PARASHAT TERUMAH – תְּרוּמָה
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21st February 2026 4th Adar 5786
PARASHAT TERUMAH/תְּרוּמָה
by Herschel
Exodus 25:1 – 27:19; 1 Kings 5:12-6:13; Mark 12:35-44
Exodus 25:1-8
“Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for Me or to bring Me a portion (terumah), from every man whose heart motivates him you shall take My portion. This is the portion that you shall take from them - gold, silver, and copper: and turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool; linen and goat hair: red-dyed ram skins, tachash skins, acacia wood: oil for illumination, spices for the anointment oil and the aromatic incense: shoham stones and stones for the settings, for the Ephod and the Breastplate: They shall make a Sanctuary for Me -- so that I may dwell among them:
Exo 25:2 says ‘take for Me a portion..’ - ליק'כו לתרומה - ‘lik’chu Li terumah’.
A portion in Hebrew is ‘terumah’ - תְּרוּמָה and thus, the Torah portion is called Parashat Terumah. Notice that we give only the best to HaShem. We also give willingly and cheerfully. This first portion terumah offering belongs to God alone and is set apart for His purposes and usage. It therefore becomes kadosh, holy, set apart for God alone. In the same way that the animal sacrifices offered up to Him in the Temple had to be the best – a yearling, without any blemish on its hide – so too, do we give the best of our resources to HaShem, whether our money, our resources or our time. We lay it down on His altar with joy in our hearts.
When we contribute to the building and the functioning of the House of God with this attitude, the offering of the terumah portion becomes Kadosh, holy. We cannot use the terumah offering to pay our rent or our electricity. It belongs to Him and is considered a dedicated offering.
However, at a deeper level, the essential message of Parashat Terumah is that it is a reminder that it is not buildings that are consecrated in G-d’s service; it is people!
G-d doesn’t come to live in man-made structures. He comes to live in us!
Ex 25:8
"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them "- וְעָשׂוּ לִי, מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, בְּתוֹכָם.
The Hebrew word for ‘dwell’ is ‘shachanti’, which means “to reside or permanently stay; to abide’. According to the commentators, the sense here is that the Tabernacle would only be a temporary structure, later to be replaced by the Temple in Jerusalem. But that too would only be a temporary sanctuary.
The chazal (sage) Sforno comments “I will dwell among them permanently in order to receive their prayers and their sacrificial offerings in a manner similar to the way I displayed My presence at the mountain. The terrestrial Tabernacle, if viewed as parallel to G’d’s throne in the celestial domains, contained different sections of progressively higher levels of sanctity which progressively restricted the type of people allowed to approach those levels. The Torah itself, for which the Holy Ark served as repository, was in an ark constructed of wood but overlaid with gold on the inside and on the outside, to reflect the saying of our sages in Yuma 72 that every Torah scholar whose external appearance did not reflect his internal stature, is not a Torah scholar at all”.
The word for “among them” is betocham and this Hebrew phrase b'tocham (בְּתוֹכָֽם) in Exodus 25:8 can certainly infer "in them" in addition to the commonly translated "among them" or "in their midst".
While many English translations render it "that I may dwell among them," referring to the Tabernacle placed in the center of the Israelite camp, the word b'tocham allows for a deeper, more intimate theological interpretation of God residing inside the people.
Here is a breakdown of why b'tocham can mean "in them":
Linguistic Structure:
The word is composed of the preposition b' (in/inside/among) and the noun toch (middle/midst/inner part), with the suffix -am (them). While b'toch usually means "in the middle of," it is not strictly limited to geographical or communal space; it frequently refers to being inside a container or an internal space.
Theological "Indwelling":
Many Jewish and Christian commentators interpret this phrase as God desiring to dwell within the hearts of the individuals, not just in the structure built by their hands. The Tabernacle was the physical, visible, "among them" aspect, while the spiritual, "in them" aspect refers to God inhabiting the lives of the people who brought their "heart-motivated" offerings.
New Covenant Connection:
This nuance aligns with later biblical themes, such as 1 Corinthians 3:16, where Paul explicitly states, "You yourselves are God's temple," indicating the shift from God dwelling among people (Old Testament Tabernacle) to in people (New Testament indwelling Spirit).
Therefore, b'tocham implies a duality:
God dwells among the community (socially/spatially)
and in the community (personally/spiritually).
Now, the Sanctuary was nothing more than an inanimate object. Although constructed of gold and silver and precious jewels, it was inorganic. And therefore, grammatical consistency requires that it should read ‘that I may dwell in it’, not among them! The Father wants to dwell IN US! Build Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell in them.
And this promise is further enhanced in the promise of the new or renewed covenant found in Jeremiah 31:30-32:
““Behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of ADONAI—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—31 not like the covenantnI made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them.” it is a declaration of ADONAI. “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—it is a declaration of ADONAI—“I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people”.
Ultimately, G-d’s intent is to indwell people … to build his sanctuary in their hearts! Our hearts were to be the Holy of Holies that would be the home for the divine Presence! The midrash states:
"Wherever you go, HaShem accompanied you. To this, the following refers; ‘what nation … has HaShem so near to them as HaShem our G-d, whenever we call on Him” (Deut 4:7). “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” says HaShem (Jer 23:24). Where then is HaShem, you may ask; “IN THE HEART OF EVERY TRUE SEEKER”.
And this is precisely what Sha’ul taught in Rom 8:9-11 where Paul taught that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature; rather, we are controlled by the Holy Spirit of G-d!
Rom 8: 9 - 11
You, however, are controlled by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, he does not belong to Him.
But if Messiah is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, he who raised Messiah from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit , who lives in you.
The simple command to build the Mishkan transformed the Israelites. During the whole construction of the tabernacle there were no complaints about the lack of water or food. They were focussed on this task with a common purpose. They contributed whatever was needed. Some gold, some silver, some bronze, some brought skins and drapes. Others gave their time and skill. They gave so much that Moses had to order them to stop. A remarkable plan is being framed:
It is not what God does for us that transforms us.
It is what we do for God.
This is why HaShem said ‘let them build ME a Sanctuary’. Although the Sanctuary was for G-d, their contributions and their labour was for them, to make them one and to uplift them, spiritually speaking!
When you find yourself struggling and facing adversity,
Doing something in the service of G-d (by serving others)
is often ‘the way of escape’ that spiritually lifts one out of that
dark place. It is then that we experience that the things of the world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!
Remember that old chorus?
Furthermore, the structure itself was not the focal point; rather, it was the promise of the divine Presence that would be contained within that made the Sanctuary holy. It was to be something utterly glorious! Even His Name is glorious!
Ps 72:19 – “blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory’. The Hebrew word here is k’vodo – Your splendour, Your majesty!
May you and I build together the dwelling place for HaShem in our midst as we gather together as a faith community to worship and serve Him, by serving others!
May we be among those who give the terumah offering to build the house of God in our community so that in the act of giving this first portion offering, we ourselves are blessed because we are a vital cog in building a place for God’s Presence in us and in among us!