A Thought on Parshas Teruma

"...va'yik'chu Li teruma..." "...take for Me a portion..." (25:2) We were commanded to apportion some of our precious metals for use in constructing the Sacred Shrine in the desert. Gold, silver, copper...portions of those valuable possessions were given over as offerings. The puzzling word in our verse is "Li." It can be translated as "to Me", "for Me" and "unto Me" yet the verse would have been just as clear had that word been omitted. The Torah could have said "take portions" and it would have made perfect sense. In fact, it could have said "give portions" rather than "take portions" and it would have sounded right. This is why many of the commentaries offer interpretations of that word. Rabbeinu Avigdor suggests that there are places in the Torah and TaNach where the word "Li" takes on a fourth meaning. There are times when the word means "with Me." He then offers a midrashic approach based on the thought that the Torah is HaShem's Torah, yet He has entrusted His Torah to the Jewish people. In turn, HaShem asks that wherever we go, just as we take His Torah along, we should also take Him along. How so? By offering up our personal valuables (those precious metals) which were used in building the mishkan (which was considered the material abode or shrine for HaShem's sensed Presence on earth), we were "taking Him along with us." When we would journey in the wilderness, our own riches - which we had consigned to Him - were now an abode for Him, which meant that He was paralleling our own travels. Therefore, one way of understanding the verse is "take Me with you." Wherever we traveled, we took Him along. We took His Torah, and by building the mishkan, we were also taking Him with us. Rabbeinu Avigdor also offers a second approach. A fifth meaning of the word "li" is "Mine." The verse can refer to the fact that whatever we consider "ours" is actually "His." When it comes to the precious metals which the Jews possessed in the wilderness, we must recall that this was a nation of former slaves. Whatever exquisite wealth which we had was largely the spoils of war, namely, that which washed up on the shores of the Yam Suf as the Egyptian army perished. We did not really wage a battle there. The Torah refers to HaShem as "the Master of War", and the victory was His miracle, and a secondary miracle was that the treasures floated ashore rather than sink to the sea floor (as metal tends to do). Hence, when HaShem commanded us here to take portions of those treasures, He was really asking us to give Him His bounty. This is a reminder to us that whatever we have in this life is a gift or a loan from the Divine. He seldom asks for it back, yet when He does tell us to give of our wealth for charity and other mitzvah causes, we need to remember that we are giving back, rather than giving up. Don't leave home without Him. Good Shabbos. D Fox