Category — Teruma

Joey had swallowed a nickel and his parents were frantic. “Cough!” “Oh Gosh what are we gonna do?” “This is terrible!”

After a few moments when the situation was just getting worse, the father decided to take things in his own hands, so he started slamming Joey on his back, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Finally the nickel came flying out. With a sigh of relief the parents put down the frightened child, and went back to their duties in the kitchen.

Joey’s younger brother David who had watched it all, walked over to his parents and asked if he can have a private meeting. “Why, of course!” they said.

“Mom and Dad, I decided that from now on, I will only eat bread and butter, I will bye only one pair of shoes every two years! I’ll even sleep on the floor!”

The parents were confused: “Joey, what happened? No bed, no food? Are you becoming a saint?”

Joey quietly responded: “I saw how both of you became so frantic over a nickel, and I realized how terrible our financial situation really is!”

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We all have perceptions. I look at an object and see one thing and you look at it and see something else entirely, if not the total opposite.

To illustrate the point, let’s take a look at the holy temple the subject of the weekly portion. There is the way I see it, I as in - the basic and external perception. And then there is the true way, the way g-d sees it.

I see a magnificent structure of gold and silver, and I wonder; what is this all about? Is G-d so high maintenance?

The true way to look at it: who was gold and silver created for if not to beautify the service of the creator!

I see mass slaughter of animals, and a river of blood, making it an eerie seemingly non-holy scene.

The true way to look at it: this is a reflection of man sacrificing his personal animal, his life source, his own flesh and blood, for a higher cause.

I hear phenomenal classic music, and heart warming singing and harmony from the mouths of the Levites.

The true way to look at it: These are heavenly tunes, aimed at pulling at the Jew’s soul strings, and bring him closer and more open to his true self.

There is deeper meaning to all that occurs, to every leaf that falls and every war fought.

Open your eyes to the deeper realm and you will find the reason and purpose for it all.

A guy wanted to get into a shul on Yom Kippur, but realized that he was in trouble because at the temple near him, without a ticket they don’t let you in.

He said to the doorman, “Look, I just want to give a message to a friend in there.”

The guy at the door said, “Sorry, you can’t go in without a ticket.”

The first guy replied, “Just let me in for one minute, then I’ll be right out.”

“Alright,” said the doorman, “but I better not catch you praying.”

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He was extremely wealthy, known the world over for his unfathomable wealth, philanthropic endeavors and piety. With mansions and dream homes in literally every country imaginable, he had to make a momentous choice: he had to decide which place to call home.

Should he stay in a beautiful penthouse atop a skyscraper in midtown Manhattan , or maybe the billion-dollar project in Vegas? Would it be an 80 acre plot in the Hampton , or perhaps a private island off the Italian peninsula?

After much deliberation, he made up his mind. So he called a news conference to inform the press of his definite-to-cover-front-page decision. Everyone waited breathlessly…

He unfolded his paper and began to read: “Dear friends, after much thought and contemplation, I am proud to announce the location of my new home. With your permission, I’ll get straight to the point: my new home will be in the slums of the Bronx, in the basement of a two-hundred-year-old dilapidated building.

“I just hope that my new neighbors will kindly accept me into their neighborhood. Thank you all for coming.”

To be honest, we hear daily of celebrities doing or saying crazy thing, but this? What did this outrageously-rich business mogul lose in a drugged and uncivilized society?

It may surprise you, but it just happens that this is precisely the story of G-d and this world.

In the higher realms of creation, there are an infinite number of worlds, planes of existence where spiritually is so much more real, dominant and powerful than in the physical, cruel and immoral universe we inhabit.

What a contrast; Angles proclaim G-d’s greatness; we shout the praises of the sciences. Supernal beings totally nullify themselves before the Divine; human beings arrogantly cling to the belief that the world is a self-sustaining edifice with no relationship to an Infinite Creator.

Despite all the above, G-d picked our world as His home. And all He asks is for us to let Him in – to find space in our hearts, in our lives, and in the decisions we make, to allow Him to enter.

We find a hint to G-d’s homelessness in the Torah portion of the week.

In the portion of Teruma, we learn of the Divine commandment to build G-d a home. G-d says: “And they shall build for Me a Temple and I will rest in them.” The wording seems rather strange, referring to a Temple in the singular, but resting in the plural “them.”

Our sages teach us that although there is only one brick Holy Temple built in Jerusalem, there lies a temple within the heart of every Jew. In this sanctuary, the Jew offers G-d real, personal sacrifices (his lusts and temptations,) lights the Menorah (shines and inspires the world around him,) and the Holy Ark with its Tablets (Torah learning) lay there.

Think about it. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, begs you, a finite little creature of flesh and blood, to build Him a home. Can we begin to fathom the irony of it? But that’s the way G-d wanted it. How lucky we are! Let’s get to work.

And you never know; one day, the Bronx may yet return to its forgotten days of glory….

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