I saw this post on Facebook earlier this week:
Little did she know that it was the perfect week for such a post. It basically summarizes this week’s Torah portion.
This week’s Torah portion is Terumah, and it contains the instructions for building the mishkan – the tabernacle. The instructions are so detailed that all you need is the right materials and a couple of people to help you out, and then you could make it. In fact, that’s what some people in Pennsylvania did. I’ve been there. It’s very cool.
I once worked with a student who had this week’s Torah portion for his bar mitzvah, and let me tell you, as cool as that model in Pennsylvania is, not all 12-year-olds find it relevant to their lives today.
However, if the instructions weren’t for how to build a tabernacle, but instead were for how to build a baseball stadium… well… I speak from experience when I say: the interest level rises. This student felt strongly that in order to build a baseball stadium that would really be conducive to playing the sport according to all the rules and regulations of baseball, there would need to be some pretty detailed instructions.
Think about it. The bases need to be a certain distance apart. The bats are required to be made of specific materials. You can’t have sink holes or tree stumps in the middle of the field. Night games require lighting. The list goes on.
And it’s not just about the players, either. There are other considerations at play. Fans, concessions, media, parking, permits, weather, sun…. And all these things take money. So who pays for this? I’m not a big baseball fan, and I go to less than one game a year, but maybe I pay for part of it with taxes. I don’t know. The bulk of it is paid for by team owners and fans who buy tickets. They are the ones who are moved to contribute their money to this project.
25:1The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. 3 These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; 4 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; 5 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; 6 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 7 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. 8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”
If you build it, they will come. Right? Those who felt moved to donate created for themselves a connection with this tabernacle that was being built. All who witnessed it and were there experienced the presence of God dwelling among them, as surely as the fans feel the presence of the Spirit of Baseball in the bleachers.
We don’t have the mishkan any more, or the Temple, but we always have God dwelling among us. You may feel that at a baseball game, in nature, or when viewing Mary Poppins with a child for the first time. You may feel that when you paint, or run, or sing. You may feel God’s presence when you show up with an allen wrench to help a friend build some IKEA furniture.
Where do you feel the presence of God? Take a moment to email me at Esther@OutoftheBoxJudaism.com. I’d love to know.
And… if you don’t feel the presence of God, but you’d like to, then definitely email me. I can help with that.
The stories on this website are a selection of the stories compiled into A Story Every Week (Three Gems Publishing, Sept. 2019). Sign up here to get notification when the book is released. It will be free for the first few days of publication.