EXOD939 True to their teaching that "he who engaged in work causes the Shechinah to rest upon Israel" [In this verse, God assures Israel that if they will consecrate a sanctuary to Him, He will dwell in their midst and bless their work], the majority of the Talmudic Rabbis were humble workmen who earned a precarious livelihood in order to pay for the barest essentials of life so as to devote much of their time to the study of Torah.

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EXOD938 This is the first time in the Torah that we hear the verb SH-KH-N, meaning "to dwell," in relation to God. As a noun it means literally "a neighbor." From this is derived the key word in postbiblical Judaism, Shekhina, meaning God's immanence as opposed to His transcendence, God-as-One-who-is-close, the daring idea of God as a near neighbor. In terms of the theology of the Torah, the very idea of a Mishkan, a sanctuary or Temple, a physical "home" for "God's glory," is deeply paradoxical. God is beyond space. As King Solomon said at the inauguration of the First Temple, "Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot encompass you, how much less this house?" (I Kings 8:27). Or as Isaiah said in God's name: "The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. What house shall you build for Me, where can My resting place be?" (Is. 66:1). The answer, as the Jewish mystics emphasized, is that God does not live in a building but rather in the hearts of the builders: "Let them make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them" [this verse] - "among them," not "in it." How, though, does this happen? What human act causes the Divine Presence to live within the camp, the community? The answer is the name of this parasha, Teruma, meaning, a gift, a contribution.

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EXOD940 Build a Sanctuary in Hashem's Name. The Jewish nation must build a sanctuary where they shall pray to Hashem and sacrifice offerings to Him to help us to serve Him with a full heart. Not that He needs a sanctuary; rather, the mitzvah is for our benefit. Through praying and bringing offerings in this holy place on a steady basis, we refine and purify our thoughts and hearts. Out of His great kindness, Hashem fixed a place of the highest level of purity and holiness, and by going there we can elevate our thoughts and turn our hearts to serve Him devotedly. On the strength of the good deeds performed there, the sanctuary is always a place of great blessing and holiness, causing an abundance of good to be sent from Heaven. Reasons for the offerings: (1) A person's actions strongly influence his heart. Accordingly, if he sins, verbal confession and apology will not sufficiently cleanse his heart of the negative effects of the sin. Rather, to completely cleanse his heart he must act. He must invest much time and effort to bring an offering in the Beis HaMikdash. Having performed these efforts-filled actions, he comprehends the sin’s seriousness and will avoid sinning in the future. (2) The Ramban writes that when a person sins and brings an offering to atone for it, he should realize that what is done to the animal should actually be done to him. That is, man's deeds are composed of thought, speech and action, so for an offering to atone for a sinful deed, the procedure must involve thought, speech an action. The sinner performs semichah--placing his hands on the animal's head and leaning his weight on it--to atone for the sinful act. Verbal confession atones for use of the power of speech in the sin. The animal’s kidneys and other innards are burned on the Altar, and this atones for having used one’s mind in the sin, for these organs are centers for sinful thoughts and desires. On the Altar we also burn the animal’s hind legs, to symbolize that we sinned with our feet and hands. Then the animal's blood is sprinkled on the Altar in place of our blood. The procedures impress upon the person that he sinned against Hashem with his body and soul, so really, for the sake of his atonement, his own blood should be offered and his body should be burned, but out of His kindness Hashem accepts an offering instead. Certain portions of the animal are given to the Kohen--a teacher of Torah--so that the Kohen will pray for the person who had sinned. (3) The Ramban writes that there are additional, hidden kabbalistic reasons for the offerings (see his commentary on Parashas Vayikra). Additional insights regarding the offerings: (1) We are commanded to bring offerings from commodities that people generally desire, enjoy and regard as important--such as meat, wine and bread. Thereby the heart is more likely to be moved by the procedure. As to a pauper, whose eyes and thoughts always are trained on his daily bread, he must bring a flour offering when he sins--from the small amount of flour that he has. (2) Only in terms of his body does man resemble the animals. Man has a soul that animals do not have. Thereby he has unique intelligence, but if he slips into sin his intelligence no longer is governing him so he descends to the level of an animal. To gain atonement he takes an animal whose body resembles his and brings it to the Beis Hamikdash, the most inspiring and elevating place for his intelligent soul. There he completely burns the animal’s body until there are no remains. Thereby, he receives a vivid, visual message that a body that acts not according to the dictates of intelligence perishes and is gone forever. He takes joy in the appreciation that in giving him an intelligent soul that can live forever, Hashem has set him apart from the animals. He recalls that his body is his soul's partner and that if he heeds the urging of his soul and does not sin, Hashem will return his body to him at the time of the resurrection of the dead, so that his body, too, will gain eternity. Understanding this important truth, he will be extremely careful to avoid sins in the future. The Torah promises him that if his sin was unintentional and he brings his offering according to the required procedures and regrets the sin with all of his heart and soul, he will gain atonement. On the other hand, if his sin was intentional, this matter of atonement does not suffice. Because he sinned with his conscious self, offering an unthinking animal in place of himself does not relay a strong enough message to him. Rather, because of his conscious foolishness, he needs to be physically punished in order to gain atonement. Reasons for other types of offerings: There is a daily sin offering of the community, since unavoidably, some member of the congregation has sinned. This offering atones for him. The Torah allows us to bring voluntary offerings even in the absence of sin. The symbolism of the destruction of the animal’s body impresses upon us the lowly and fleeting nature of the physical body and the supremacy of the soul. Accordingly, there is ethical gain in bringing the offering, despite that it is not brought for a specific sin. The scapegoat that is thrown to its death on Yom Kippur carries away the sins of our nation. The procedure sends a message to the grave sinners such as heretics and those who deny the Torah and resurrection of the dead. This animal is not slaughtered. None of its blood or meat is brought on the Altar. None of its remains, even ashes, are left in the Beis Hamikdash. So, too, grave sinners are quickly and utterly destroyed and no trace of them is left anywhere. When they see the fate of the scapegoat they will understand where they are heading and will mend their ways.

