Parashat HaShavua - Terumah

Why is parashat Terumah here? At the end of Mishpatim last week, we read that, “Moshe came within the cloud, and he went up to the mountain, and Moshe was upon the mountain forty days and forty nights / וַיָּבֹ֥א משֶׁ֛ה בְּת֥וֹךְ הֶֽעָנָ֖ן וַיַּ֣עַל אֶל־הָהָ֑ר וַיְהִ֤י משֶׁה֙ בָּהָ֔ר אַרְבָּעִ֣ים י֔וֹם וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים לָֽיְלָה.” (Ex. 24:18) This narrative resumes two parshiyot from now in Ki Tisa, when the Torah tells us that when God “had finished speaking with [Moshe] on Har Sinai, God gave Moshe the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God / וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶל־משֶׁ֗ה כְּכַלֹּתוֹ֙ לְדַבֵּ֤ר אִתּוֹ֙ בְּהַ֣ר סִינַ֔י שְׁנֵ֖י לֻחֹ֣ת הָֽעֵדֻ֑ת לֻחֹ֣ת אֶ֔בֶן כְּתֻבִ֖ים בְּאֶצְבַּ֥ע אֱלֹהִֽים.” (Ex. 31:18) 

Rashi, based on the midrash, famously explains that “the Torah is not written in chronological order / אֵין מֻקְדָּם וּמְאֻחָר בַּתּוֹרָה.” (Ex. 31:18) Thus, in real time – contrary to their order in the Torah – first came Har Sinai in Yitro and Mishpatim, then Egel HaZahav (the Golden Calf) in Ki Tisa, and then the entirety of the mishkan narrative. However, this only begs the question: Why are Terumah and Tetzaveh, and a bit of Ki Tisa, inserted here? Why now?

One reason, I think, can be found in how Mishpatim ended last week. We were told that “Moshe alone will approach the Lord / וְנִגַּ֨שׁ משֶׁ֤ה לְבַדּוֹ֙ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֔ה” (Ex. 24:2), but before he did, he “told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances / וַיְסַפֵּ֤ר לָעָם֙ אֵ֚ת כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֑ים.” (Ex. 24:3) He read the “Book of the Covenant / סֵ֣פֶר הַבְּרִ֔ית” as well. (Ex. 24:7) After offerings are made to God, “Moshe took the blood and sprinkled [it] on the people / וַיִּקַּ֤ח משֶׁה֙ אֶת־הַדָּ֔ם וַיִּזְרֹ֖ק עַל־הָעָ֑ם.” (Ex. 24:8) All told, significant emphasis is placed upon the lofty status of Moshe and his actions as compared with the people. They, meanwhile, are passive recipients of the law and mainly on the receiving end of a dramatically gory ritual. What was there for them to actually do?

Enter Terumah. This is where they are active: God first has Moshe instruct Bnei Yisrael that “you will take an offering for Me / וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה,” (Ex. 25:2) and then “you make a sanctuary for Me and I will dwell in their midst / וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָֽׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם.” (Ex. 25:8) Not only are they active, they are also in partnership with God, who will be among them and not only above them. Rabbi Avraham Menachem Rapaport (Italy, 16th century), in his commentary Minchah be’Lula, asks why that first verse uses the language of “you will take / וְיִקְחוּ” instead of “give” to God. He says that “when a recipient is important, the giver is seen like the recipient / כשהמקבל אדם חשוב, אז נחשב הנותן כמקבל.” (Yalkut Perushim LaTorah) They are giving and receiving, and God is receiving and giving. There is a reciprocity in their relationship, even as God maintains a higher status. 

While this can all be understood as a corrective for Egel HaZahav, we see already after Mishpatim that there is reason enough to recalibrate – change the alignment of – the relationship between God and the people. Terumah does that work.

Of course, one could argue it doesn’t do that work well enough, nor does Tetzaveh, in light of what happens in Ki Tisa. I propose another way of looking at it: how much worse would Ki Tisa seem – discouraging, depressing – without Terumah? In Terumah we see Bnei Yisrael at their best, before we read of their horrible mistake of the egel. We see all the work being done for the long term, a future with God in our midst, and we know while reading Ki Tisa that it is not the end, no matter how bleak things are. Nechama Leibowitz quotes a beautiful connection made by Shemot Rabbah between “you will take an offering for Me / וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה,” and the pasuk “I am asleep, and my heart is awake / אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר” from Shir HaShirim. (5:2) No matter how “asleep” we might feel, God is awake, our ancestors are present with us. Our heart is awakened by God to give. (33:3)

May we learn from Terumah – whether it is in chronological order or out of order – that we are ever in a mutual relationship with God, no matter God’s exalted status; and that even when we make our worst mistakes, there is always hope for a better future.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor