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Home -> 5775 -> Terumah

ועשית את הקרשים למשכן עצי שטים עמדים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5775

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

Rashi teaches that the word ha’kerashim, with the hay ha’yediah, (the beams) with the definite article hay, is written by design. The Torah is alluding to specific shittim wood that was “standing” – designated for the unique purpose of serving as the walls of the Mishkan. Yaakov Avinu took along with him saplings from the shittim trees planted by Avraham Avinu in his eishel, travelers’ welcome house, where he performed his famous acts of chesed, kindness. Yaakov then replanted these saplings in Egypt and commanded his children that, upon leaving the country, they were to take these trees along. He…

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Home -> 5775 -> Terumah

ועשית שנים כרבים זהב מקשה תעשה אתם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5775

You shall make two Keruvim of gold – hammered out shall you make them. (25:18)

Rashi teaches that the Keruvim had the image of young children. The Mishkan/Bais Hamikdash was the holiest place on the Jewish spiritual landscape. The Kodesh HaKedoshim, Holy of Holies, was the holiest place in the Sanctuary. The penultimate seat of holiness within the Kodesh HaKedoshim was the Keruvim which rested atop the Ketores, Cover, of the Aron Hakodesh. It was from there that Hashem’s Voice would emanate out to speak with Moshe Rabbeinu. The Keruvim had the image of children. In Sefer Bereishis, when the Torah relates Adam HaRishon’s expulsion from Gan Eden, two Keruvim stood at the entrance to…

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Home -> 5775 -> Terumah

ועשית שנים כרובים זהב... ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפרת מבין שני הכרובים אשר על ארון העדות

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5775

You shall make two Keruvim of gold… It is there that I will set My meetings with you, and I will speak with you from atop the Cover, from between the Keruvim that are on the Aron HaEidus. (25:18,22)

It is interesting to note the change in the spelling of the word “two.” At first, the Keruvim are referred to as shnayim Keruvim, while later on they are called shnei Keruvim. Rabbeinu Bachya distinguishes between shnayim which means “two,” but does not denote anything more than a quantity of subjects or items. Shnayim is not used when the “two” are of equal status, such as: Shnei Luchos HaEidus, Two Tablets of Testimony, which were the same; shnei seirim, two he-goats, used for the Yom Kippur service, which were also similar to one another. The Keruvim, however, were male and…

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Home -> 5775 -> Terumah

ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5775

They shall make for Me a Sanctuary, then I will dwell in their midst. (25:8)

Parashas Terumah, which details the construction of the Mishkan is the logical sequel to Parashas Mishpatim, which contains the principal features of the Code of Law and of the Bris, Covenant, built upon the foundations of that Law. The symbolic function of the Mishkan/Mikdash is to express the collective task upon whose fulfillment the Presence of the Shechinah in Klal Yisrael depends. The two accompany one another. If we do not uphold our end of the Covenant, the Mishkan and Hashem’s Presence within the Jewish People will not occur. The construction of the Mishkan, which is the external Temple, is…

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Home -> 5775 -> Terumah

ויקחו לי תרומה מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5775

And let them take for Me a Terumah/portion. (25:2)

The pasuk has been used for much homiletic discourse concerning the attitude one should manifest upon contributing to a worthy cause. In V’chai Bahem from Horav Weiss, zl, the author quotes the well-known concept, posited by the Baal Shem Tov, that the faults a person notices in others are actually his own failings. Since Ein adam ro’eh nigei atzmo, “One does not perceive his own plagues/failings/shortcomings/indiscretions.” We notice everything regarding others, but never that which applies to us. Thus, the pasuk is informing us that, whatever indiscretions one notices in others, are a mirror image of his own failings. Likewise,…

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