D’var Torah— A reflection in poetry
Published February 22, 2012
Parashat Terumah
Make [of] Me a Mikdash/holy place
and I will dwell
within them
– Exodus 25:8
The Zohar understands the Sanctuary as a place where two worlds are unified. It is built out of terumah, which is read by many from a Hebrew root which means to lift up.
The Zohar reads terumah from an Aramaic root which means two.
All the terrible twos of existence are reconciled in the Sanctuary, the emblem of the meeting of the worlds, the upper and lower worlds.
Now let us imagine inner an outer rather than upper and lower. G-d says: build it, and I will dwell within them, not within it, but within them.
In the inner space, in the soul, that’s where I will come to rest.
Everything has a dual nature.
Wholeness, she-lei-mut, comes through the vehicle of blessing.
The power of the upper root descends -Sefat Emet on Noach
Shalom is a vessel that contains blessing -Sefat emet on Pekudei
In every place where G-d dwells there is wholeness.-Sefat Emet on Sukkot
Wholeness, she-lei-mut [shalom] comes through the vehicle of blessing. It is the inner point of truth.
Terumah
the first objectification of the spirit
build the place out of Me
Make [of] Me a Mikdash/holy place
and I will dwell [Shakhanti/Shekhinah]
within them. [Ex. 25:8]
The holy place
the union of two worlds
build it out of terumah
from the Aramaic root for two, [Zohar]
All the terrible twos of existence
integrated in the holy place-
the beit k’nesset
house of meeting.
The Holy One is always delighted
when we storm the upper worlds
and take the Shekhinah to dwell among us.
New souls
new souls all around.
Build your palaces
raise all the money you can
decorate well
but I will set my spirit
in the inner chambers of the heart-
I want your heart, G*d says,
that’s all I’ve ever wanted.
– Rabbi James Stone Goodman of
Congregation Neve Shalom.
Something else: Terumah also has the sense of “to be lifted up”
or to lift up from root R-O-M.
Take a quiet time within, said Blue. Find a way to integrate a formerly two-notion
Into a one-notion
Unify: This is your terumah
