Parshas Terumah
1. In Parshas Terumah the Torah relates G‑d's command that they take "זהב וכסף וגו'" ("gold and silver, etc."), thirteen1 (fifteen)2 physical materials, and that from these materials a Sanctuary be made for G‑d: "ועשו לי מקדש" ("And they shall make Me a Sanctuary"). And G‑d assures: "ושכנתי בתוכם" ("and I will dwell in their midst") — that He will rest in the Sanctuary that will be built from all these materials.
Even though G‑dliness is not, heaven forfend, limited by space, G‑d nevertheless pledges that He will rest in the place where the Sanctuary will stand — a Sanctuary that had to occupy a defined, limited area in space. And this applies not only to the Beis HaMikdash, which was built later and always stood in the same place — in Jerusalem — and from then on it remained so forever, but also to the Mishkan, which traveled with the Jewish people wherever they went, changing its place in the world: even there, the resting of the Shechinah was always in only one place, the place where the Mishkan had been set up.
Seemingly, this is not understood: G‑d, as stated above, is not, heaven forfend, limited by space — "את השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא" ("Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?")3; He fills everything everywhere. Why, then, did G‑d command that a special place be made where the resting of the Shechinah would be?
It is true that although "I fill the heavens and the earth," this can nevertheless be in a manner of concealment, so that G‑dliness is not felt in the world; and for there to be a revelation of the Shechinah, Divine service is needed. But this is not bound to a particular place: everywhere that a Jew serves G‑d, he draws down G‑dliness.4 Seemingly, then, the same services of the Mishkan and Mikdash could have been performed in other places too, thereby drawing down the "and I will dwell" "בכל המקום" ("in every place"), not only in one place. Why did these services have to be performed specifically in the Mishkan and Mikdash?
2. Among the principal services — "one of the services"5 — in the Mishkan and Mikdash was the service of the korbanos. The service of the korbanos divides into two general parts and types (even in the time of the Beis HaMikdash): the service of korbanos in physicality, in which an animal was offered on the altar; and the service of korbanos in spirituality6 (which in our times is prayer, as "כנגד תמידין תקנום" ("they instituted them corresponding to the daily offerings")7). Both parts and types of korbanos are bound to the place of the Mikdash. Regarding physical korbanos it is obvious that they are bound to the place of the Mishkan and Mikdash, for "משהוקם המשכן נאסרו הבמות" ("once the Mishkan was erected, the private altars became forbidden")8 — once the Mishkan was set up, it became forbidden to bring offerings on the private altars; and likewise afterwards, once "באו לירושלים" ("they came to Jerusalem")8, it was forbidden to offer any korbanos in any other place outside the Beis HaMikdash. And even spiritual korbanos — prayer, which may be offered anywhere (except in a "בקתא" ("a field/open area")9, where, because of distraction of the mind, one cannot concentrate there as one should, and the like)10 — nevertheless, the Beis HaMikdash is called forever "וזה שער השמים" ("and this is the gate of heaven")11: it is the place through which the prayers always ascend. That is why one must pray facing the Land of Israel — "והתפללו אליך דרך ארצם" ("and they shall pray to You by way of their land")12 — and within the Land of Israel itself, facing Jerusalem, and within Jerusalem itself, facing the place of the Mikdash.13
Seemingly, this is entirely not understood: why did "עבודה שבלב זו תפלה" ("the service of the heart — this is prayer")14, which is a spiritual service, have to be bound up with a physical place, and one that is limited and measured in physical terms?
Even if we were to say that physical korbanos — since their service consists of a person offering a physical animal on the altar, one that is defined by many conditions; and the drawing down from Above that was accomplished through the service of the korbanos was also bound up with physicality: one saw with eyes of flesh how "ותצא אש" ("a fire went forth") — a fire came down from heaven and "ותאכל" ("consumed")15, "ate up" the korbanos — since both the service and the drawing down through it were bound up with physical matters, there is room in reason to say that a physical, defined place is specifically required for it.
(Although here too an explanation is still needed as to why the drawing down through the service of the korbanos could not also take place in another physical, defined place — especially since we see that before the private altars became forbidden, the service of the korbanos was performed in several places at the same time.)
