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The Shabbos Table – Terumah: Isn’t Hashem Everywhere?

20 Feb

בס”ד

This D’var Torah should be a Zechus L’Ilui Nishmas my sister, Kayla Rus Bas Bunim Tuvia A”H, my mother Chaya Rochel Bas Dovid Tzvi (Hareini Kaparas Mishkavah), my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my paternal grandfather Moshe Ben Yosef A”H, my paternal grandmother Channah Freidel Bas Avraham A”H, my uncle Reuven Nachum Ben Moshe & my great aunt Rivkah Sorah Bas Zev Yehuda HaKohein,
It should also be in Zechus L’Refuah Shileimah for:
-My father Bunim Tuvia Ben Channa Freidel
-My grandmother Shulamis Bas Etta
-MY BROTHER: MENACHEM MENDEL SHLOMO BEN CHAYA ROCHEL
-Mordechai Shlomo Ben Sarah Tili
-Noam Shmuel Ben Simcha
_R’ Simcha Yitzchak Ben Mirela Yudka
-Chaya Rochel Ettel Bas Shulamis
-It should also be a Z’chus for an Aliyah of the holy Neshamos of HaRav HaGa’on V’Sar HaTorah Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Ben HaRav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky A”H, Dovid Avraham Ben Chiya Kehas—R’ Dovid Winiarz ZT”L, Miriam Liba Bas Aharon—Rebbetzin Weiss A”H, as well as the Neshamos of those whose lives were taken by terrorists (Hashem Yikom Damam), COVID-19, and other tragedies.
-It should also be a Z’chus for success for Tzaha”l as well as the rest of Am Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael and in the Galus.

פרשת תרומה

“?Isn’t Hashem Everywhere”

     פַּרְשַׁת תְּרוּמָה is when ה׳ commanded מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ to collect materials from the בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל so that they could build a מִשְׁכָּן or a מִקְדָשׁ. What exactly is a מִקְדָשׁ? And what exactly is a מִשְׁכָּן?

     A מִקְדָשׁ is a holy place. The בֵּית הַמִקְדָשׁ is like a house for ה׳. And the מִשְׁכָּן was sort of like a portable apartment or a mobile home for ה׳.

Question: Why does ה׳ need us to build Him a house? ה׳ owns the heavens and earth? I thought that “ה׳ is here, ה׳ is there, ה׳ is truly everywhere.” Isn’t the entire universe ה׳’s house? Why do we Daven everyday that the בֵּית הַמִקְדָשׁ be rebuilt?

Answer: It’s true that ה׳ does not need a house and that He is everywhere. The problem is that, sometimes, we forget that He’s there. That is why we sometimes forget to serve ה׳ properly and why we sometimes do things against His Will.

     For this reason, we need to create a special place where ה׳ could visit us, and where we could visit Him. It’s a place where we could connect to Him with קָרְבָּנוֹת and remember that He always with us.

     Let’s Daven that we should be able to return to ה׳ and that He should return to us as we rebuild the בֵּית הַמִקְדָשׁ once again, בִּמְהֵרָה בִּיָמֵינוּ. Have a wonderful שַׁבָּת!

 

Rabbi Eisenberg, Grade 3