03-06-2025 Torah Commentary

Due to a heavy travel schedule this week we are  combining two weekly Torah sections that are usually read  separately. These two sections however are  complementary. The first one is Trumah, and you can find  it in Exodus: 25:1-27:19. The second parashah is one of  Torah’s most difficult to understand and for many people is  one of its least interesting. Its name is: Tetzaveh and you  can find it in Exodus: 27:20 -30:11.  

Parashat Trumah provides a sharp contrast to the  previous sections in Exodus. The lofty ideas of past  sections now give way to attention to daily necessities.  We note this difference in both the section’s tone and  narrative. The parashah begins with the words: “Dabber el Bnai-Yisrael vYikchu li trumah me’et col ish asher  yiddbenu libo/Speak to the children of Israel saying that  whoever is so willing, that person should bring me an  offering.” (25:2). It is a section that deals less with thinking  than with doing, less with the philosophical than with the  practical.  

This radical change puts the reader in a state of  intellectual bewilderment. Why after the giving of the Ten  Commandments, does G-d’s next section tell us that G-d  desires nothing more than for us to bring free will  offerings? Perhaps the answer to our dilemma is found in  the building materials that we are asked to provide for the  construction of the Mishcan (Tabernacle). The text tells us  that the materials requested are to create a covering for  the Mishcan. The Hebrew verbal root of the word for  Tabernacle (Mishcan), s-c-h, is the same verbal root used  in the tale of the “Egel Masechah” (the golden/molten  calf). What might the text be teaching us by this subtle  use of this same verbal root? Might the Torah be teaching  us that all humans make mistakes and that going astray is a part of being human? From the Torah’s perspective the  issue is not that we err, but rather what we do to repair the  damage after we have erred. 

One of the lessons of this week’s section is that what  matters is what we do, and not what we say. The  emphasis here is on the concept that good people not  only say nice things, but do good works.  

Parashat Tetzaveh provides the reader with a great  amount of detail concerning the clothing that the high  priests (cohanim ha’gdolim) were to use. When we read  the parashah in its original Hebrew, we find that the text  offers us a great number of insights into the meaning of  life. 

For example, the Hebrew word for clothing “beged” is  derived from the verb “b.g.d” meaning: to hide something  or to commit treason. Clothing is our cover-up; it hides our  bodies’ flaws and weakness. As such, our clothing can  help to create illusions of grandeur or can hide that which we do not want to be seen. The text indicates that our  outer appearance is not what matters, what matters is the  quality of our being. This second section is less about  clothing, but rather about a worldview on life.  

In this parashah we learn of the consistency of  contradictions and the value of personal challenge. To live  a life of predictability – a life without risk – is to miss many  of the joys of life. What unites these two portions is that  they teach us to not only speak niceties but to give of  ourselves and to learn to accept the idea that success is  not measured by what we have, but rather by what we do.  What do you think?