Parshas Terumah –  Broken Yet Whole

By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin

This week’s parsha, Terumah, details the construction of the Mishkan, and its vessels.

“V’asu Li Mikdash, v’shachanti b’socham, And they shall make me a Sanctuary, so that I will dwell among them. “ (Shemos 25:8)

B’socham. Among them. Would it not have been more correct to say b’sochah – in it? Bnei Yisroel were given the mitzva to build a resting place for the Shechina. Yet, the pasuk reads “so I will dwell among them”.

The Mishkan stood in the center of Bnei Yisroel’s encampment. A reminder that HaShem is with them at all times. “V’osu Li, And you shall make for Me”. It doesn’t just happen. We have to make it happen. And then, He will dwell amongst us, b’socham.

Parshas Terumah gives us a formula of how to make it happen. It tells of the nation donating towards the building of the Mishkan. Be a giver….. Everyone has something they can give.

Rav Nachman of Breslav taught that while the Shechina is all-encompassing, we can bring it b’socham, within ourselves, through giving. The very act of giving, opens a place in our heart for HaShem to rest.

This is true not only with the giving of monetary gifts, but also when we give of ourselves in a myriad of other ways. The giving of our time, our talents, our knowledge. The giving of a good word, a smile, a kind gesture.

“V’yikchu li terumah, take for Me a donation .”

“Terumah”. Why not the more commonly used words for donation, tzedakah or nedavah?

The root of the word terumah is rom – to raise. To elevate, to attain greater heights. When we give, our neshama doesn’t just ascend, it soars. It is super-charged. It has the spirit of HaShem resting within.

“Bilvavi Mishkan evneh…, In my heart, a Sanctuary I shall build…” (Sefer Chareidim) We no longer have a Mishkan. We no longer have a Beis HaMikdash. But we do have our hearts. Hearts we can open, and allow the Shechina to enter. Hearts that can be our own personal sanctuaries.

The Aron, the Holy Ark, was a most sacred article in the Mishkan. It stood in the Kodesh HaKodoshim, the Holy of Holies. Within the Aron were the Aseres HaDibros, the Ten Commandments, and the broken shards of the first set of Luchos. The tablets Moshe brought down from Sinai, only to see Bnei Yisroel encircling the Golden Calf in celebration. The pain and disappointment were too much for Moshe to bear. The tablets became heavy in his hand and heart. Moshe threw them down, causing them to break. The holy fragments were collected by Moshe and subsequently lovingly placed in the Aron.

“Luchos v’shivrei Luchos munachim b’aron.” The Talmud tells us that the second set of Luchos and the shattered shards of the first set were placed together in the Aron. Even though they were broken, they were a Divine gift from HaShem to His people. They were filled with kedusha, and restored to a place of honor alongside the second set of Luchos.

With the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, we lost the Aron. We still have our Torah, and the life messages that the Aron conveys. Our rabbis teach that the Aron can be compared to man’s heart. A message that speaks to us today. Within our hearts, we have a mixture of feelings. We have the emotion of the dibros, tablets that stand strong. Mitzvos that stay with us and defy the ages. At the same time, we have shivrei luchos, the broken pieces, the pain we all live with.  The failures we all have and the mistakes we all make. Just as the shards are housed in the Aron, so too, are the broken pieces of our life kept in our hearts, not to be discarded, eliminated and forgotten from our memories.

As I write these words, I heard of the miraculous recovery of two hostages. We just began the month of Adar, and the miracles are already coming upon us. Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, survived four months of being held hostage.

Hodu L’HaShem ki tov, thank you HaShem. At the same time, our heart aches with the pain of the shivrei luchos. So many – too many – lives lost, from residents of the South, to soldiers and first responders, to hostages who sadly didn’t make it. And we ache for the numerous others injured on October 7 and on, many so seriously that their lives will never be whole again. These are the shivrei Luchos, the shattered fragments in our hearts. Each shard, holy. Each life lost, a kadosh. We are broken, yet at the same time, we are whole.

In the book Meaningful Minute, there is an excerpt of an article written by Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginzberg.

“There was a time when my wife and I needed encouragement. We traveled to Eretz Yisroel, where we met with Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman. I told him, “Rosh Yeshiva, we’re in pain, we need chizuk.” He looked at me sadly and said, “I can’t give you chizuk.” Then, he reached out and touched my heart. “You need to find it here.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but then, a few weeks later, I saw that the sefer Reishis Chochmah quotes from the Zohar HaKodosh, which says that the human heart corresponds to the Aron Kodesh in the Beis HaMikdash. We know that the broken shards of the Luchos, the shivrei Luchos, were kept in the Aron along with the complete Luchos. There is room in the heart for both the shivrei Luchos and the Luchos; a person can be broken from a loss, and at the very same time, complete with all that remains.”

What is our secret of survival? How do we as individuals and as a nation endure the pain?

The answer can be found on top of the Aron. The Aron has a covering, the Kapores. On it, stood two golden Keruvim, angelic cherubs. The Keruvim faced one another, giving us a life lesson. Be there for each other. Be there for family, friends, neighbors. Be there for your people. Look out for one another. Ask yourself, what can I do to help someone else. How can I even begin to understand someone else’s pain.

The war in Israel has brought us together as a nation. As the Keruvim looked towards each other, so too, should we look at one another, asking, how can I help. What can I do to lessen the burden and pain of those on the front lines. In that merit, may we be zoche to see sholom al kol Yisroel, and the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our day.

Chaya Sora

Chaya Sora can reached at csgertzulin@gmail.com

This article was written L’zecher Nishmas/In Memory Of HaRav Meshulem ben HaRav Osher Anshil HaLevi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas HaRav Avraham HaLevi, zt”l