Weekly Torah Portion: T’rumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
In this Torah portion, T’rumah (or: Terumah), Moses receives God’s commandments on stone tablets. God tells Moses to create a dwelling place for God, where the Israelites can bring God gifts. God details what the Mishkan (Tabernacle) will look like and how it should be made. The Tabernacle includes an ark, two cherubim, curtains, and a menorah. Read an extensive summery on My Jewish Learning
Related D’var Torah
“The title of this week’s Torah portion is T’rumah, which means “gifts” and comes from the root meaning ‘to elevate’…” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2014. Read the full drash
“If we could imitate the work of God physically, how much the more so should we aspire to imitate God in our treatment of others?…” – Michael Main in 1999. Read the full drash
Torah Verse of the Week*
“And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8; Parashat Terumah)
Suggested Readings
“Why so much detail about this portable Sanctuary in the wilderness? It’s not as if later generations were going to use the same blueprints for their places of worship. Was God a control freak?” – Rabbi Lisa’s commentary was published in the Jewish Journal
Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky’s gives a contemporary insight into the building of the Mishkan in his short article ‘More than a Contactor’s List: God’s Presence Rests in a Place of Charity’ Read it in our “Telephone Torah Study” archive
“We are a long way from Lincoln’s America, and from Lincoln’s Republican Party, for that matter, or perhaps I should say, our country’s leaders and influencers today are a long way from Lincoln’s America and Lincoln’s Republican party, but those of us gathered here today are not…” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards’ speech at the Freedom to Marry Rally in West Hollywood, 2005, on the week of T’rumah – read the full speech
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*Torah Verse of the Week is chosen by Rabbi Lisa Edwards during Tuesday’s Torah studies. Check out when our next Torah Study takes place
