TERUMAH, EXODUS 25:1–27:19, Rosh Chodesh Adar
At 25: 2, Hashem speaks to Moshe:
דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ-לִי תְּרוּמָה: מֵאֵת כָּל-אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ, תִּקְחוּ אֶת-תְּרוּמָתִי
“Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take My offering”.
When the B'nei Yisrael give from their heart they are transformed into the Am Yisrael, the People of Israel, the Jewish people.
Rabbi Wein has something to say about the aspect of voluntary giving associated with the building of the Mishkan:
Fund raising - https://www.rabbiwein.com/blog/post-1739.html
“The demand of the Torah is not only to give from our heart but to give our heart itself to the exalted cause and spiritual greatness of the tabernacle/mishkan. It is not a donation that the Torah asks of us, rather it is a commitment of self that is demanded. The tabernacle/mishkan has long ago disappeared from our physical view but its lessons remain relevant and important to us today as when they were taught millennia ago”.
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There is a connection between Rosh Chodesh Adar which falls on Tuesday and the current Parshah. This connection is in regard to the construction of the Mishkan. According to the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 22b), women are forbidden to engage in work on Rosh Chodesh. Rashi comments: Women must refrain: spinning, weaving, and sewing—the skills that women contributed to the building of the Mishkan.
There is a Midrash, (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 45), as paraphrased explores this further: Aaron argued with himself, saying: "If I say to Israel, 'Give me gold and silver,' the men will bring it immediately; but behold if I will say to them, 'Give me the earrings of your wives and your sons,' the matter will immediately fail,"
"And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden rings.'" The women heard this, but they were unwilling to give their earrings to their husbands. The women said to them: "You want to make a graven image, a molten image (the Golden Calf) without any power in it to deliver.
"The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the women their reward in this world and the world to come. What reward did He give them in this world? That they should observe the new moons more stringently (not work) than the men. What reward will He give them in the world to come? They are destined to be renewed like the new moons, as it is said: "Who satisfies the years with good things; their youth is renewed like the eagle."
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There is a message in this week’s Torah portion Terumah which applies to our children and grandchildren.
The Torah portion concerns in part the building of the Mishkan, the portable dwelling place for HaShem that we carried during our wandering in the desert.
In the most sacred part of the Mishkan there was the Ark of the Covenant in which was contained the stone tablets, the Ten Commandments. This Ark was a wooden box covered inside and out with gold. It had a golden cover on which stood two winged angelic beings called Cherubs, Cheruvim in the Hebrew plural. The cover and the Cherubs were fashioned out of one block of pure gold.
Because we Jews do not believe in idols or religious statuary, the presence of Cherubs in this holiest of places requires some explanation. In Hebrew, the word Cherub is written כְּרוּב. The letter כְּ is often translated “as” or “like”. In Aramaic, רוּב is understood to mean “child”, so we get “like a child”.
HaShem spoke to Moses from between the two Cheruvim. It is the Cheruvim that stood watch over the Ten Commandments.
Rashi explains that the Cherub or Cheruvim had the face of a child. Their function was to guard or keep safe the most sacred of our religious objects. And that means the Torah. HaShem has placed the care of our Torah in the hands of our children and grandchildren.
Young ones: Please do a good job.
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In Parshat Terumah, 25:8, Hashem says to Moshe:
וְעָשׂוּ לִי, מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, בְּתוֹכָם
“Let them make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.”
Whether it be a Mishkan or a Temple I think we no longer need a structure or a building to house the presence of God. We have the Land of Israel which performs that sacred obligation. Israel is the sanctuary that Hashem commanded us to build. Israel is the מִקְדָּשׁ , a safe haven for us Jews as well as a private place for the presence of God.
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This week we receive detailed instructions regarding the construction of the משכן, the portable sanctuary, a dwelling place for Hashem’s presence. Two of the major components of the משכן are the Ark and the Menorah:
The Ark is protected by two Cherubs. These are winged-liked unearthly creatures that have the faces of children. It is thought just as the Cherubs protect the Ark, it is our children who protect our Torah and our Jewish traditions.
The Menorah in its abstract resembles a tree, perhaps the Tree of Life. And when it branches are lit by Aaron the Kohen Gadol, the Menorah resembles Hashem’s Torah that gives light to us Jews and to the world at large.
There is a controversy as to the design of the Menorah's arms:
The Rambam says that they are straight.
The State of Israel has them rounded.
