Is the purpose of the design of the holy Tabernacle for God to feel at home or for the Israelites to feel safe and present? The text doesn’t provide an obvious answer, but in reading the descriptive details, it appears that the grandeur of the Mishkan is partly because God wanted as many people as possible to contribute to its creation. That way they’d feel connected to the space and proud to be there.
We are well past words, though the wicked chants that have brought us here continue. On Monday night, February 26, 2024, a 200-person-strong mob of pro-Palestinian protesters, The Bears of Palestine, gathered outside the Zellerbach Playhouse on the University of California’s Berkeley campus. Yes, a mob, not a protest, as will shortly become clear to those who missed this story.
Despite the creative imaginations that have conjured up artistically rendered selfies of biblical characters (you may have seen these passed around social media), we don’t have the benefit of video footage of anything that occurred in the Torah. As we read the narrative of the Israelite nation, there are many times when we read about events that seem to only be possible outside the scope of rationality. If certain events in the Torah seem improbable, maybe that calls into question the entire document. Faith usually means believing without seeing. However, our Torah portion this week includes a commandment from God about the obligation to see things for ourselves.
Times are challenging; the vision of a shared society seems harder for many to maintain in our era, whether we are discussing life within Israel’s “Green Line,” the recent decision about frozen embryos issued by Alabama’s Supreme Court, refugee policy in Europe, or China’s surveillance state and restricted human rights. It is difficult to ascertain whether things are worse today than in previous eras; it seems clear, however, that a great many people feel things are worse, and this impacts their capacity to work toward the better world we all wish would arrive sooner than it ever does. Many people are throwing their hands up.
Since the kids like baking together, a while back Duncan prepped a baking activity, but instead of following the recipe exactly, he simply put out all the ingredients (in reasonable quantities) like sugar, flour, eggs, oil, salt, chocolate chips, etc., and invited them to create something. When you compare the Torah portions from the last few weeks, the Torah doesn’t just have one way of doing everything. In certain moments, it is imperative to explore, create, and experiment, and in others, there’s a precise formula to ensure safety, continuity, and balance.
When is a material gift spiritual, and when is a spiritual gift material? I have a vivid recollection of a November sun casting its cold rays onto the front porch of my childhood home as I unwrapped the large cardboard carton that contained an unassembled Big Wheel. The Big Wheel came to market in the 1970s; it was basically what happened when a tricycle died, went to heaven, and came back reincarnated as the coolest set of wheels any five-year-old could dream of owning.
Sacred spaces can be physical like the Tabernacle or a synagogue, or they can be personal, between two human beings. Parshat Terumah suggests that regardless of where they are, boundaries can have their own inherent holiness, and respecting them allows for more trusting relationships. The most beautiful movements together happen when you have your dance space and I have mine.
