Parashat Terumah - 5761 - OU Torah Insights Project

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer. A publication of the Orthodox Union in cooperation with the Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center

Parshat Trumah
March 3, 2001

WITH THE BUILDING OF THE MISHKAN (Tabernacle), the portable sanctuary, the goal of the Exodus is within view: to create a community in which Hashem is at the center.

And they shall make for Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Shemot 25:8).

EVERY ASPECT OF THE MISHKAN teaches us how to serve Hashem.

AFTER THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR BUILDING THE ARON (Ark of the Covenant), the next item discussed is the Shulchan (Table), made of shittim (acacia wood) overlaid with gold. But this is no ordinary flat table – it supports a system of twelve shelves, upon which rest the twelve loaves of lechem ha’panim (showbread). These special loaves were baked in iron molds, giving them a number of sides, or faces; hence, the name lechem ha’panim, “bread of faces.”

MIRACULOUSLY, THE LECHEM HA’PANIM remained warm and fresh all week, as it says:

… the showbread that was taken from before Hashem, to put hot bread on the day when it was taken away (I Shmuel 21:7).

IN LATER HISTORY WHEN THE PEOPLE came to the Temple on the Pilgrimage Festivals, the Kohanim would lift the Shulchan to show them the still-warm loaves, proclaiming, “See how much Hashem loves you!” (Menachot 29a).

EVERY SHABBAT, THE LECHEM HA’PANIM were replaced by the Kohanim:

Every Shabbat he shall set it in order before Hashem continually . . . (Vayikra 24:8).

THE TWELVE LOAVES from the previous week would be divided among the Kohanim. The Kohen Gadol received six loaves, while the other six loaves were divided up among the two watches of Kohanim – the ones concluding their week’s service and those beginning theirs. Even a piece of the lechem ha’panim as small as a bean was enough to satisfy (Yoma 39a).

And you shall set on the table showbread before Me always (LEFANAI TAMID) (Shemot 25:30).

ACCORDING TO THE VIEW THAT RAMBAM accepts, LEFANAI TAMID means the uninterrupted presence of the lechem ha’panim on the Shulchan. This has a number of ramifications:

The new loaves were slid into place at the same moment as the old ones were removed (Menachot 99b).
The lechem ha’panim remained on the Shulchan even while the Children of Israel were traveling in the desert (see Bamidbar 4:7).
Unlike the other utensils of the Sanctuary, if the Shulchan became tamei (ritually unclean), it could not be rendered tahor (ritually clean) by immersion in a mikvah, since the lechem ha’panim could not be removed (Chagigah 26b). Later in history, after each of the Pilgrimage Festivals, all the Sanctuary utensils were routinely immersed, for fear that some of the less-well educated people, who were not conscientious about the rules of impurity, may have touched them. But, during the Pilgrimage Festivals, when the Shulchan was shown to the people, they were reminded not to touch it (Rambam, Metamei mishkav u’moshav, 11:11).

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE LECHEM HA’PANIM, therefore, serves two functions:

It is a regular service (avodah) of the Sanctuary, on a par with the lighting of the Menorah and the offering of daily sacrifices.
It is a part of the construction of the Sanctuary – in the same way that the Aron must have its staves, and the Choshen (breastplate) must have the twelve precious stones.

THIS DUALITY IS REFLECTED in the fact that the Rambam writes about the Shulchan and lechem ha’panim in two contexts, when dealing with the service of the Sanctuary (Temidim u’musafim 5:1,4) and when dealing with the construction of the Sanctuary and its appurtenances (Beit ha’bechira, 1:7; 3:15). This derives from the requirement that the lechem ha’panim be on the Shulchan “before Me always” (LEFANAI TAMID).

WHY MUST THIS BE? The Ramban explains that the Shulchan is the source of material blessing for Israel. However, after the universe was created ex nihilo, it is now the will of Hashem that blessing will emanate only from existent things. To mention two examples: When the prophet Eliyahu provided for the woman of Tzarfat, the pitcher of flour did not cease and the bottle of oil was not lacking (I Kings 17:16); and, when the prophet Elisha provided for the wife of the prophet, a blessing rested on her cruse of oil and she filled all her vessels from it (II Kings 4:1-7). Similarly, the Shulchan must be constantly supplied with the lechem ha’panim, in order that Hashem may grant His material blessing for all of Israel.