Week 19: Exodus 25:1 - 27:19
Haftarah Portion: I Kings 5:26 - 6:13
Summary: God instructs Moses on the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The Haftarah describes the building of Solomon's Temple, emphasizing the importance of dedicating one's resources to God's sanctuary.
Thematic Connection: Devotion and Sanctity
By Lisa Ann Wharton (Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary Student)
Have you ever heard about the five love languages? This is a self-help book, a Christian self-help book actually, that was published in 1992. Author Gary Chapman talks about interpersonal relationships, and the way we show love to other people, and the different ways people are wired to perceive and receive love. He suggests that if partners – whether they are a married couple, or friends, or parent and child – if they are using different love languages, they might not feel loved, or they might not feel appreciated for the love they think they are demonstrating, but their partner is not acknowledging.
So the love languages that the book talks about, and are sometimes used in pre-marital counseling, or in couples therapy, do you know what they are?
Words of affirmation.
Acts of service.
Gifts
Quality time
Physical touch
So why am I talking about this, and why specifically during Parshat Terumah? Terumah means a gift, or an offering. The root of the word actually literally means something that is lifted up, offered up. And in this parsha, G!d tells Moses to ask the people to bring Terumah, gifts, contributions, to help to build the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness. And they give: gold, silver, copper, animal skins, wood, precious stones, so much that later, they get told to stop giving, they’ve contributed too much!
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