Photo by Natalie Pedigo on Unsplash
By Matt Bonney-Cohen, Base Program Director
Parashat Terumah “Donation”
Parashat Terumah introduces us to the building of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle that the Israelites will carry with them throughout their journey through desert and into the Land of Israel. It’s a huge communal undertaking that spans the five final parshiyot of Sefer Shemot.
The purpose of the Mishkan, as God instructs Moshe, is to build a sanctuary so that God may dwell within the people. Today, we don’t have a Mishkan and we don’t have a Temple in Jerusalem. Even within each Jewish community, there’s no longer one central physical location that houses the Divine Presence.
But what we do have are communal undertakings that enable God to dwell within each of us individually and within all of us collectively.
God’s first command to Moshe about the building of the Mishkan is to collect gifts from the Israelites “from every person whose heart is so moved.” Moishe House exists to bring people together to build their own Jewish lives. Our programs and methods of reaching young Jewish adults across the world, our communal “offerings” are all funded by tzedakah and philanthropy and come from people whose hearts are “so moved.”
As we all work to build Jewish community, may our hearts be so moved to contribute our individual unique gifts in service of the Jewish people.