But prayer is an entirely spiritual matter: not only does a person here have nothing to do with a physical object (other than with himself); rather, he must offer up himself to G‑d, bringing his powers and senses16 close to G‑d by surrendering himself through his prayer and request to G‑d. Moreover, for the person himself, the essence of prayer is the intention of the heart, its inner spirituality. Prayer must indeed be spoken aloud17, but that is in order to arouse the intention, for "קול מעורר הכוונה" ("the voice arouses the intention").18
(And although through prayer, too, one brings about that physical blessings are drawn down from Above19 — the requests of the prayer are fulfilled: "רופא חולים ומברך השנים" ("Who heals the sick and blesses the years") — it is nevertheless not visible to the eyes of flesh that the healing and the blessing come as a result of one's prayer and request; unlike the fire from heaven upon the altar, which was seen with the eyes as the fire "ate" the korban.)
Since prayer is an entirely spiritual matter, it is not understood why it is bound to and limited by a physical place.
3. The explanation is according to the well-known principle20: "כל הגבוה ביותר יורד למטה ביותר" ("whatever is highest descends lowest") — everything that is very high comes down specifically to the very low. The very fact that the "and I will dwell in their midst" is bound up with a limited, physical place is proof that a very lofty level is being drawn down here, one that can be revealed only in the "lowest (and lowest) of all."
G‑d is the true infinite; He is not, heaven forfend, limited by any limitations — neither by space nor by what is above space. Just as one cannot grasp G‑d through the limitations of space, so one cannot grasp Him through the "limitations" of what is above space. For "above space" is also a description that denotes certain limitations (among them the very fact that He is confined to the infinite and has no limit)20, while G‑d is above every description that limits. Only where space and above-space, limit and the limitless, come together — the joining of two opposites demonstrates the power of the Essence, Who is "נמנע הנמנעות" ("the One for Whom the impossible is possible")21 and Who unites both opposites — there can the Shechinah rest.
And this is what the Mishkan and Mikdash accomplished. On the one hand, it had a specific and limited place in the world, and likewise the limitations in the curtains, beams, and sockets22 and in the structure of the Beis HaMikdash; the vessels of the Mishkan and Mikdash also had a fixed measure and size. Moreover, the measurement had to be precise, exactly as specified in the laws of the Torah. And together with this, one saw openly, with eyes of flesh, in the Mishkan and Mikdash how, within the measurements themselves, there was expressed that which is above measure and limit — the union of limit and the limitless together — as the Mishnah relates concerning the "עשרה ניסים" ("ten miracles")23 that took place in the Beis HaMikdash. And especially in the Holy of Holies (the essential part of the Beis HaMikdash)24, regarding which "מקום הארון אינו מן המדה" ("the place of the Ark is not included in the measurement")25 (although the Ark had the dimensions of "אמתים וחצי וגו'" ("two and a half cubits, etc.")26, it nevertheless occupied no space when the twenty cubits of the Holy of Holies were measured) — there the power of the Essence was openly expressed, for only it can unite both opposites of space and no-space.
