It was an annual event in Elana's children's service at Ansche Chesed synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where we used to be members. When it comes to explaining Torah and the weekly reading to the children, Elana is big on props and enactments. Hence, each year when Parashat T'rumah came around, we could rely on Elana to have fun with the verses which open the parashah: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him..."(Exodus 25:1-2). Passing around a bag, she exhorted us all to give generously for the building of the Mishkan (the moveable tabernacle which sheltered the Ark containing the tablets of the law and in which the Israelites offered sacrifices to God), as did the Israelites in the desert; so much so that in chap. 36 of Exodus, Moses has to tell the people, in essence, "enough already!"
Sheepishly, with nervous giggles, parents would strip off rings and bracelets and necklaces and earrings, and toss them into the bag. Of course, Elana gave the things back later, but even knowing that, even having been a participant in this "ritual"more than once, I found the giving was still difficult. When the object leaves our hand, we fear we are not going to get it back. If we care about that object - That's my wedding ring! Those are the earrings I inherited from my grandmother! - we do not part from it easily. What is notable, then, is that God does not command the people to give, but requests that they give their gifts voluntarily, and in this light the outpouring from the Israelites is remarkable indeed.
Perhaps this is why some midrashim see in these verses a reference not only to material gifts, but also to another kind of giving that we can participate in, one in which we can give freely, and yet experience no loss. Ever astute and close readers of the biblical text, the rabbis noticed that the verb "choice" in verse 2 is unusual. Instead of the expected terms "give,""v'yitnu,"or "bring,""vayavi'u,"the verb which is used here, "v'yikhu,"literally means "take."A midrash in Exodus Rabbah (33:1) thus connects this word with the word "lekah" in Proverbs 4:2 (which we recite when we put away the Torah): "For I have given you good instruction (lekah); do not forsake my teaching (torati)."Lekah is then further associated with the word mekah, meaning "wares,"and derived from the same root as "v'yikhu":
Do not forsake the wares which I have given you. You have a person who purchases (loke'ah - same root again!) wares; there is gold in it but not silver, or silver in it but not gold. But the wares that I give you have silver, as it says, "The words of the Lord are pure words, purged silver..."(Psalm 12:7). And they have gold, as it says, "more desirable than gold, than much fine gold"(Psalm 19:11)...
Where our gifts to God are specific and finite, God's gift back to us, Torah, contains unlimited riches for those who do not forsake it. But the gift of Torah is yet more versatile, as described in another midrashic collection, the Tanhuma (T'rumah 2):
"Take for me gifts": This is what Scripture says, "For I have given you good instruction."Rabbi Shimon son of Lakish said, "Two traveling business men stand side by side; this one has silk in his hand, and the other one has peppercorns in his hand. They say to each other, let's trade between us. This one takes the peppercorns, and the other one the silk. What one has, the other doesn't, and what the other has, the first doesn't. But Torah is not like this. This person learns the mishnaic Order Zera'im, and another learns the Order Mo'ed. If they teach each other, you find that each one now knows two orders. Are there wares better than this?"Thus, "For I have given you good instruction."
Torah is not only an infinite gift given from God to human beings, but a gift human beings can exchange with each other, an exchange in which neither party is diminished but rather both are enriched. Torah is meant to expand, to be shared, to be available to all.
Indeed, a similar idea is also derived from the first item of furnishings which the Israelites are commanded to build for the Mishkan: "They shall make (v'asu) an ark of acacia wood..."(Exodus 25:10). After this, every other command regarding items to be placed in the Mishkan is directed to Moses individually: the phrase "You shall make..."(the singular, v'asita) appears numerous times in the rest of the chapter, but there are no further collective instructions. Once again noting the linguistic discrepancy, the rabbinic authors of Exodus Rabbah look for deeper meaning (34:3):
"They shall make an ark...": Why, regarding all these other vessels does the text say, "You shall make...,"yet regarding the ark it says, "They shall make..."? Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Shalom said, "The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him (Moses), 'Let everyone come and be involved with making the ark, so that they will all be worthy of acquiring Torah.'"
The ark, after all, will be the repository for the Tablets of the Law containing the Ten Utterances, the beginning of Revelation and the giving of Torah. So too, all the people who help built this physical home for these physical tablets thereby demonstrate their worthiness and desire to be on-going recipients of Torah. Given the significance of this act, all should participate. Again, the Tanhuma elaborates (Ki Tissa 8):
We find that when the Holy One, Blessed be He, told Moses to make the Mishkan, He said to him about each thing, "You shall make..."But about the ark He said, "They shall make..."Why is this? The Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded all of Israel to make it, so that one of them would not have the opportunity to say to his fellow, "Since I gave a lot for the ark, therefore I learn a lot and I have a greater share in it than you. And you hardly gave anything for the ark, therefore you do not have a share in the Torah."And therefore the Torah is compared to water, as it says, "Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water"(Isaiah 55:1): just as a person is not embarrassed to say to his fellow, "Give me a drink of water,"so too he should not be embarrassed to say to his junior, "Teach me Torah, teach me this thing"...A person should not be able to say, "I am a Torah scholar and Torah was given to me and to my ancestors, but you and your ancestors were not Torah scholars, but rather your ancestors were converts."Therefore it says, "the heritage of the congregation of Jacob"(Deuteronomy 33:4), meaning all who participate in the congregation of Jacob, even converts who occupy themselves with Torah, who are valued like the High Priest...
Torah can never belong to a particular person or group. All of us need Torah; no one should "hoard"learning, and no one should be ashamed to ask for more of it. Both giver and receiver benefit from the exchange.
The Mishkan in the desert is built from the physical gifts of the Israelite people, but the ultimate purpose of the Mishkan cannot be a physical structure which will serve as a dwelling place for God. As a midrash in Numbers Rabbah notes (12:3), the Bible itself makes clear in other passages that God cannot possibly be contained within the confines of a finite human structure:
At the time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him (Moses), "Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them"(Exodus 25:8), Moses said, "Is it possible to make a sanctuary for Him such that He could dwell in it? 'Even the heavens to their utmost reaches cannot contain You (how much less this House that I have built)' (I Kings 8:27). And it says, 'Do I not fill both heaven and earth (- declares the Lord)' (Jeremiah 23:24). And it says, '(Thus said the Lord,) The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool' (Isaiah 66:1)."
Once again, an apparent quirk of language in the biblical text proves to be a source of insight - and an answer to our question. "Let them make Me a sanctuary..."God commands. Not, however, in order "that I may dwell in it."Rather, God instructs, the purpose is "that I may dwell among them."We do not have a single sanctuary or Temple in our day. How then do we invite God to dwell among us? Certainly, we endeavor to make the places in which we meet as a community, places of function and beauty, and we contribute from our material means as best we can to build and maintain them. But more importantly, we must make the community itself a place in which God dwells among us. One way we do this is by sharing the gift that enriches all members of the community and diminishes none - by sharing Torah and ensuring that everyone has a part in it.
Shabbat Shalom.