יד יוסף: Trumah תרומה

In parshas Trumah Moshe rabenu ascends Mount Sinai where HaKadosh Baruch Hu instructs him how to build the holy Temple. The Mishkan contains a number or articles which tend to be similar to articles found in a person’s home. They include a trunk, lamp, table, and incense altar. The trunk is basically a cabinet and the incense altar is basically for the purpose of freshening and perfuming the air.

These items are housed in a pavilion with two rooms which are separated by a decorative partition. The first room, the one with the entrance is referred to as the “holy” (קדש) and contains within it the lamp, bread table, and incense burner. The following room contains the chest with an ornate cover in which the two tablets of the Ten Commandments are placed. This room is called the “holy of holies” (קדש קדשים) (see Exodus 26:33). Outside the Mishkan is a yard surrounded by a fence. Inside the yard is the altar for sacrifices and a washstand.

The most important piece of furniture is the chest for the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Chumash calls them “Aydus” (עדת), which literally means testimony or witness. On the verse, “You will place in the Ark the eidus that I will give you”, (שמות כה טז), Rashi explains that the eidus is the Torah which is a witness between me and them that I commanded the mitzvahs that are in it.

HaShem continues, “I will commune (נועדתי) with you there, and speak to you from above the ornate lid, between the two cherubs, that are on the Ark of the Testimony, everything that I am commanding you concerning the children of Israel”, (Shomos 25:22). The Sforno discusses the idea of communing and speaking in this verse, and explains that it refers to imbuing the Shechina in every place that the wise of the generation incline their faces [to heaven]. The Baal HaTurim comments that the people to which HaShem are the ones close to Him and the ones through which He is sanctified. The Ramban states that the speech between the wings of the cherubs was an expression of the throne of glory (כסא כבוד) and is also the same vision of the metaphysical world that was seen by Yechezkiel.

The Kli Yakar comments that HaKadosh Baruch Hu has nothing in this world except for four amos of halacha in the place where peace is to be found. This is because people there do not learn in order to vex. It is from there that the voice enters into the Mishkan. This is similar to the Ark [of the Eidus] carrying all of the sacred vessels, through which the influence of G-d rests on all things. Likewise we learn that [when travelling] the Ark carried its carriers. This is seems to be a hint that those that hold the hand of those that learn Torah, appear as if they are carriers, when [in fact] they themselves are [the ones] being carried by those who learn Torah.

The symbolism of the Ark of the Testimony and the angels on its cover is the tangible presence of G-d in this world. This presence spreads out to all endeavors of our life. This is the symbolism of the various Temple furnishings. For example the lamp represents our studies, the table with the bread on it represents our livelihood, the wash basin represents personal cleanliness. Through the Ark they too are imbued with sanctity. Similarly the activities they represent become imbued with sanctity when their performance is related to some religious purpose. The main vehicle, for the spread of heaven on earth, is the people who study Torah and live according to its precepts. This is an aspect of “the tablets were the work of and the writing was a letter from G-d carved on the tablets (Exodus 32:16).

Blogger English

http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2014/01/trumah-letter-from-hashem.html

Blogger Hebrew

http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2014/01/55.html

YouTube

http://youtu.be/ZOjWfl44kKs

Acknowledgements to websites: תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://hebrewbooks.org/,

, לע"נ סבתא ,טויבע בת יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע כה שבט תשכ"ג וגם בדואר אלקטרוני ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il