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ויחרד יצחק חרדה גדולה עד מאד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5776

And Yitzchak trembled in very great perplexity. (27:33)

Chazal teach us that the words, gedolah ad meod, “very great perplexity,” mean that the fear that Yitzchak Avinu experienced when Eisav walked in was even greater than when he lay at the Akeidah about to be slaughtered. Imagine, up until this moment, Yitzchak was under the impression that Eisav was fine, upstanding and observant. He would ask him halachic questions which, by their very nature, indicated that he was extremely stringent in his observance. Suddenly, the floor fell out from beneath him, and he saw Eisav in his true colors, for all that he was. The shock of discovery…

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Home -> 5776 -> Terumah

וישא עשו קולו ויבך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Terumah, 5776

And Eisav raised his voice and wept. (27:38)

Yaakov Avinu received the blessings from his father, Yitzchak Avinu. He had barely left the room before Eisav returned with his father’s meal. Eisav had been sent to prepare a special meal for his father, so that his father would bless him. Following his mother, Rivkah Imeinu’s instructions, Yaakov entered the room first, giving the impression that he was Eisav, and preventing the blessings from falling into the hands of the evil Eisav. Understandably, Eisav did not react kindly to this scenario. Feeling that he was the victim of fraud, having been outsmarted by his brother, he let out a…

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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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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

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

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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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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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

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

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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