Special Features
for Parshat T'ruma

The Chicken or the Egg?
To the Seder table for a moment (interesting how the Seder experience is definitely more than a once-a-year thing). DAYEINU. The is a sequence presented, which (let's say) represents G-d's "original" plan. It starts with our coming out of Egypt. Nine additional items are counted off, all involving the Exodus, punishmentof the Egytians, and our safety and well-being in the Wilderness.

We then get the Shabbat (let's call it a preview of the Torah), stand at Har Sinai, and receive the Torah.

Next step is to enter Eretz Yisrael and then build the Beit HaMikdash. Hold it. Change of plans. Build a Mikdash and I will dwell among you. This command is to construct a portable, temporary Sanctuary to serve as our focus of religious energy until we find the permanent location of the Mikdash.

The totally portable Mishkan and the semi-permanent Mishkans of Gilgal, Shilo, Nov, and Giv'on serve us for 480 years, until Shlomo HaMelech builds the Mikdash in its eternal, permanent, forever and ever place (even when it isn't physically there) – Yerushalayim.

Most significantly, it is the first 40 years (really a bit less) of the Mishkan before we ever step foot into Eretz Yisrael.

So which comes first – the Mikdash or Eretz Yisrael? Let's put it this way. We need the Torah and we need a Mikdash even when we are not yet in Eretz Yisrael. That's why we got the Torah at Sinai and not after we entered the Land. That is probably why we built a Mishkan in the Midbar.

But THE place for Torah and THE place for Mikdash is Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is the body. The Torah is our Soul. And let's call the Mikdash our heart.

Without Eretz Yisrael, we still develop life-support systems to sustain us. But we always must remember that our life is not complete until we can live a Torah Life and rejoice in the building of the Beit HaMikdash in Eretz Yisrael. Maybe this is what the Haftara comes to remind us.

And, of course, Eretz Yisrael is hollow without the people of Israel, without Torah, and without the Mikdash. We need it all to be whole.

The Multifaceted Mishkan
The entire sedra of T'ruma is devoted to the instructions for building the Mishkan and constructing its holy furnishings. The details concerning the garments of the kohanim and the Kohen Gadol are found in next week's sedra of T'tzaveh, along with the description of the Golden Mizbei'ach. The Washing Basin and its standis presented in Ki Tisa. In Vayak'hel and P'kudei we find the actual construction of the Mishkan and the making of the Sacred Garments. Five sedras - just about the whole second half of the book of Sh'mot deals with the Mishkan. There is a tremendous amount of detail, and it is all practically presented twice. Why so muchattention paid to the Mishkan, and why the specific sequence of events that unfold alongside the details of the Mishkan?

Another question - different but most definitely related - is when were the People of Israel commanded to build the Mishkan?

It seems that the actual chronology of the first months of the Jewish Nation went something like this: We left Egypt on the first day of Pesach, crossed the Sea and witnessed the drowning of the Egyptians on the seventh of Pesach. We traveled from place to place, during which time we received a preview of the Torah - specificallyShabbat and some other topics, for a few weeks until we arrived at Sinai before Shavuot. Following Revelation at Sinai on Shavuot, we waited for 40 days and nights for Moshe to return to the Camp from the Mountain. On the 17th of Tammuz, was the Sin of the Golden Calf and the smashing of the first LUCHOT. On Rosh ChodeshElul, Moshe went back up the mountain - after destroying the Calf and castigating the People - to ask for Divine forgiveness on behalf of the People. On Yom Kippur, a bit less than a half year after the Exodus, Moshe Rabeinu came down the Mountain with (1) G-d's forgiveness, (2) the second set of LUCHOT, and (3) the command to make the Mikdash. Collection of materials and beginning of construction coincided approximately with Sukkot, six months after leaving Egypt. A lot happened in that first half-year.

If the command to Mishkan build the Mishkan followed the Sin of the Golden Calf, is it in some way an atonement for the sin? And if so, does it not follow that having a Mikdash is not an ideal situation? This is a famous question that each of us must ask and answer. We are not dealing with a minor, esoteric point of Jewishlaw; we are dealing with The Beit HaMikdash. We associate the Complete Geula with the building of the third Beit HaMikdash. We see it as going hand- in-hand with the Coming of the Moshiach. We must have the concept of Mikdash reasonably clear in our minds.

The parents decided to buy a computer for their child. There is SO MUCH that the child will be able to learn and develop with the help of a computer. They buy the computer and hide it in a closet, having decided to give it to their child on his birthday, a few days from now. In the meantime, the child brings home a less-than-perfect report card. He is doing poorly in a few subjects. The computer will now be given and put to use tutoring the deficient student in his failing subjects in the hopes of improving his grades.

It is possible that the child will view the computer at first as the hopeful antidote to his poor performance in school. To him, the computer was given to him in the wake of his poor report card. It is hoped, however, that the child will improve academically and soon grow to use the computer for its original purpose - toimprove his mind, entertain him in an educational way, to help him realize his fullest potential.

