25 Feb PARASHAT TERUMA: ARE WE TURNING OUR HOMES INTO SANCTUARIES

Parashat Teruma tells
about the Mishkan, the
portable sanctuary which
Beneh Yisrael built at
Mount Sinai, and which
they took with them
as they traveled through the wilderness and
crossed into the Land of Israel. It was eventually
replaced by the Bet Ha’mikdash in Jerusalem.
The main area of the Mishkan featured three
furnishings: 1) a menorah, which was kindled
each evening; 2) a mizbe’ah (altar); 3) a shulhan
(table), on which bread was displayed.
The commentators explained that these three
pieces of furniture in the Mishkan allude to
the three ways in we are to turn our homes into
“sanctuaries,” into places of holiness, worthy of
Hashem’s presence.
First, we need to have a menorah – the “light”
of Torah. The pasuk in Mishleh (6:23) states, Ki
Ner Mitzvah V’Torah Or – Torah is likened to
light, as it illuminates our path, showing us how
to live our lives. The menorah is the symbol of
Torah learning, and its presence in the Mishkan
teaches us of the need to make our homes places
of Torah study.
Secondly, our homes need to feature a mizbe’ah
– representing the service of Hashem. The
offerings brought in the Bet Ha’mikdash are
substituted today with prayer. This, too, must

be a regular fixture in our home. If we want
Hashem’s presence in our homes, we need to
bring Him there by regularly calling to Him in
prayer.
The final piece of furniture in the main area
of the Mishkan was the shulhan. The table,
where we have our meals, represents hesed
(kindness), using our “bread” – our livelihood
– for dispensing kindness. This is the third thing
we need to do so our homes become a sanctuary
– make them places of hesed, where we give to
other people.
As the famous Mishna in the beginning of
Pirkeh Avot teaches: The world rests on the
three “pillars” of Torah learning, service of
Hashem, and kindness. Correspondingly, we
make our homes into places of kedushah,
worthy of Hashem’s presence, by using them for
these three “pillars.”
Many of us probably think that we already do
this. They proudly display Torah books on the
shelves, they make time for Torah classes, they
pray, and they give charity. If we do this, does
this mean that we’ve succeeded into making our
homes into a Mishkan?
The story is told of a school which told its
students before parent-teacher meetings to write
on a piece of paper the most important rule in
their homes. The school wanted that when the
parents arrived for meetings that night, they

would see what their children feel is the most
important rule enforced in the home.
The parents arrived, expecting to find notes such
as, “Say a berachah before eating”; “No lashon
ha’ra”; “Say Shema before bedtime.”
Instead, they found notes such as, “Don’t walk
with shoes on the carpet”; “No hands on the
shades.”
These parents were shown that while they
certainly paid lip service to Torah and mitzvot,
the message they were giving their kids was that
the house’s physical appearance was the most
important thing.
When parents speak to their children about their
future, how much time do they spend talking
about college and employment, and how much
time do they spend talking about religious
observance, about allocating significant time for
Torah, and for praying with a minyan?
How much time is spent at the table talking
about celebrities, such as sports players and
politicians, and how much time is spent talking
about great Rabbis and what we can learn from
them?
How much time is spent talking about sports
and politics, and how much time is spent sharing
divreh Torah?
There was one more piece of “furniture” in the
Mishkan – the sacred aron, which contained the

tablets which Moshe Rabbenu brought from
Mount Sinai, as well as the first Torah scroll.
The aron was kept behind a curtain, and nobody
ever went inside that section of the Mishkan,
except the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur.
The aron represents the essence of what the
Mishkan was about. It wasn’t seen, but everyone
was aware that this is what was kept inside the
Mishkan, and it defined the building’s core
identity.
If our children would be asked, “What is the
aron of your home? What is its core essence, its
identity?” – what would they answer?
In order to turn our homes into a Bet Ha’mikdash,
we need to strive to ensure that “deep inside,” the
thing that our homes are all about, is Hashem.
Torah, prayer and hesed must not merely be
things that we do from time to time, activities
that we fit into our schedule. We need to make
it clear to our children – and to ourselves – that
these are the essence of the home, the “pillars,”
the foundations upon which we build our homes.
If we can do this, then we will turn our homes
into a Mishkan, worthy of Hashem’s presence
and Hashem’s endless blessings.