Pays your money; makes your choice.
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At 26:14 we are instructed that the roof of the Mishkan is to be made up of animal skins, red dyed ram skins and the uppermost layer is to be composed of “tachash” skins.
וְעָשִׂיתָ מִכְסֶה לָאֹהֶל, עֹרֹת אֵילִם מְאָדָּמִים, וּמִכְסֵה עֹרֹת תְּחָשִׁים, מִלְמָעְלָה
"And you shall make a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of tachash skins above”.
No one knows what a Tachash is. Since it forms the uppermost layer of the Mishkan roof I think the animal hide must have tough, sort of a weather proofing material. One Rabbi in the Talmud at tractate Shabbat 28a speculates that it came from an animal with a single horn. The Prophet Ezekiel at 16:10 has the tachash being made into shoes. I would guess that the tachash is an animal with a very tough skin. I think the tachash is a hippopotamus. They certainly roamed in Egypt and once roamed about in Israel.
In the Book of Job (40:15 and 40:31) they are called the Behemoth that were huge and lived in swamps. Their skin is two inches thick.
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I want to explore a little more about the tarchash:
THE TACHASH
In Parshat Terumah we read about the offerings donated for the construction of the Mishkan. One of these offerings were Tachash skins.
Tachash skins served two purposes: They were used as an outer roof or covering for the Tabernacle (26:14).
We learned that the outer roof of the tent of the Tabernacle are made up of skins of an animal identified as a “Tachash.
Also in the Book of Numbers at Chapter 4 we learn that Tachash skins were used to wrap sacred objects and ready them for transport.
Not Just Another Pretty Face
From learning about its purpose we can assume that Tachash skins offered some sort of protection. water-proof, weather-resistant, tough, and very durable. The skins also provided protection against narrows and missiles.
But what animal is the Tachash?
There is much speculation as to its identity: a unicorn or a one-horned rhinoceros, antelope, manatee, dolphin
In the Talmud Shabbat 28a the Tachash is identified as being similar to a multi- colored animal called either sasgona, סַסְגּוֹנָא, because it glistened with different colors and/or tela ilan, תלא אילן another multicolored creature.
My best guess is that the Tachash is a Hippopotamus.
For one thing, a hippopotamus is not what you would call a thin-skinned creature. Its skin is so thick that it is almost bullet proof, and at 1 ½ inches thick most certainly arrow proof.
A hippo is multicolored: The hippo's upper parts are purplish-grey to blue-black, while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink. Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored.
Tachash skins were used in the Mishkan where they served as a form of protection and weather proofing. They formed the outermost layer of the Mishkan’s roof.
We were commanded at Exodus 26:14,
וְעָשִׂיתָ מִכְסֶה לָאֹהֶל, עֹרֹת אֵילִם מְאָדָּמִים,
וּמִכְסֵה עֹרֹת תְּחָשִׁים, מִלְמָעְלָה
"And you shall make a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of Tachash skins above”.
As in the Book of Numbers, Chapter 4, Tachash skins were also utilized in the transport many of the components of the Mishkan. These components were wrapped up in the skins prior to their transport.
The Talmud, Shabbat 28a says that the Tachash was multicolored:
שיש בו גבוונין הרבה
“…in that it was multicolored…”
A hippopotamus’ upper parts are purplish-grey to blue-black, while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink. When out of the water they will secrete a red oily coating that protects its skin from drying out.
If you need a proof text, consider some verses from Chapter 40 of the Book of Job in which a monstrous primeval land animal who has enormous strength and is called a “Behemoth” is described and this creature resembles a hippopotamus:
40:15 - Behold now the Behemoth that I have made with you; he eats grass like an ox.
40:17 - His tail hardens like a cedar; the sinews of his testicles are knit together.
40:18 - His limbs are as strong as copper, his bones as a load of iron.
40:21 - He lies under the shadows, hidden in the reeds and the swamp.
The hippopotamus is large, very large; males weigh more than 4000 lb. The hippopotamus spends much of its time in lakes, swamps and rivers. Before becoming locally extinct they inhabited Egypt and the region known as the Levant, which includes Canaan. Think of the Hula Valley and the area south of Tiveria. Archaeological evidence exists of its presence in the Levant, dating to less than 3,000 years ago.