That is why korbanos and prayer were also bound to the place of the Mikdash. For the service of korbanos and prayer27 is to reach the level of G‑dliness that is above every description, which cannot be described even with the description of "infinite," as stated earlier. Therefore their service must also be bound to a limitation of the "lowest of all." Had prayer and korbanos not been limited to a physical place, they would then have reached only the level of G‑dliness that is above space, the infinite; but that is not the Essence. Where is the Essence expressed? In the joining of above-space with space.28
(And in those times when korbanos were offered on the private altars, which had no fixed place, those korbanos indeed did not possess the advantage of the korbanos offered in the Mishkan and Mikdash. That is why many laws (limitations) were added to the korbanos of the Mishkan and Mikdash; and moreover, in the Mishkan and Mikdash certain korbanos were offered that could not be offered on the private altars at all.)29
4. On this basis one will also understand why, within the Mishkan and Mikdash themselves, the Beis HaMikdash was on a higher level than the Mishkan30. The Mishkan was not fixed and permanently in one place in the world; it was carried from one place to another, as it is written, "ואהי׳ מתהלך באהל" ("and I have moved about in a tent")31. It was also made mainly from plant and animal materials (the sockets were only the foundation) — not from the inanimate, which is "lowest of all" — and therefore the revelation of the "highest of all" was not present in it to such a degree. Only the Beis HaMikdash, which was limited to a specific place and was built mainly from the inanimate, the "lowest of all," expressed the true infinity of the Essence: that He is not limited by any limitations, to the point that He can join Himself with an actual limited place, and specifically "בתחתונים" ("in the lower realms")32. A limited place and the very lowest kind of matter — the inanimate — becomes a "דירה לו ית׳" ("a dwelling for Him, may He be blessed"), for His Essence. That is why the Mishkan was like a temporary dwelling of the Holy One, blessed be He, while the Beis HaMikdash was a permanent dwelling.33
5. With this one will also understand why our Sages derive34 from the wording of the verse: "ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם (לשון רבים), בתוכו לא נאמר אלא בתוכם בתוך כל אחד ואחד" ("'And they shall make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst' (in the plural) — it does not say 'in its midst' but 'in their midst,' within each and every one"). G‑d pledges "and I will dwell in their midst" — that He will rest not only in the Mishkan and Mikdash (for which it would have had to say "in its midst"), but also in every Jew. When a Jew makes of his physical things a Sanctuary for G‑d — studying Torah and fulfilling mitzvos, and bringing holiness also into his weekday affairs, into permitted matters — G‑d will dwell within him.
Moreover: the "and I will dwell in their midst," the resting of the Shechinah within every Jew, is in a certain sense in an even deeper manner than the "and I will dwell" that was in the Mishkan and Mikdash. For it is understood that however low the "lower realm" of the inanimate and the limited place of the Mishkan and Mikdash may be, it does not reach the lowliness of the inanimate and of space in the world at large. When a Jew brings holiness also into the inanimate and the space of the world at large, he thereby accomplishes the true intent of "דירה בתחתונים" ("a dwelling in the lower realms"): from the lowest realm, below which there is nothing lower34, he makes a dwelling for the Essence itself. That is why it is specifically this service35 that brings the Third Beis HaMikdash, which is infinite (even in relation to the First and Second Beis HaMikdash).36
6. The "Make Me a Sanctuary" described above — bringing holiness into the weekday affairs of every Jew — must be in the same manner as the "Make Me a Sanctuary" in its plain sense, as the Mishkan was built from "gold and silver, etc."
Just as all the thirteen (fifteen) materials from which the Mishkan was made themselves became holy, so too regarding the Sanctuary that a Jew must make from his permitted matters: they themselves must become holiness.
It is not enough that a Jew's conduct shows the difference between him and, to make the distinction, a non-Jew merely in that he guards himself in his business against overcharging, encroaching on another's livelihood, and the like. That is only a service of guarding oneself and not conducting business in a manner forbidden by Torah. The ultimate purpose of the service, however, is that in the very conduct of business G‑dliness should be felt and seen. And not only that the business be "for the sake of Heaven" — that he use the physical for the sake of holiness — but that the physical itself should become holiness (just as in the "Make Me a Sanctuary" in its plain sense, the thirteen (fifteen) materials themselves became a Sanctuary). This is the meaning of "בכל דרכיך דעהו" ("In all your ways, know Him")37: in all your ways there should be "know Him" — not only that your ways be for the sake of "know Him," but that in them themselves there be "know Him." Similar to eating on Shabbos, where the eating itself is a mitzvah38, so too it is required in weekday eating and in all permitted matters that everything one does be done not only for the sake of Heaven, but that in the thing itself there be "know Him": a person's table must be "שלחן אשר לפני ה'" ("a table that is before G‑d"); it should become holy like the altar39; and similarly in all matters.
