Rabbi Emily Howard Meyer
This week’s Torah portion is Terumah: Exodus 25:1 – 27:19
We live in a very commercial and fast-paced world, one in which abundance is everywhere and we contribute very little to the manufacturing of the goods we purchase.
Just 150 years ago, it was common for people to own only three outfits. Today, fast fashion has given us overflowing closets full of clothes, and many people have no concept of how they were created. Our schools no longer teach handiwork courses such as home economics and shop, creating a knowledge vacuum in which many people have no idea how to build a table, produce fabric or even sew on a button. This is what makes this week’s parsha, Parashat Terumah, seem tedious and boring to many people. However, for me, it is one of my favorites.
The word terumah means contribution, and when most people begin studying this parsha, they tend to focus mainly on the very long list of items that must be donated to create the Mishkan, or sanctuary in the desert. Many get caught up in the unusual and sumptuous nature of it all. Gold, silver, dolphin skins? For me, the granddaughter of a watchmaker and carpenter and someone who has devoted much of my adult life to creating textiles through spinning, weaving, knitting and quilting, I see something different. I see the giving of abilities, time and devotion. It is not about dropping off gold and silver items or blue, red and purple yarns and suddenly seeing the Mishkan appear. It is the story of a people creating a monumental project, like the Great Wall of China, Notre Dame Cathedral or the Empire State Building. These people, who just a few months before worked under the thumb of Pharaoh, had now arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai. They came with the ability to create beautiful objects from both rich and simple materials. They were spinners, weavers, silversmiths, dyers, tanners and carpenters. Here, they found a new reason and a new incentive to create the works of their hands. Like the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, the people needed something to do. When people suddenly no longer have daily work, after a lifetime of labor, their leaders must provide them with a purpose to get out of bed each morning. At the foot of Mount Sinai, Adonai and Moses did exactly that.
So, as you read Parashat Terumah this week, do not just see a list of items. Close your eyes and imagine a vast sea of people, each busy with a task. Some work in small clusters, doing fine, detailed work such as shaping each almond blossom petal for the large menorah. Others gather in larger groups, preparing wood for the supports. See women, heavy with pregnancy, stirring pots of dye and spinning yarn while children run joyfully past. Others sit at large looms made of four stakes in the ground, weaving yards upon yards of cloth. Imagine the smell of freshly cut wood and the scent of sawdust. Hear the laughter of the people and see their smiling faces filled with the joy and happiness of freedom. Terumah is not just about the contribution of things; it is about the contribution of skills and action. At its core, it is the story of the time and effort required to make something beautiful from the very beginning. Overlaying this core is also a story of the devotion and love needed to create a masterpiece, and the hope that accompanies it. Hope that it will endure and stand as a testament to freedom, to love, to devotion and to a community and people that will outlast us all.
Rabbi Emily Howard Meyer was ordained last April by the Academy for Jewish Religion. A long-time resident of the DMV, Rabbi Emily currently volunteers as a chaplain at the Hebrew Home and serves as the rabbi for The Revitz House of the Charles E. Smith Life Communities.
