Hashemcommands Moshe to build a Mishkan (Sanctuary) and supplies him with detailed instructions. The Jewish People are asked to contribute precious metals and stones, fabrics, skins, oil and spices. In the Mishkan's outer courtyard there is an Altar for the burnt offerings and a Laver for washing. The Tent of Meeting is divided by a curtain into two chambers. The outer chamber is accessible only to the Kohanim, the descendants of Aharon. This contains the Table of showbreads, the Menorah, and the Golden Altar for incense. Entrance to the innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, was permitted only for the Kohen Gadol, and only once a year, on Yom Kippur. Here is the Ark that held the Ten Commandments inscribed on the two tablets of stone which Hashem gave to the Jewish nation on Mount Sinai. All of the utensils and vessels, as well as the instructions for the construction of the Mishkan, are described in great detail.

PARSHA INSIGHTS

A Deeper Understanding of Terumah

“…and let them take for Me Terumah” (25:2)

There’s a hidden message in the name of this week’s Torah portion: Terumah.

The entire Oral Torah begins with a Mishna that asks the question, “When should one recite the Shema prayer in the evening?” It answers, “When the Kohanim come in to eat their Terumah.” If this is the first Mishna in the whole of the Oral Law, it must be that there is an essential message for us here.

Also, why is the commandment to say Shema linked to the mitzvah of Terumah? What connection is there between the two?

Our Sages teach the spectrum of how much a person needs to separate from his produce and give it to the Kohen. One-sixtieth is minimal, one-fortieth is admirable, and one-fiftieth is the median amount. The Vilna Gaon explains that the word terumah is an allusion to trei m’meah, two out of one hundred, which is one-fiftieth, and alludes to the median fraction of produce one should give as Terumah.

But this begs the question: If the Torah wanted to hint that a person should give one-fiftieth, why express it as two parts in a hundred? Wouldn’t it be simpler and more direct just to say one part in fifty? And the word “Terumah” should be a word like “Chadmish” – or something like that. Why didn’t the Torah use a word that expressed a fiftieth in its most basic form?

The Gaon explains that the essence of Shema lies in the first verse of “Shema Yisrael…” and in the second phrase “Baruch Shem kevod malchuso leolam vaed” - Blessed is the Name of the Honor of His Kingship for ever and ever.”

The essence of Shema is yichud Hashem, unifying Hashem’s Name by expressing that every detail in creation – everything - ultimately is Him alone. The Gaon observed that there are twenty-five letters in the first verse of “Shema Yisrael…” and twenty-four letters in the phrase “Baruch Shem….” Together, they equal forty-nine. And since we recite Shema twice daily, each time we are expressing forty-nine in terms of the spoken letters, plus two expressed by the twice-daily recitation itself. The result is trei memeah, two out of one hundred – Terumah.

The Yichud, the unifying of Hashem’s name, comes from the ‘one’ that follows the ‘forty-nine,’ but which we do not - we cannot – count. This we do twice daily. And that totals fifty.

This is a deeper meaning of why the Mishna uses the time when the Kohanim come in to eat their Terumah to tell us the time to recite the Shema.