13 Feb PARASHAT TERUMA: AUTHENTIC GOODNESS

The Torah in Parashat
Teruma discusses the
construction of the
Mishkan and its
furnishings. Undoubtedly
the most sacred of all the
furnishings of the Mishkan
was the aron – the ark, which was kept
hidden in the Kodesh Hakidashim, the
inner section of the Mishkan and, later,
the Bet Ha’mikdash. The aron was made
from wood, but it was plated inside and
outside with gold. The Gemara (Yoma
72b) sees this quality of the aron as
symbolic of the way a Torah Jew is
supposed to be, stating: “Any Torah
scholar whose inside is not like his
outside is not a Torah scholar.” Just as
the aron was golden inside and out, so
must a Torah Jew be “gold” inside and
out. The Gemara here is teaching us
about the importance of authenticity, the
need to be authentically good. The Torah
is concerned far less with the way we
outwardly appear, with our image, than
with who we truly are. Living a Torah life
means not that we are “golden”

outwardly, not that we simply make a
good impression and appear like we are
good, but rather that we are truly “golden”
both inside and outside, that we are real,
that we are authentic.
The Gemara in Masechet Pesahim
(68b) says that Rav Yosef would explain
the special significance of the holiday of
Shavuot, when we celebrate our receiving
the Torah, by exclaiming, “If not for this
day, there are many Yosefs out in the
marketplace.” Meaning, it was the event
of Matan Torah, which we celebrate on
Shavuot, that made Rav Yosef unique
and special. Because he was able to learn
and master the Torah, he became distinct,
different from all the other “Yosefs” out
there. Rashi explains that Rav Yosef
saying, “because I learned Torah and was
elevated.” Rav Yosef did not just learn
Torah; he was elevated by the Torah.
The Torah penetrated his being. It made
him “golden” both inside and out. Our
Torah commitment must be real and
genuine, something that is part of who
we truly are, something that elevates us,

that brings us to a higher
level of refinement. If we
look around today, it
seems that everyone is
putting on a show. On
social media, people put
on a façade, showing
their lives to be
something that they’re
not. People are getting
tattoos, piercings, and all
kinds of strange haircuts
in order to look a certain
way, to project a certain
image. This is because
we live in a society that
is obsessed with the
outside, instead of the inside. People are
focused on appearing a certain way, not
with being the type of people that they
are really supposed to be. They are
preoccupied with the way other people
view them, instead of with being truly
good people. It isn’t hard to be “golden”
on the outside, to go through the motions,
to say the right things, to look the right
way, and to post pictures that get “likes”

and compliments.
The real work is to be “golden” on the
inside. It is relatively easy to look good;
it a lot more difficult to be authentically
good. At the center of the Bet Ha’mikdash
stood the aron, which contained the
original Sefer Torah, and which
represented what a Torah Jew is –
someone who not only appears “golden,”
but truly is “golden,” as pure and good
inside as he or she appears on the outside.