Hippos measure 10 to 17 feet in length, including a tail of about 1 to 2 feet in length. The testes of the males descend only partially. Their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass. They are considered to be extremely aggressive
On an interesting note the most powerful land animal on Earth, the Behemoth/Hippopotamus is paired in the Book of Job with another primeval monstrous animal, the Leviathan. It is the most powerful sea creature on Earth and is thought by many to be a whale. Whales and hippopotamus’ share a common origin. The most recent theory of the origins of the Hippopotamus family suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semiaquatic ancestor that branched off from their common ancestor around 60 million years ago. This ancestral group then split into two branches around 54 million years ago.
And in the World to Come, as many believe, just as the skin of the Leviathan will serve as a tent for the righteous, perhaps it is only fitting that the skin of the hippopotamus served as a tent for us when we wandered in the Wilderness.
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The Haftorah portion of Parshas Terumah parallels the building of the Mishkan in the Wilderness with Solomon’s building of the Temple in Jerusalem. The portion is from 1 KINGS 5:26 - 6:13 and begins:
וַיהוָה, נָתַן חָכְמָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה, כַּאֲשֶׁר, דִּבֶּר-לוֹ
“And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had spoken to him,…“
וַיְהִי שָׁלֹם, בֵּין חִירָם וּבֵין שְׁלֹמֹה, וַיִּכְרְתוּ בְרִית, שְׁנֵיהֶם…”
“and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them entered into an agreement”.
When all is done and said, I do not like Solomon. Despite his wisdom Solomon was a fool from the beginning. Let’s return to the previous Parshah at 23:32 where HaShem commands us not to enter into agreements with the Canaanites.
לֹא-תִכְרֹת לָהֶם וְלֵאלֹהֵיהֶם, בְּרִית
“You shall not enter into an agreement with them, nor with their gods”.
So what does Solomon do? He enters into a construction agreement, a בְּרִית , with Hiram, who is a king of Phoenicia and a Canaanite.
Hiram was king of Tyre. His regnal years have been calculated by some as 980 to 947 BCE. During Hiram's reign, Tyre grew from a satellite of Sidon into the most important of Phoenician cities Some believe that Solomon’s Temple is the best example of Phoenician temple architecture found to date.
In 1 kings 6:13-14, king Solomon and king Hiram were assisted by a Phoenician coppersmith also named Hiram:
13: And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
14: He (was) a widow's son, of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a coppersmith; and he was filled with the wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in copper; and he came to king Solomon and wrought all his work.
Returning to Solomon and his pervasion of Jewish law: He conscripts 30,000 Hebrew workmen to labor in Lebanon. They are not volunteers; they are forced laborers. But it gets worse. In addition to the 30,000 Jews from birth laborers, Solomon conscripts 150,000 Jewish converts to schlep stone and timber from Lebanon to Jerusalem. It is all laid out in 1 Kings 5:27-32 and according to 2 Chronicles 2: 16-17.
It gets even worse: the 30,000 forced laborers are divided into three groups and work one month in Lebanon and rest two months at home. Not so for the 150,000 converts; the Tanakh is silent regarding their rotation. Going back to Parshas Mishpatim as per 22:19 we are enjoined not to oppress or mistreat the foreigner, which has come to mean those who convert to Judaism. In fact we are to love the convert (Deuteronomy 10:19).
Even in his heyday Solomon never got it.
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If you have a problem with my disdain for Solomon, consider this:
God gives Solomon wisdom, and in the Book of Kings 1 from Chapter 3 through 10 we learn of the supposed glory of Solomon’s rule. But then we come to Chapter 11 and a different picture of Solomon emergences. He is no longer wise, and it is not just Solomon’s excesses in terms of horses, wives and gold. Nor is it the negative influence of his Egyptian Queen, in terms of her idolatry.
At 11:1 – “King Solomon loved many foreign women and the daughter of Pharaoh; Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.
At 11:3 - And he had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart.
At 11;5 - And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
At 11:7 - Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab on the mountain that is before Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
At 11:9 - And the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had digressed from the Lord, God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice.
At 11:11 - And the Lord said to Solomon, "For as this has been with you, and you have not observed My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and I shall give it to your servant.
And that is exactly what happened: The Kingdom of Judah had been comprised of all 12 Tribes. Ten of these revolted and they became known as the Kingdom of Israel or the Northern Kingdom. Judah was left with only two Tribes that of Benjamin and Judah.
Solomon’s servant was none other than Jeroboam (11:26). He had an opportunity to succeed to all the blessings that were to be given to Solomon and Judah, but he too followed the path of idolatry.
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