פרשת תרומה
This week’s Parsha deals primarily with Hashem’s specific instruction on how to construct the Mishkan – the Tabernacle, where God was to rest His presence on this earth until the Jews’ entrance into the land of Israel. The Tanna Dbei Elihayu (13) connects the construction of the Mikdash with the events that preceded it in last week’s Parsha. He says that since the Jews readily accepted God’s authority with the fateful words, “נעשה ונשמע”, they merited to construct the Mishkan and this explains the proximity of these two events in the Torah. Let us attempt to explain the connection between the acceptance of the Torah and the construction of the Mishkan.
Simply speaking, we could employ the words of the Ramban to elucidate this esoteric correlation. The Ramban says that the commandment to construct the Mishkan was a result of Hashem’s desire to perpetuate the amazing closeness we had with Him during Har Sinai. It is clear that the central point of the Mishkan was the Aaron Hakodesh. The Aaron was located directly in the middle of the Kodesh Hakadashim – the holiest place on earth, and was the first of all the Mishkan’s paraphernalia to be spoken about in the Torah. The Aaron housed the Ten Commandments which Moshe brought down at Sinai. It comes out from the words of the Ramban that since the primary reason for the Mishkan was to remind us of Har Sinai, it make perfect sense that the highlight of the construction of the Mishkan was the device that was to hold the holy Torah which was given at Sinai.
However there is another point in the Tanna Dbei Eliyahu which requires further examination. The Tanna makes it a point to stress that it was the Jews’ blind acceptance of the Torah’s law (נעשה ונשמע) which earned them the privilege to construct the Mishkan. If we were to only use the Ramban to explain this connection, then the Tanna should have mentioned just the acceptance of the Torah. Why does he stress the trusting way in which the Torah was accepted specifically as the mechanism which earned us the right to host God’s presence on this earth?
It is clear that God and His Torah are one. They cannot be separated and will always be intrinsically bound to each other as the Zohar says, “God, the Jewish people, and the Torah are all one”. When a person studies Torah, he essentially fuses a part of God to his very being and effectively alters his consciousness to be partially divine. This week’s Midrash opens up with the verse, “I gave you a good purchase, do not abandon my Torah”. The Midrash explains that when God gave us the Torah, He included Himself as part of the deal. The Midrash compares this to a king who had only one daughter. When it came time to marry her off, the king was presented with a real dilemma. He told his son in law, “I can’t let her go, because she is my only daughter. But I can’t ask her to stay either, because she is your wife and belongs with you. Therefore the only solution is that you will build a small room wherever you are and I will always be able to stay in that room and be with you”. (At which point the son in law quickly left town, never to be heard from again).
The Nefesh Hachaim in chapter 4 explains this Midrash beautifully. He says that the Midrash is teaching us that although there are different levels of Torah study, the highest level is one where we establish a closer relationship with God through each and every word that we utter. The Midrash says that Hashem “comes along with the Torah”. This means that every word of Torah is an opportunity to acquire a part of Hashem, so to speak, and to bind ourselves with our creator through sincere Torah study. How does this work? When we study the Torah, we are essentially studying God’s wisdom. How does one get close to somebody? By getting to know them and appreciating their wisdom. It comes out that sincere Torah study can bring a person to become one with God when it is done specifically for this purpose.
Based on these words of the Nefesh Hachaim, we can now explain the Tanna Dbei Eliyahu that we quoted at the beginning. The Tanna said that through the Jews’ acceptance of the Torah with the words “נעשה ונשמע”, they merited to construct the dwelling place for the Shechina. The Beis Halevi explains that the word “נעשה” refers to the acceptance to study the practical aspects of the Torah. We learn the Torah in order to know what to do on a practical level. Even women are obligated in this kind of learning. However, the word “נשמע” refers to the commitment to learn Torah for no other reason than the fact that it will bring us closer to our creator by allowing us to see more of God’s wisdom and appreciate Him. Based on this understanding, it is clear why through the Jews’ utterance of these two critical words, they merited to build the Mishkan. By accepting upon ourselves the responsibility to learn the Torah for the sole purpose of drawing close to our Creator, we bound ourselves inextricably to Him, and He then commanded us to “build Him a small room” in which He could always be close to us and to His only daughter – the Torah.
Perhaps we could conclude with the inspiring words of the former Rosh Yeshiva of Torah V’daas, R’ Gedalya Shore zt”l. R’ Gedalya points out another interesting facet of the aforementioned Midrash. The Midrash compared the Torah and Hashem to two items that had been “purchased” by the Jews together as a package deal. R’ Gedalya dwells on this point and says that just as when one acquires a business from another, the former boss stays on for a number of years to show the new manager the ropes and explain to him how everything is done in that particular field, such is the way that Hashem treats those who accept upon themselves the commitment of studying Torah with the sole intent to draw close to Hashem. Hashem “stays on” with them and guides them in their growth and ensures that the transition is an easy one. This explains what Chazal mean when they say that when one who sits down to study Torah, Hashem sits opposite him and studies with him. Whereas one who has not made such a commitment does not enjoy these tremendous benefits of having God be personally involved with his growth and guiding him from place to place.
May we all merit to study Torah for Torah’s sake and bind ourselves with our creator for eternity!