T
his week’
s Torah portion
invites us to focus on what
is actually central to our
Judaism, our relationship with
God.
Amidst our busy lives, it
is easy to lose sight of this
relationship. Initially, we
read about Moshe standing
on Har Sinai encountering
God. It seems as if each one
of us as individuals is only
going to hear from Moshe
the instructions for building
the Mishkan, God’
s sanc-
tuary amongst the Jewish
people. However, a close
reading of the opening vers-
es through the lens of the
Midrash reveals that God is
inviting us to build a per-
sonal relationship with Him.
Our ultimate task as Jews is to
connect intimately with the Divine,
to learn from the Torah and follow
God’
s ways. This week’
s portion
begins with God reaching out to us,
asking us to enter into a relation-
ship.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, say-
ing: ‘
Tell the Israelite people to
bring Me gifts; you shall accept
gifts for Me from every person
whose heart so moves him. And
these are the gifts that you shall
accept from them: gold, silver and
copper.’
” (Shemot 25:1-3)
The Midrash Shemot
Rabbah explains these begin-
ning verses are really God
calling out for an intimate
connection with the Jewish
people. God is telling the
Jewish people, take Me, con-
nect to Me. Shemot Rabbah
(49:2) explains the verse,
“Tell the Israelite people to
take Me as an offering.”
The Midrash continues
that God is reaching out to
the Jewish people as if we are
lovers, citing the famous bib-
lical book of Song of Songs,
verse 2:16: “My beloved is
mine And I am his …”
Parashat Terumah is an invitation
from God to all of us, an opportu-
nity for all of us to enter into rela-
tionship with God.
Let us take this Shabbat and
focus and reflect on how we can
build our own individual relation-
ships with God. Let us embrace
God with open arms. ■
Rabbi David Fain is rabbi at Hillel Day School
of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills.
42 February 7 • 2019
jn
jews d
in
the
section
Our Divine Relationship
Rabbi
David Fain
Parshat
Terumah:
Exodus 25:1-
27:19; I Kings
5:26-6:13.
spirit
torah portion