26 | FEBRUARY 18 • 2021 

SPIRIT

Lasting Legacies 
W

hile not often 
considered an 
architectural design 
manual, the Torah has several 
examples of artful and practical 
construction instructions. 
Noah’s ark is described with 
dimensions and floor 
structure. There are 
building codes requir-
ing a rail for a porch 
to prevent a fatal fall. 
There is a description 
of house demolition in 
case of a tzara’
at (skin 
disease) outbreak. And, 
in this week’s portion, 
there is the design of 
the Tabernacle and its 
furnishings.
Though an immense 
undertaking, the 
Tabernacle was only meant to 
serve a purpose at a particular 
time and place. It provided 
the Israelites with a religious 
center, where God’s presence 
rested throughout the travels in 
the wilderness; the initiative to 
fund, design and construct the 
Mishkan was a massive amount 
of work for a structure that 
would eventually be retired. 
One of the Tabernacle details 
is the design of its walls. They 
were made of planks of shittim 
(acacia) wood. The instructions 
for the courtyard planks are 
curious. “You shall make the 
planks for the Tabernacle of aca-
cia wood, upright.
”
Why does the Torah speci-
fy that the boards be laid out 
vertically standing upright? Is 
there some advantage to having 
a wall made of vertical rather 
than horizontal boards? The 
Talmud (Yoma 72a) teaches that 
the boards of the Mishkan were 
to be constructed in the same 
manner they had grown. The 
end bearing its roots should 

provide support and stability, 
and its side bearing branches 
should rise up. The Torah’s 
directive that they should stand 
erect serves as a reminder that it 
will endure forever; its roots — 
of sanctity, reverence and wor-
ship — are firmly embedded 
in our collective religious 
and national consciousness, 
even when the Mishkan 
itself is no longer in use.
But where did these planks 
come from? The midrash 
(cited by Rashi) teaches that 
this was not just any acacia. It 
is the acacia planted by Jacob. 
Ya’akov planted them for this 
very purpose, so the Israelites 
could avail themselves of this 
resource when called upon 
by God to construct a sacred 
Tabernacle. According to the 
midrash, the foresight and deeds 
of Jacob provided his descen-
dants generations later with the 
means to serve and worship 
God. His planning and effort 
supported his descendants long 
after he was gone.
Long after the Mishkan is 
gone, we read of the acacia wood 
standing erect reminding us that 
our strong and steadfast legacy 
and traditions continue within 
each of us. And when Jacob 
planted the seeds that grew the 
materials used in his descen-
dants’ sacred undertaking, his 
work outlived him by millennia.
Our virtuous and religious 
efforts today, how we educate 
and what we model, will mean 
our children and their children, 
for generations to come, can 
continue to stand tall and proud 
like the acacia of the Mishkan. 

Rabbi Azaryah Cohen is head of school 

at Frankel Jewish Academy in West 

Bloomfield.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 
Azaryah 
Cohen

Parshat 

Terumah: 

Exodus 

25:1-27:19; I 

Samuel 15:2-

34. (Shabbat 

Zachor)

FEBRUARY 2021

Michigan State University researchers have 
received $2.1 million in grant funding to test 
for the novel coronavirus in wastewater, 
including from the Detroit area, which has 
the potential to be an early warning system 
for the presence of COVID-19.

The funding was provided by the Michigan 
Department of Environment, Great Lakes 
and Energy, and the Michigan Department 
of Health and Human Services from 
Michigan’s allocation of federal money 
under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
Economic Security Act, or CARES. Existing 
COVID-19 wastewater surveillance programs 
were funded to quickly establish a 
standardized and coordinated network of 
monitoring systems across the state.

Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin Chair in Water 
Research at MSU, was awarded $1.3 million 
of the total funding to train and assist labs 
with analytical methods. 

Irene Xagoraraki, associate professor of civil 
and environmental engineering at MSU, was 
Continued on page 2

MICHIGAN STATE
U N I V E R S I T Y

Michigan-based Chef Hunny Khordorkovsky will demonstrate cooking a Moroccan 
Israeli dish prior to a screening of In Search of Israeli Cuisine, while Yemenite Israeli 
singer-songwriter Tair Haim (right) of A-WA will perform live and take questions 
from the audience. 

REGISTER FOR THESE EVENTS or ask to be added to an email list at 
jsp.msu.edu

PHOTO CREDIT JERRY ZOLYNSKY

The JN and the Jewish Community Center’s JFamily 

will once again shine the public spotlight on teens 

in our community with Rising Stars: Teens Making a 

Dif 
erence. 18 remarkable Jewish teens in the Metro 

Detroit area will be selected and featured in the April 

29, 2021, issue of the Jewish News and recognized 

on the JN and JCC’s JFamily social media pages.

Nominees must live in Michigan, identify as Jewish 

and be students in grades 9-12; they can be self-

nominated or may be nominated by others today 

through March 17.

Nominees should be recognized for impact, 

contribution and/or achievement in areas 

including (but not limited) to:

• Tikkun olam, volunteerism, social action, 
advocacy, philanthropy
• Academics/education
• Athletics
• Music & arts
• Business & entrepreneurship
• Overcoming obstacles and challenges
• Jewish growth and learning
• Leadership

SEEKING
TERRIFIC TEENS!

To nominate yourself or a teen you know, go to 

thejewishnews.com and click on the Rising Stars button 

or to jfamily.jccdet.org/risingstars. The deadline is March 17.