Notice well, that the command to "make a Sanctuary" is presented to us in the Torah following the wondrous events of the Exodus, the Crossing of the Sea, and Revelation at Sinai. Not only is Mikdash mentioned, it is presented with full details, up front, without the "taint" of the Golden Calf. Yet it is presented as a POTENTIAL."And you shall..." When the actual work is done, it is in the aftermath of the Golden Calf. Full details again. The Mishkan is two things. It is what it could be, and IY"H in the time of the third Beit HaMikdash, will be. A pure vehicle for our spiritual energies. In reality, the Mikdash contains an element of atonementand repair of the sin of the Golden Calf. Perhaps that is why the Mikdash has yet to be permanent. Perhaps it is part of building the Third Beit HaMikdash that we must build our society into one that excels on both a G-d-fearing level and an interpersonal one.

G'MATRIYA
based on L'ORA SHEL TORAH
by R. Yaakov Auerbach z"l

By far, the main, most essential item in the Mishkan is the ARON. Ramban explains that this is so because the SH'CHINA (Divine Presence) is found on the ARON. The ARON is the first part of the Mikdash that we are commanded to build. In the ARON were the LUCHOT and the first Sefer Torah that was written by Moshe before hisdeath. (Some say that the Torah was placed on a shelf that was attached to the side of the ARON for that specific purpose, there being no room for the Torah inside the ARON. Others, with a different calculation of dimensions, hold that the Torah Scroll was placed in the ARON, next to the LUCHOT.

The ARON is called ARON BRIT HASHEM, the ark of the covenant. This is, no doubt, due to the contents of the ARON, the LUCHOT (and the Torah) are the "documents" attesting to that covenant. The whole Mishkan is sometimes referred to as MISHKAN HA'EIDUT, because of the ARON and its contents.

The idea of the Mishkan being the Aron (and/or vice versa) is supported numerically:

ARON BRIT HASHEM = 1+200+6+50 (257) + 2+200+10+400 (612) + 26 = 895.

MISHKAN HA'EIDUT = 40+300+20+50 (410) + 5+70+4+6+400 (485) = 895.

Most sources say that the ARON was a simple box, without legs. Some say that the ARON had legs. There are many such differences of opinion concerning different aspects of the Mishkan.

The Four Parshiot
[1] Parshat Sh'kalim is the Shabbat before or the Shabbat of Rosh Chodesh Adar.

[2] Parshat Zachor is the Shabbat before Purim.

[3] Parshat Para is the Shabbat before Shabbat Parshat HaChodesh.

[4] Parshat HaChodesh is the Shabbat before or of Rosh Chodesh Nissan.

From the description of [3], it follows that there is never a Shabbat between [3] and [4]. But there can be a Shabbat between [1] and [2], or between [2] and [3], or both. These intervening Shabbatot are called HAFSAKA (HAFSAKOT).

Specifically, there are four possible calendar arrangements with regard to the Four Parshiot.

Rosh Chodesh Adar (the second day of Rosh Chodesh, that is, the first day of Adar) can fall on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Shabbat.

If it falls on a Monday, then the previous Shabbat is SH'KALIM, the following Shabbat is a HAFSAKA, coded BET-VAV, meaning that with Adar beginning on Yom BET, the 6th (VAV) of Adar is a "free Shabbat". The following Shabbat would be the 13th and would be ZACHOR, with regular Purim following on Motza'ei Shabbat. The Shabbat after, without another break, would be the 20th of Adar, Para. Then the 27th is HaChodesh.

If the first day of Adar is Wednesday, as it was this year, then Shkalim is the previous Shabbat and the break is the 4th of Adar (this coming Shabbat). It is coded DALET-DALET, meaning first day of Adar is Wednesday, then the 4th of Adar is the Hafsaka Shabbat.

If Rosh Chodesh is Friday, then the previous Shabbat is Shkalim, the first break is the 2nd of Adar. Shabbat the 9th is ZACHOR. Then the 16th (day after Yerushalayim Purim) is another Hafsaka. The 23rd is Para. And the following Shabbat is Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Parshat HaChodesh. This situation is coded VAV-BET-YUD-VAV - The first VAV is for Friday, the first of Adar. BET is the Hafsaka on Shabbat, the 2nd of Adar. YUD-VAV (better known as TET-ZAYIN) is the second break on the 16th of Adar.

Fourth possibility - Rosh Chodesh Adar is Friday-Shabbat. Meaning the first of Adar is Shabbat. That day is Shkalim. The following Shabbat is ZACHOR, the 8th of Adar. Regular Purim would be the next Thursday night - Friday, and in Yerushalayim we'd have PURIM M'SHULASH, triple Purim, with Megila on Thursday night and Friday morning, Matanot La'Evyonim on Friday. Al HaNisim and the Purim Torah reading on Shabbat, the 15th of Adar. A Hafsaka on the 15th of the month. And Seudat Purim and Mishlo'ach Manot are done on Sunday in Yerushalayim. This situation is coded ZAYIN-TET-VAV. This arrangement not only produces Triple Purim in Yerushalayim, but also the Pesach Seder on Motza'ei Shabbat. This arrangement is the rarest of the four possibilities. It happened last in '94; before that in '81. We have three more scheduled in the coming decade, specifically 2001, 2005, and 2008.

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