Questions — Parshah Terumah

Chapter 25

1) Why does God want gift offerings?

2) The gifts that God wants are the materials that will be required to build the Mikdash and would be needed to make the Temple service work once it was installed. It is as if God had a gift registry. Would there be anything wrong with giving a gift that wasn’t on the list?

3) Is it reasonable to think that the Israelites would have carried all of these things with them into the desert?

4) Dolphin skins?

5) Acacia is a weak wood that cracks easily. Why this specific type of lumber?

6) How would you translate the word “Mikdash?”

7) Other than the issue of weight, why is the ark made of wood and then covered over with gold? Why is it overlaid both inside and outside?

8) What is meant by “the pattern of the Tabernacle” and “the pattern of all its furnishings?” (Tavnit)

9) The breastplate will be made with twelve stones, one for each tribe. Why in the list of gifts is Lapis Lazuli the only one mentioned?

10) Again, the poles are made of acacia which is even more problematic with the poles since they will be more stressed than the ark itself?

11) The tablets are to be placed inside the ark. Is God taking them back in a way? Does God want them in the ark to protect the Israelites from the fatal danger that would be associated with contact with them? But then, contact with the ark itself could prove fatal. Was this because of the presence of the tablets or because of the ark itself? Was there a use for the tablets after Sinai. In the Mormon scriptures the golden tablets are lost. Is there something about the idea of lost tablets? What did happen to them in the end?

12) Many things are allowed in the Mikdash that are forbidden outside it (at least on Shabbat). The cherubim are clearly the sort of molten images that are forbidden in the second commandment. How is this permitted? Who would see this representative art?

13) What is meant by “hammered work?” Hammered as opposed to what. The stones of the altar are not to be made with iron instruments. ?

14) How do the cherubim compare with the holy animals of the chariot?

15) Do their wings shield them from being seen in detail by those who see the ark?

16) Why is the bread displayed and not eaten or burnt?

17) What do the almond blossoms symbolize if anything? What do almond blossoms look like. Are they distinctive among flower blossoms?

18) Do the branches have a treelike appearance? Is the menorah like a kind of tree or bush?

19) Why does the menorah have to be of one piece?

20) Is there something essential about the menorah and the other ritual objects being made of the same batch? What would happen if one of these holy objects wore out or broke? Would the whole group need to be replaced or only the one that was broken? Could a repaired object be used?

Chapter 26

1) What is special about “Twisted Linen?”

2) What is “Mashzar” translated as strips of cloth? One might expect the word “Pasim.” That would have resonated with the Joseph story.

3) Who did the weaving and on what? Weaving seems like it is not the most practical thing for a desert traveler. One could have a handloom, but that would be small for the work described.

4) Is there any significance to the need for 50 loops on the edge? Or to any of the numbers?

5) Does anyone weave with goat hair today? What would that look and feel like?

6) There is no description of any work done on the tanned rams skins or dolphin skins. Were these just thrown on? What was their role?

7) What is going on with the bars (crosspieces?)?

8) Moses is supposed to set up the Mishkan as God showed him on the mountain. Did Moses have a perfect memory of all of this detailed work? Did he trust his memory? Did he have it written down? Does knowing how to build a space lead one to understand how to use it?

9) Will the woven images of the cherubim match the sculpted ones?

10) How is the Holy of Holies set aside?

Chapter 27

27:2 “the horns to be of one piece with it.” Are the horns supposed to be carved out of one piece of wood that comprises the whole of the platform of the altar. This seems like it would be impossible. Acacia doesn’t grow with the width required to carve out a 4 by 4 cubit surface. Having the horns be integral to that piece would require an even thicker trunk. This questions begs the larger question. How were all of the pieces of the altar held together? When we hear about the construction of the portable Mishkan we hear all about how things are connected. Why is that detail omitted here? The arrangements for carrying the altar are mentioned in detail… See also 27:8.

The tools used in the sacrifice are mentioned. There are no details included (or rules about how one would be permitted/forbidden from making them). They are not described as having any ornamental aspect. Would they have been permitted to have ornaments if it was not described. Why are these items treated so prosaically?

The poles and the altar are to be made of acacia. This is not so much of an issue with the altar, but with the poles that are then covered with copper it is. Acacia is a soft wood. It seems to me that the poles would fail. Is the conclusion we can draw from the rest of Torah, that they did not, an implication of some miraculous quality to the objects of the Mishkan? Or did the copper make the poles rigid enough despite the weakness of the core of the poles?

The Holy of Holies and the Mishkan as a whole can be viewed as concentric structures. The objects in the Holy of Holies are made of Gold and the metal elements of the Mishkan’s architectural structure are made of copper, a lesser metal. The altar has many copper elements.The altar and the Holy of Holies are close to each other. One could view the altar as the concentric center just as well as the Holy of Holies. Are the altar and the Holy of Holies just one unit or are they two units that are in a kind of orbit of each other. The Holy of Holies has a pinnacle purpose. It is a domestication of the mountaintop space where Moses and God met. However its use is infrequent. Most of the action of the Mishkan/ later the Temple took place at the altar. Which of these two places would have had the stronger gravity?

All details aside, how do we feel about God having a house? The Torah spends a lot of time talking about how God extends hospitality within God’s house, but little if any time talking about how God “lives’ in that house. Ets Hayim commentary mentions that in the ancient near east the details of the construction of the temples to the gods were secret, but in Torah the details are laid out at length. What does it say about the Israelite God that these details are not secret.

Despite all of the details included in Torah about the construction of the Mishkan, there are still many unresolved questions. Are these unresolved questions the kind of arcana that was not shared by other ancient groups, or are they just things that God feels are simple enough not to require explanation?

The opening of the Mishkan (and thus, the Holy of Holies) is facing east. When we pray we also face east. Is this just a coincidence of geography or is there something about facing east. If the Mishkan was to the west would we face west? What did they do in Babylonia?