Terumah

Building a Dwelling Place for God

Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel

Before the creation of the first mishkan (sanctuary), the Hebrews worshipped God on hilltops, beside streams, or wherever they felt moved to pray. Moshe, for example, met God at an ordinary bush in the land of Midian. Miriam praised God at the banks of the sea of reeds. Does God truly require a building in order to dwell among human beings?

Torah says: V'asu Li mikdash, v'Shachanti b'tocham. -- Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell within them. Commentators are intrigued by the notion that God will not dwell in the sanctuary, but rather, "within them," within the people. From this, our commentators draw several conclusions. Coming together as a community to build a sanctuary is a project that will open people's hearts to God. Thus the sanctuary becomes a visible symbol of God's presence in a community. The sanctuary offers a place where people come together to perform rituals that support one another. Ultimately, however, God's home is not in the sanctuary. God lives in the hearts and minds of people.

The instructions for building the mishkan reminds us that the indwelling of God among the people cannot take place as long as people are passive, doing nothing to help bring the sacred into the world. We must do the building to glorify God. This is emphasized in the text by the Hebrew very la'asot - to make - which occurs two hundred times in the story of the building of the sanctuary! When the community joins together and expends its labor on a shared project, God can grow in its heart.

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