Shabbos Parashas Terumah - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Terumah - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

And they shall make Me a Sanctuary {Shemos 25:8]

The Torah describes in great detail the making of the Mishkan, the temporary

tent-based Sanctuary used by Israel in the desert and during the initial period

in the land. Our Haftorah this week describes in great detail how King Shlomo

made the First Temple, the permanent structure in Yerushalayim. While most

of the vessels were the same or similar, the building was completely different.

Since the Torah dictated dimensions and materials for the Mishkan, it is no

surprise that Moshe made it that way. How did King Shlomo come up with the

dimensions for the Temple?

Perhaps the link is Chiram, king of Tyre. In the Haftorah, I Kings 5:26, we see

that Shlomo and Chiram sealed a covenant. Just before this in I Kings 5:15 is

"Chiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Shlomo, for he had heard that he

had been appointed king in place of his father, for Chiram had always been a

friend of David." Chiram then agreed to assist Shlomo with more than 150,000

workers, and virtually all the main materials for the construction project. How

did Chiram know what to send and what sizes to make them?

In II Samuel 5:11, Chiram sent materials and workers to David to build a

palace for the Jewish king. The next verse tells us that David realized from this

that God had truly made him king of Israel. After various wars leading the nation

David returned to this palace, and God, through Nathan the prophet, told David

that He wanted a Temple. But He made it clear it would be built by David's son

yet to be born, meaning Shlomo.

In those days, Chiram's craftsmen were reputedly the best at extravagant

building projects. It was presumably quite an honor that Chiram and his men

offered to assist Shlomo. But where do we find that God's House is supposed

to be lavish and extravagant like Chiram's folks built around the Middle East?

Judaism is critical of the huge fancy structures of other religions, especially

when there are desperately poor people in those neighborhoods. We keep

things simple and use our money on other projects. The argument against

such a position is that God must deserve the very best, but our response is

that God actually does not need fancy buildings and would prefer that we

take care of our impoverished brethren.

Sure, King Shlomo was magnificently wealthy himself and could afford to

build to extravagance, but that is not the Jewish way. It must be that Chiram,

friend to David, saw the simplicity of the Mishkan and decided to "do better"

for the God of his friends. When Shlomo was ready for a Temple, Chiram

was ready for opulence. Nice, but Jews, who have better uses for money,

would have kept it simpler.