7. According to this one will also understand the connection of Parshas Terumah to the preceding parshiyos, Yisro and Mishpatim.40 Parshas Yisro speaks of the Giving of the Torah, at which the bond between spirituality and physicality was accomplished — the joining of the upper and lower realms. And the same matter (but with an addition) is also spoken of in Parshas "ואלה המשפטים" ("And these are the ordinances") — "ואלה מוסיף על הראשונים" ("'and these' adds to the former ones")41. But that is only the bond of spirituality with mitzvos performed with physical things, and at the time of action. In Parshas Terumah, however, it speaks of "Make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst" — the bond of the upper realms with the lower realms not only through mitzvos but also through permitted matters: "In all your ways, know Him." And where it says "לי" ("unto Me"), [OCR unclear] "אינו זז לעולם" ("it never moves away, forever").42
This is also the overall order of the parshiyos of the Book of Shemos, proceeding from below to above: the first sidros relate the whole sequence of the Egyptian exile and the Exodus from Egypt, all of which was a preface and preparation for the Giving of the Torah. Afterward (in Parshas Yisro and Mishpatim) comes the theme and accomplishment of the Giving of the Torah — the joining of spirituality with mitzvos in physicality. And after that (from Parshas Terumah until the end of the Book of Shemos)43 — "In all your ways, know Him."
(From the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Shemini, 5722)
8. On the verse "ויקחו לי תרומה" ("And they shall take for Me an offering"), Rashi says "לי לשמי" ("'for Me' — for My sake"): the giving of the terumah for the donation to the Mishkan should be for the sake of G‑d, not for ulterior motives.
This is not understood: why, specifically with this mitzvah, does the Torah warn more than with other mitzvos that it be done for His sake, may He be blessed? All mitzvos must be done for His sake — so why does the Torah say this especially with this mitzvah?
Seemingly, it is quite the opposite: it is known that the Baal Shem Tov taught that there are matters in which the intention is not so crucial (as it is in all the mitzvos). One such matter is immersion in a mikvah: even if one immersed for other reasons, not for purity — and even more, even if he did not intend to immerse at all, but a wave fell upon him — he is pure.44 A second matter is giving tzedakah, where the reasons for which one gives tzedakah are not so crucial; and even more, even when his giving of tzedakah was entirely without intention — he lost money and a poor man found it, so he had no intention at all of giving it to the poor man — nevertheless, since the poor man received his money, he thereby fulfilled a matter of tzedakah, as with the general mitzvah of the forgotten sheaf.45
It is thus not understood: with other mitzvos, where the intention matters more, the Torah does not warn that they must be done "for Me" — for His sake, may He be blessed; yet specifically with giving donations for the Mishkan — which is seemingly similar to giving tzedakah, where the intention does not matter so much as long as the Mishkan gets built — the Torah directs that it be "for Me, for My sake"?
Based on the above, it will be understood: since the whole point of the Mishkan is that a Jew should unite all his affairs with G‑d, to the point that in his permitted matters there should be "know Him," it is understood that here it is crucial that it be "for Me, for My sake," for that is the whole point of the Mishkan — the union with G‑d.
9. One can explain even further the connection of "for Me, for My sake" with the theme of "In all your ways, know Him," by first noting the precise wording of the verse "And they shall take for Me an offering." Seemingly, the wording "ויתנו לי תרומה" ("And they shall give Me an offering") would have fit better here — that one should give terumah and the giving should be "for My sake." Why does it say "And they shall take for Me an offering" — that the taking should be "for My sake"? But the Torah is hinting here that the poor person's receiving of tzedakah should be for His sake, may He be blessed.46
It is known that the reason G‑d arranged in the order of creation that there be a rich man and a poor man, and that the poor man should need to depend on the rich man, is so that there should be in the world the matter of giver and receiver — the matter of tzedakah.47
— The truth is that G‑d is "זן את העולם כולו בטובו בחן בחסד וברחמים" ("He nourishes the entire world in His goodness, with grace, with kindness and with mercy"). He Himself feeds the whole world, poor and rich alike. But He feeds the poor in a manner whereby He gives their portion to the rich so that they should give it away to the poor. Consequently, the tzedakah that the rich man gives the poor man is not his own; it is the poor man's portion, which G‑d gave to the rich man as a deposit.
