Building a Sanctuary of Divine Presence
Words of Wisdom with Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar
This Dvar Torah was adapted from one written by Rabba Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and was delivered to the Coyo Council of Teen Organizations who were visiting from Israel this week. Several of their members had never met a Reform Rabbi before, so that was fun (and everyone was very nice thankfully). The group really appreciated and learned a lot from the half-day workshop prepared by Carly Orshan, CAJE’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Teen Department.
In Parashat Terumah, the C
In Parashat Terumah, the Children of Israel embark on a remarkable endeavor.
They undertake the creation of a space miniature in size, yet infinite in purpose: the mishkan (tabernacle), a portable temple designed to represent the Divine Presence accompanying them in their journey.
This mishkan was a cubic structure within which the Israelites transported the tablets of the Covenant upon their shoulders throughout their desert wanderings toward the Promised Land.
Its significance was profound, serving as the material vessel inviting the divine presence to dwell among them, as articulated in the defining verse of this portion (Shemot/ Exodus 25:8) celebrated verse:
ח וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם.
8 They shall make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
The medieval Spanish commentator Abarbanel asks of this verse: Why does G!D say this as if He were a physical being who could be limited in a place? The opposite of the truth and in direct contradiction to other verses in the Tanakh/ Hebrew Bible found in Isaiah 66:1 and I Kings 8:27.
Perhaps it’s an example of the Torah speaking in the language of humankind, who throughout history have felt the need for physical places to focus on prayer and worship.
Maybe it points to a different way of understanding the verse:
ח וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם.
8 They shall make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell WITHIN them.
Human beings may need a physical place, but certainly G!D doesn’t.
What matters is what we build within.
Maybe the heart’s deeper terumah / offering is what is constructed internally.
What might it look like to allow the Divine to dwell within us?
When you met me, you learned:
I am a woman… that leads to certain associations.
I am a certain age… that leads to more assumptions.
I am an American… now you have even more preconceived ideas of me.
I am a Reform Rabbi… whoa, all kinds of judgments and feelings are arising.
I am a Jew… you get the point.
Now I’m in a box and you’re in a box and we are “boxing.” To make a pun in English.
But what if I am able to expand my perception so that somehow, I offer you a different kind of offering:
- The gold of curiosity
- The silver of openness
- The oil of patience
- The precious stones of kindness?
So that together we can build an inner Mishkan / Tabernacle of our own awareness to the Divine Presence within each of us.
Our job as human beings, as educators, as people who work with one of the most difficult (and rewarding) populations on the planet Earth — Teenagers! - is teach them how to sense the Divine Presence within themselves and within others, who may be very different from them.
And when we are successful, we have then fulfilled the mitzvah/ command: וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ
Make Me a sanctuary, a place of holiness.
That place is the holy space between us where the Divine can indeed dwell if we open to that possibility.
