Building the Sanctuary

Shabbat Shalom!

Welcome to Terumah (Offering), this week’s Parasha (Torah Portion).

We know that you will be blessed as you study with us this portion of Torah that will be read during this week’s Shabbat (Saturday) service in synagogues around the world.  Enjoy!

  

TERUMAH (Offering)

Exodus 25:1–27:19; 1 Kings 5:26–6:13; Matthew 13:1–53

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:  ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering [terumah].  From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.’”  (Exodus 25:1–2)

Last week in Parasha Mishpatim, God gave to the Israelites about 53 mitzvot (laws) out of the 613 commandments.  These laws included the treatment of parents, slaves, and foreigners, as well as other people’s property.

This title of this week’s Torah reading, Terumah (תְּרוּמָה), is taken from a Hebrew word meaning offering, gift, or contribution.  In this Parasha, the Lord commands Moses to take up a free will offering from the people of Israel in order to build a sanctuary in the wilderness.

Six Tests for Prophets

There are at least six tests for prophets that I know of:

Love and the Hebrew language

Shalom ,

“We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.”  (Song of Songs 1:4)

This Shabbat, in many countries around the world, people will be thinking about the meaning of love.

The celebration of Valentine’s Day originated as a remembrance of a martyred Catholic priest in Rome named Valentine who, accounts say, defied the edict of Emperor Claudius, which forbade the marriage of young couples in order to save the men for more focused military use.

Valentine married young love birds anyway and was beheaded on February 14 in the year AD 269. 

Like most holidays, this celebration has turned into a marketing boon of mass-produced sentiment sold as cards, teddy bears and chocolates.  But love is much more than can be tasted with candy or seen in the movies and read in a romance novel.

And there is no better place to begin searching for the meaning of love than in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Slavery Laws in the Bible

Why does the Bible sanction slavery? How can we claim that the Bible is the source of moral authority when it condones human slavery?

THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:

Mishpatim (משפטים | Judgments)

Torah: Exodus 21:1-24:18

Haftarah: Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26

Gospel: Luke 7:1-8:3

Aaron's rod

The rod of Aaron is interesting in that it was God's sign to the other Israelites, many of whom wanted to democratise their nation's leadership structure and the God-ordained Levitical priesthood. 

Moses' and Aaron's cousin Korah, plus 249 co-conspirators, and two of Korah's Reubenite accomplices, Dathan and Abiram, said to both Moses and Aaron together:

“You guys have gone too far! For all in the congregation [of Israel] are saints, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" (Num 16:3).

The Giving of the Torah

Long before the tongues of fire fell upon the believers in Jerusalem, the fire

fell upon Mount Sinai.

THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:

Yitro (יתרו | Jethro)

Torah: Exodus 18:1-20:23

Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:5-6

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-8:1

THE VIRTUE OF BEING PUSHY

Pushy people change the world. They are the ones who get things done. Oh sure, they can be a bit irritating. I know this well because I am pushy and I see how others sometimes react to me. I also notice how other pushy people sometimes irritate me. But, in their (our) defense, pushy people won't let up when the channels seem closed. They will find a way to open up the old channels or to dig new ones. It is difficult for pushy people to take no for an answer ...