Now, since G‑d feeds the poor, He could have given their portion directly to them48; why is the manner of giving to them through the rich? The answer, as stated, is that the Supernal intent is that there be kindness and tzedakah in the world; and if everyone received his own bounty without anyone's mediation, there would be no tzedakah and kindness in the world —
And this is what is demanded of the poor man who receives: that his taking of tzedakah should be in order to fulfill thereby the Supernal intent, that tzedakah be done in the world. This is what the Torah directs with "And they shall take for Me an offering": the taking of tzedakah should be "for My sake."
10. The command and directive of the Torah is, after all, an empowerment. So where is a special empowerment needed in order to be able to bring about in oneself that it be for His sake, may He be blessed? In the "and they shall take." In the "and they shall give," one does not need any special empowerment for it to be for its own sake (for although, as stated above, in giving tzedakah the intention is not so crucial, it is nevertheless understood that it is presumably done for its own sake), because:
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Notes
1) Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:13; Zohar II 148a; Tanchuma Terumah 5; cited in Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Terumah; and elsewhere.
2) Rabbeinu Bechaye and Kli Yakar on Shemos 25:3. See Zohar II 135a.
3) Yirmeyahu 23:24.
4) "In every place where I cause My Name to be mentioned, I will come to you" (Shemos 20:21; Avos 3:6; see Yerushalmi Berachos 4:4).
5) See the maamar "Basi LeGani" 5710, beginning of ch. 2; the maamar "Ta'amah Ki Tov" [year unclear in OCR], ch. 2.
6) See Likkutei Torah, beginning of Parshas Acharei; ibid., Pinchas 77c.
7) Berachos 26b; Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe 98:4.
8) Zevachim 14:4, 8 (Mishnah).
9) Berachos 34b; Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe 90:5.
10) See Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, sec. 90.
11) Bereishis 28:17.
12) I Melachim 8:48.
13) Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe 94:1. And even outside the Beis HaMikdash, prayer is heard only in the synagogue (Berachos 6a; Shulchan Aruch sec. 90), which is a "miniature Sanctuary" (Megillah 29a).
14) Sifri, Devarim 11:12 [as printed in the OCR]; Taanis 2a.
15) Vayikra 9:24.
16) See Shelah, Tractate Taanis, toward its end (211b), and sources cited there.
17) See Tanya, beginning of ch. 8 [OCR unclear; possibly ch. 38] and beginning of ch. 37.
18) Likkutei Torah, Acharei 25, end of col. d. What is written in Tanya can perhaps be explained as applying only to the rectification of the world, the body, and the animal soul. See also Tanya ch. 40 and Kuntres Acharon.
19) See Kuntres Acharon (in Tanya), the section beginning "Lehavin mah she'kasuv be-Pri Etz Chaim": "to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah specifically — not merely by way of enclothement, but etc., to change the created beings."
20) Explained at length in Shaarei Orah, the maamar "Yaviu Levush Malchus," ch. 12 ff. and ch. 32 ff.
20) See Avodas HaKodesh, Part 1, beginning of ch. 8.
21) See Responsa of the Rashba, sec. 418; Sefer HaChakirah by my master the Tzemach Tzedek, p. 68.
22) See also the maamar "HaYosheves BaGanim" 5718.
23) Avos 5:5.
24) Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, beginning of sec. 94.
25) Yoma 21a, and sources cited there.
26) Shemos 25:10. See above, Parshas Yisro.
27) For "the mystery of the korban ascends to the mystery of Ein Sof" (see Zohar II 239a; Zohar III 26b); and likewise the essence of prayer is "Yehi Ratzon" — the drawing down of a new will from the Master of the Will. However, prayer, being a spiritual service (it is not "lowest of all" — relative to a physical korban), and therefore not reaching so lofty a place as the korbanos, is possible in any place, only it must be directed toward the Mikdash; and prayer itself, although it should be in the synagogue, a "miniature Sanctuary," this is not indispensable after the fact. Korbanos, however, which are physical, must (when the private altars are forbidden) be specifically in the place of the Mishkan and Mikdash. See Likkutei Torah, beginning of Parshas Pinchas.
