13 Feb TERUMAH: ”I WILL DWELL AMONGST THEM.”

This week’s parashah
discusses the halachos
of how to build the
Mishkan. The Torah
applies to all
generations, so there is
a concept of Mishkan
even today.
It states, (25:8) Ve’esu Li
Mikdash Ve’shachanti
Besochum, “They shall
make for me a sanctuary
and I will dwell in them.”
It should have said
Ve’shachanti Besocho, “I
will dwell in it.”
The Alshich explains
Ve’shachanti Besochum,
Hashem dwells in them literally in every Yid.
Therefore, it is written in plural form, because
Hashem wants to reside within every Yid.
This is an amazing revelation and something
we should strive to attain. In this generation,
there is no Mishkan or Beis HaMikdash, but
Hashem wants to reside with us, in the hearts
and the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael.
Tzaddikim gave a mashal of a king who was
banished from his palace and sought a place to
be. A loyal subject brought him into his home,
served the king dry bread, and prepared a straw
bed on the ground at night. The king was
pleased with all of this. Obviously, it wasn’t
fitting for the great king, but the home was

clean, and the king needed somewhere to be, so
this was good.
The nimshal is that when there isn’t a Beis
HaMikdash, as in our times, it is easier to merit
hosting the king. Whoever is loyal to the King
and cleans up his ways as best as he can, the
king will stay with him. It is easier in these
generations to have a close relationship with
Hashem than when the Beis HaMikdash stood
because Hashem is searching for a place to stay.
Let us recognize the holiness of a Yid, especially
a Yid who lives according to the Torah and turns
himself into Hashem’s home in this world.
And it isn’t only his self that becomes a
Mishkan. Reb Moshe Feinstein zt’l says that
one can also turn his home into being a Mishkan.
A Jewish home is a place where mitzvos are
performed, and future generations are raised.
The home can become a miniature Mishkan,
and this is the Mishkan that is constructed in
every generation.
The Midrash (Shemos Rabba 33:1) teaches that
“Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Yisrael, ‘I sold
you my Torah, and keviyachol, I was sold
together with it.’ It can be compared to a king
who had an only daughter. A prince arrived and
married her, and then he wanted to return to his
country. The king said, ‘She is my only
daughter; I can’t be distant from her. But I also
can’t demand that you remain here. So, please
do me this favor. Wherever you go, make a
small house so I can live there.’
Similarly, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to

Yisrael… ‘Wherever you go, make a place for
me to live there.’ This is as it states Ve’asu Li
Mikdash, ‘They shall make for Me a
sanctuary.’”
The Beis Aharon would tell yungerleit to study
this Midrash because it applies to us today.
Wherever you are, and no matter what you do,
make a place for Hashem to be there, too. Turn
yourself, your home, and everything you do, to
be a place for Hashem to reside.
It states (Shir Hashirim 3:9-10), “King Shlomo
made himself a Mikdash from the trees of
Lebanon… its interior inlaid with love from the
daughters of Yerushalayim.” The pasuk is
asking and wondering how it could be built
from Lebanese trees. How could a building
made of physical items be where Hashem
resides?
The pasuk replies, The Bnos Yerushalayim
represent the Jewish nation. The pasuk clarifies
that the Jewish nation donated the items with
love, and therefore Hashem wants to be there.
The Arvei Nachal writes, “It is known that
when one makes himself holy with these
attributes (love, fear, and desire to serve
Hashem), the Shechinah comes to him. Hashem
loves these emotions, and wherever these
emotions are found, Hashem goes there…
Therefore, Hashem commanded that every Yid
should donate to the Mishkan. Each Yid donated
with as much love as he could muster, and the
Mishkan was built from these donations. The
Mishkan had the kedushah of the entire nation

of Bnei Yisrael, and this drew down Hashem’s
Shechinah in the most appropriate manner.”
We don’t have the perfection of the Mishkan/
Beis HaMikdash in our times because the ideal
Beis HaMikdash is when it is donated by the
love of the entire nation. Nevertheless, when a
Yid loves and fears and yearns for Hashem, he
has made Hashem a place in this world.
When Shlomo Hamelech built the Beis
HaMikdash, he davened (Malachim 1, 8:57)
“May Hashem be with us, as He was with our
forefathers; let Him not leave us, nor forsake
us.”
This seems like a very unusual request. Now
that there is a Beis HaMikdash, Hashem will
certainly be with them, even more than before!
The Akeidah (quoted in Chasam Sofer,
Terumah, haftarah) answers that in the past,
Hashem dwelled in the souls of the Jewish
nation. Shlomo HaMelech feared that now that
the Beis HaMikdash is built and Hashem will
live in this house, perhaps Hashem will no
longer reside on the good Yidden who make a
place in their heart for Hashem. Therefore, he
davened that this aspect of Hashem’s presence
should always remain with us.