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EXOD941 See [[LEV22]] Leviticus 2:1 offering CHINUCH 81-2

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EXOD942 He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not for you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it… (Pirkei Avot, Perek II, mishnah 21). In Avoth d'Rabbi Nathan (11) we find two further aphorisms of his, related to his maxims in our perek: "The Holy One, blessed is He, did not bring His sh'chinah (Divine Presence) to dwell on the people Israel until they have done work, for it is said: "Let them build Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in their midst" [this verse]. And again, "Man dies only from idleness, not from working."

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EXOD943 The phrase "Honor God more than your Wealth" may also be translated as "Honor God more than the one who gives you your wealth," meaning your father. For God gave wealth to your parents, and they gave it to you. A case in point: If both your teacher who taught you God's word and your father are in prison, you should first save your teacher who taught you the Torah [Talmud Baba Metzia 33a] [Sefer Chasidim, paragraph 275].

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EXOD944 Rava said: From here it is derived that a Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is no Torah scholar (Yoma 72b).

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EXOD945 We must always try to lighten the burden of others. Chizkinu writes that the Aron (Ark where the original Ten Commandments were placed) which consisted of a wooden layer sandwiched between two golden layers should really have been made entirely of gold. The reason for this was that it had to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites when the Children of Israel journeyed in the desert. If the Ark would have been made entirely of gold, it would have been heavier for the people who were responsible to carry it. Even the Holy Ark was made lighter than it might have been to lighten the burden of the Levites who had to carry it. We should learn from this to always try to alleviate the burden of our fellow men.

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EXOD946 We should not block a path where people need to walk. Chizkinu right said that the poles of the brass altar were removed because the altar was located in a place where people had to pass and it would inconvenience them if the poles would be protruding. The Ark, however, was located in the Holy of Holies. Since only the High Priest entered there on Yom Kippur, the poles intruding from the Ark did not inconvenience anyone. The Midrash (Avos D'Reb Noson 7:1) relates that Eyov's (Job) house had doors on all four sides so that the poor would easily be able to enter without having to walk around the house.

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EXOD947 Judaism does demand that society and all individuals still give respect to senile people, as recorded in the Talmud Berachot 8b. Why is this so…? The same talmudic passage explains, implying that we respect someone for what he or she once was and not for what he or she is today. The talmudic imagery is given as that of the first Tablets, shattered by Moses when he witnessed the people worshiping the Golden Calf. Exodus 32:19 Later, God asks Moses to write a second set of Tablets for the people Exodus 34:1, which were stored in the Holy Ark [this verse]. What happened to the fragments from the first Tablets after they were broken? Were they simply discarded and thrown away? No. They were stored in the Holy Ark as well, along with the second set of Tablets. Berachot 8b. Why were these bits of broken stone placed inside the Holy Ark--they certainly were no longer functioning and would have been no use to anyone? We learn from this an important Jewish concept: even something that no longer has any function today, but that did once have use and was once worthy of respect, must still be respected and is considered special. Thus, the original fragments were saved and stored in the Holy Ark for what they once were and not because of their present value to Jews. For the same reason, an individual who is senile must still be respected. While that individual may no longer function in society and may no longer be the object of respect for current wisdom, the person must still be respected for the wisdom he or she had in the past. In a similar manner, a Torah scroll that was once usable and holy must be treated with respect, even if it is now invalid. It must be given the same respect a human body is accorded upon death, when it loses its soul. The invalid Torah scroll is not thrown away, but must be buried in the ground next to a scholar Maimonides, Hilchot Tefillin 10:3. Thus, Judaism treats anything in Judaism that once had value and holiness with respect, even though its condition has now deteriorated.

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