28) For this reason the Mishkan was erected specifically on the eighth day of the inauguration, and likewise "a fire went forth... and consumed," because the joining of limit and the limitless is specifically in the power of the level of "eighth" (see above, p. 812 and p. 834).
29) Zevachim 114; Megillah 9b; cited in Rashi on Devarim 12:8.
30) See Zevachim there, that the permanent Beis HaMikdash specifically is "menuchah" ("rest"). Explained in Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Vayigash; Likkutei Torah, Berachah, the maamar "Mizmor Shir," section 3; and sources cited there.
31) II Shmuel 7:6.
32) Tanchuma Naso 16; Bamidbar Rabbah 13:6. See Tanya ch. 36: "below which there is nothing lower."
33) So it is cited in Likkutei Torah, beginning of Parshas Naso, and elsewhere in many places. As of now I have found it only in Reishis Chochmah (Shaar HaAhavah, ch. 6, near the beginning) and in the Shelah, Shaar HaOsiyos, letter Lamed; Tractate Taanis, the section beginning "Me'inyan HaAvodah"; Parshas Terumah, Torah Ohr section — 325b, 326b — and elsewhere.
34) Tanya ch. 36.
35) See Tanya, beginning of ch. 37: "depends on our actions and service throughout the duration of the exile."
36) Of it is said: "And it became wider and wound about, higher and higher" (Yechezkel 41:7). See Zohar II 234a; Ramban on Toldos 26:20.
37) Mishlei 3:6. According to what is written in the text, one will understand why the Rambam (Hilchos De'os, end of ch. 3, and Shemonah Perakim, end of ch. 5) and the Tur and Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, sec. 231) cite both expressions: "All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven" and "In all your ways, know Him." This is not a redundancy; rather, they are two distinct matters. This also resolves why the Rambam placed the statement of the Mishnah (Avos 2:12), "All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven," before the verse "In all your ways, know Him" (seemingly he should have placed the verse first, as in the order of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch) — because the order of service must proceed from the lighter to the weightier: first "for the sake of Heaven," and afterward "In all your ways, know Him" (from the sicha of 13 Tammuz 5722).
38) See also Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Chayei Sarah; the maamar "VeHu Omed" 5663, and sources cited there.
39) Yechezkel 41:22; Berachos 55a.
40) For according to the opinion (Tanchuma Terumah 8; Rashi on Shemos 31:18) that the command concerning the work of the Mishkan (also G‑d's command to Moshe, and not only Moshe's command to the Jewish people, as in the view of the Zohar, Vayakhel 195a) came after the sin of the Golden Calf, Parshas Tisa would have had to come before Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh.
41) See above, Parshas Yisro and Parshas Mishpatim, at length.
42) Vayikra Rabbah 2:2. Explained in Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9c.
43) And in these parshiyos themselves there is an order from below to above: in Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh — the Mishkan that Moshe was commanded by the Holy One, blessed be He (which is not the "lowest of all"); and in Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei — the physical Mishkan that the Jewish people made below (see Likkutei Sichos, vol. 1, Parshas Pekudei). It is specifically in this Mishkan that the intent of a dwelling in the lower realms — the "highest of all" — was fulfilled.
44) See Chagigah 19a.
45) Sifri, Devarim 24:19, cited in Rashi there.
46) See also Keser Shem Tov, end of Part 2, the section beginning "HaRotzeh Lehinos."
47) Shemos Rabbah 31:5; Tanchuma there; the maamar "Tik'u" 5628.
48) Bava Basra 10a. Explained in the maamar "Amar Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani" 5690.
Key Lesson
G‑d's Essence, which transcends both limitation and limitlessness, is revealed precisely where the infinite is joined with the most limited and physical — which is why the Shechinah rested in a fixed, measured Sanctuary. Each Jew makes such a Sanctuary by bringing holiness into his ordinary, permitted affairs until they themselves become holy — "In all your ways, know Him." Even receiving tzedakah should be done "for G‑d's sake," so that kindness and tzedakah fill the world as He intended.