Parshat Terumah 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in the beginning of this week’s parsha the mitzvah of building the Mishkan. This mitzvah is given with the words (Chapter 25, Pasuk 8), ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם. They shall make for me a Mikdash and I will dwell in their midst. The very next pasuk states, ככל אשר אני מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו וכן תעשו. You shall make the form of the Mishkan and its vessels according to what I show you. How is it that the Torah begins with a command to build a Mikdash, and in the next pasuk refers to it as a Mishkan? The Gemara in Shavuos 16B asks this question and concludes that the Mishkan is also called a Mikdash, and when there is a reference to the Beis HaMikdash, it may be called a Mishkan as well.
The Sfas Emes offers another answer as to why the command begins with Mikdash, and concludes with Mishkan. Chazal teach in Menachos 29A that Moshe had difficulty with the building of the Menorah. Rashi brings this Medrash twice in our parsha and also in the beginning of parshat Beha’aloscha on the words (Chapter 8, Pasuk 4), וזה מעשה המנורה. The word וזה indicates an explicit illustration on Hashem’s part to show Moshe the Menorah, indicating that Moshe had a difficulty with the structure of the Menorah.
There is another Medrash in the Medrash Rabbah on our parsha (35,6) and the Zohar Hakadosh on parshat Pekudei which teach that Moshe had an overall difficulty with the building of the Mishkan. How was he supposed to build a physical structure meant for the Shechinah to dwell in? He had no model for such a concept of building a Mikdash in the physical reality of Olam Hazeh.
Hashem replied to him (Chapter 25, Pasuk 40), וראה ועשה. Look at what I show you and make the vessels accordingly. And what did Hashem show him? He showed Moshe Rabbeinu the Mikdash shel Ma’alah. The pasuk in sefer Tehillim states (Chapter 122, Pasuk 3), ירושלים הבנויה כעיר שחברה לה יחדו, and the Gemara in Ta’anis 5A that there is a Yerushalayim above corresponding to the Yerushalayim below. And Moshe was shown the Mikdash in the Yerushalayim above, the spiritual structure, as a model for the Mishkan below. And according to the Sfas Emes, this is why the parsha begins with Mikdash; the model was meant to be the Mikdash in Yerushalayim shel Ma’alah which Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu. But the pasuk concludes with Mishkan; the physical structure built by Moshe below in our world, based on the Mikdash above.
This dichotomy of a Mikdash above and a Mishkan below was not foreign for Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe himself contained both aspects; a holiness from the heavens above and being in the world below with everyone else. After all, Moshe spent forty days on Har Sinai with Hashem and he didn’t eat or drink, as the pasuk says (Chapter 34, Pasuk 28), ויהי שם עם ד' ארבעים יום וארבעים לילה לחם לא אכל ומים לא שתה. And when Moshe came down from the mountain, we read in the next pasuk, כי קרן עור פניו; Moshe’s face became radiant. He had experiences of a spiritual nature that no one else had.
This point is emphasized by the Medrash Rabbah on Devarim on the words (Chapter 33, Pasuk 1) וזאת הברכה אשר ברך משה איש הלוקים. The Medrash teaches that while Moshe was clearly an איש, he had Divine aspects as well. Moshe was the one person who could relate best to there being a Mikdash above and a Mishkan below. After all, he was both an איש and had characteristics of אלוקים as well.
The Sfas Emes concludes that this is ultimately true of all of us. Every Jew has a holy Neshamah which he receives from above. The pasuk says in Bereishis (Chapter 2, Pasuk 7), וייצר ד' אלוקים את האדם, and Rashi brings the words of Chazal that the two yudin are a reference to Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah. And on Shabbos we receive a Neshamah Yeseirah which gives us a taste of the Olam Habah on Shabbos. And just as Moshe Rabbeinu’s face lit up, so too the Medrash teaches that a person’s face has a light on Shabbos which is very different than the rest of the week. And just as the Torah teaches that Moshe wasn’t aware of his light, so too we don’t realize and truly understand the light we have, in particular on Shabbos. For on Shabbos, Chazal teach that Moshe returns to us the crowns of נעשה ונשמע, giving us the ability to realize our potential similar to that of Moshe, איש האלוקים.
Good Shabbos
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