פרשת תרומה

Dvar Torah

Noble Intentions

(שמות כה:ב) דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִי:

“Speak to the children of Israel and they shall take for Me a portion” (25:2)

The Torah tells us that after the Jewish people sinned by making and worshiping the golden calf, Hashem’s divine presence left our midst.  To get this gift back, Hashem told us that if we build him a Mishkan (house of worship) then He would return and live amongst us.  In telling this to us, Hashem said “take for Me” meaning take for Hashem.

Was there no gain for the Jewish people in building the Mishkan? 

The way to sell a product is to explain to the buyer how it helps them, not to tell them it is not for them!

Another question on this Pasuk is that everything that we have is from Hashem and is only a loan to us to use in our service to Him.  The Pasuk says “Speak to the children of Israel”. Since all that we have is not ours, why speak to the Jewish people? Why not just tell them “you need to give back a sum of the money given to you by Hashem?”

Hashem did not want us to build a Mishkan so that we can have the gains of the Mishkan. Rather, Hashem wanted us to build it for Him.  He wanted us to do the Mitzvah with the right intention, not with personal gain as our motive.

This is a very important lesson for all of us.  Sometimes when we need to do a Mitzvah we look to see what personal gain there is for us.  Hashem is reminding us that we should do all of the Mitzvot with noble intentions.  With this in mind, how should we treat the next opportunity to do a Mitzva, whether it is for Hashem or for our friend?

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov!

Parsha Questions

1) For whom should תרומה be taken? (רש"י שמות כה:ב)

2) How much was expected from each person? (שמות כה:ב)

3) What was collected for the building of the משקן? List all. (שמות כה:ג-ז)

4) What do the words ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם mean? How does this affect us every day?

(שמות כה:ח)

5) What was the ארון הקודש made of? In what way? (שמות כה:י-טז ועוד עייו ברש"י)

6) What were the measurements of the ארון הקודש? (שמות כה:י-טז)

7) What was to be placed on top of the ארון הקודש? (שמות כה:יז-כב)

8) What was the שלחן made of? (שמות כה:כג-כד)

9) What was placed on the שלחן? When was it there? (שמות כה:ל)

10) In what special manner should the מנורה be made? From what? (רש"י שמות כה:לא)

11) What should the walls of the משקן be made of? (שמות כו:טו)

12) Where did the בני ישראל get שיטים wood in the מדבר? (רש"י שמות כו: טו)

13) What was the מזבח made of? (שמות כז:א-ב)

14) What were the measurements of the חצר of the משקן? (שמות כז:יח)

Virtual Classroom Check-in!

Questions about what we are learning online!

1) What concern would there be if own was sitting in a Sukkah, but their table and food was in the house? 

2) At what age is a child ready to become educated?

3) Why were bagels invented?

4) How should one treat their house on Sukkoh?

Click Here http://rpmishnah.blogspot.com/

Torah Math

(שמות כה:ט) כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מַרְאֶה אוֹתְךָ

As we can well imagine, the planning and building of the Mishkan was a big and challenging job.  How was it that Moshe was able to understand all the instructions that Hashem gave him?

In Sh’mot 25:9 the Pasuk says “like all that I have shown you...”. Did Hashem actually show these images to Moshe?

The word in Hebrew is Mareh, the numeric value of this word (246) is the same as the name of the angel Gavriel.  Hashem sent Gavriel to show Moshe what everything was to look like... CHECK IT OUT!!!

מראה=גבריאל

TORAH TRIVIA!

Super Stumper Question:

This a question to ask others and discuss the answers.

Answer to last week’s question:  We cover the Challah:

     1) Just like the Ma’an was covered when Hashem gave it to us.

     2) Really the Bracha on Challah should go before Kiddush.  

Question of the week:  Was Haman really a JEW??? But HOW?

 FOOD Section!

Can you guess what this recipe connects to this week’s Parsha?

Challah French Toast

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

2/3 cup milk

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

8 thick slices of leftover challah

Oil

Maple syrup

Optional

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

Fresh berries

METHOD

1) Beat eggs, milk, and cinnamon together. If using, add orange zest

2) Whisk until well blended.

3) Pour into a shallow bowl.

4) 2 Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, allowing bread to soak up some of the mixture.

5) Pour vegetable oil over a large skillet on medium-high heat.

6) Add as many slices of Challah onto the skillet as will fit at a time. Fry until brown on both sides, flipping the bread when necessary.

7) Serve hot with maple syrup, and if available, fresh berries.