which such holiness emanated would have had walls that symbolized the future. What could be more symbolic of the future than bearing fruit? Yet, this is exactly what the Torah does not want. Dayan Moshe Swift, zl, explains that when the walls are comprised of fruit-bearing wood, there is always the fear that one might begin to think that it is the edifice that generates holiness, that the building itself is the primary…

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Home -> 5774 -> Terumah

והיו הכרבים... ופניהם איש אל אחיו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5774

And the Keruvim… and their faces toward one another (25:20)

The Talmud Bava Basra 99a debates how the Keruvim stood. What position toward one another did they maintain? One opinion posits that they stood with their faces toward one another, while the other opinion is that they faced toward the House, i.e., eastward towards the Holy. The question raised from the pasuk which states: u’pneihem laBayis, “With their faces toward the House,” is resolved by Chazal, who distinguish between: b’zman she’Yisrael osin retzono shel Makom, “when the nation does the will of Hashem,” when the Keruvim faced one another; and when the nation did not perform the will of Hashem,…

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Home -> 5774 -> Terumah

ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5774

And let them take for Me a portion, from every man whose heart motivates him you shall take My portion. (25:2)

The Yerushalmi Terumos 1:5:5 states that five individuals are excluded from giving Terumah, the designated tithe of grain given to the Kohen. They are a: cheresh, deaf – who speaks but does not hear; shoteh– imbecile; katan – young child; toreim es she’eino shelo – one who contributes from funds that are not his; oveid kochavim – idol worshipper/gentile, even if he is giving money which belongs to a Jew. I was perusing through some old seforim and came across a volume of drashos, homilies, from rabbanim written some fifty years ago. From a homiletic perspective, they were quite good….

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