PARASHA 019 MAIN PAGE
Sh'mot/Exodus
25:1–27:19
The name of the Parshah, "Terumah," means "Offering" and it is found in
Exodus 25:2.
The people of Israel are called upon to contribute thirteen
materials—gold, silver and copper; blue-, purple- and red-dyed wool;
flax, goat hair, animal skins, wood, olive oil, spices and gems—out of
which, YEHOVAH says to Moses, “They shall make for Me a Sanctuary, and I
shall dwell amidst them.”
On the summit of Mount Sinai, Moses is given detailed instructions on
how to construct this dwelling for YEHOVAH so that it could be readily
dismantled, transported and reassembled as the people journeyed in the
desert.
In the Sanctuary’s inner chamber, behind an artistically woven curtain,
was the ark containing the tablets of the testimony engraved with the
Ten Commandments; on the ark’s cover stood two winged cherubim hammered
out of pure gold. In the outer chamber stood the seven-branched menorah,
and the table upon which the “showbread” was arranged.
The Sanctuary’s three walls were fitted together from 48 upright wooden
boards, each of which was overlaid with gold and held up by a pair of
silver foundation sockets. The roof was formed of three layers of
coverings: (a) tapestries of multicolored wool and linen; (b) a covering
made of goat hair; (c) a covering of ram and tachash skins. Across the
front of the Sanctuary was an embroidered screen held up by five posts.
Surrounding the Sanctuary and the copper-plated altar which fronted it
was an enclosure of linen hangings, supported by 60 wooden posts with
silver hooks and trimmings, and reinforced by copper stakes.
|