Shabbat Trumah: Repititions
The word Trumah , which is the title of this week’s reading from the Torah, refers to three different types of either obligatory or voluntary donations that were designed to fund the construction of the Tabernacle and maintain its running costs.
The fact that there was a compulsory and a voluntary element in itself is an important statement about the nature of our responsibility to the community and our people.
But the very issue of the Tabernacle itself is highly controversial. The commentators are divided as to whether the Tabernacle’s design and concept was rooted in the Sinai revelation and the original design. Or whether it was a response to the golden calf episode, which showed that the people needed something physical to focus on as the centre point of the community. Sequentially in the text, it certainly comes after Sinai. However, the Torah does not always follow the historical sequence.
The distinction is an important one, because if the Tabernacle is and was an essential part of the Sinai revolution revelation that would imply that it continues to be something fundamental and it’s just that circumstances have prevented it from being executed. In contrast to the idea that it was a temporary response to a particular situation Judaism can and could function effectively without it, and its importance was and remains symbolic to this day. This is why you will find different opinions within the Jewish world as to whether one should be taking positive action to rebuild or whether it should be left to the Almighty to decide if it will return in some apocalyptic world. Or, like sacrifices, it might be important just as a transitional element in the long history of our people.
The Torah devotes a huge amount of space to the Tabernacle and everything in it, Chapters 25 to 40. With an interlude for the Golden Calf. This supports the view of those who say it was conceived after the Golden Calf debacle. And its details are repeated three times. In one way this emphasizes its importance. But in another way, it is practical. Imagine you’re going to build a house. You will start with a plan; you will then call in the contractors to carry it out. Finally, having checked that everything works as it should, then you finally symbolically inaugurate or dedicate the building and say it’s ready for use.
Yet it is not just the Tabernacle that is repeated three times in the Torah. Whether laws or narratives, repeating something to emphasize importance or to add nuance and clarification, is a common feature of the Torah.
Three is a very important number mystically as well as practically. You have the authority of God as the foundation and primary authority. This then establishes a constitution of how one should behave. And finally, you have the practice of carrying it all out. This formula applies to all of us throughout our lives. In a sense, this is the reduction of Judaism to three elements. God, Torah, and people. The foundation of the constitution, the theory behind it, and the clarification of it. Sometimes this is described as the threefold link or literally, rope (HaChut Hameshulach, Kohelet/Ecclesiastes 4:12) The link between God, the Torah, and the people of Israel. And sometimes between God, Torah, and the land of Israel.
When we look at the Tabernacle from an anthropological point of view the importance of a central sanctuary has always been a feature of virtually every society and community. It was, therefore, a universal phenomenon that was adopted and adapted by monotheism to contrast with pagan religious ceremonies. There is a surprising correlation between the proportions of Noah’s Ark, the Tabernacle, and the structure of the temple. They are also divided into three levels which parallel the three levels in the Mount Sinai revelation. God and Moses at the very top, the priests and elders in the middle, and the masses down below.
But returning to the significance of the Tabernacle itself and the Temple for us now, apart from the historical significance, there is a relevance. We live in a world in which buildings traditionally have always had important significance as markers of society, power, and success. From the tower of Babel onwards. But as we see, buildings come and go, and societies come and go, and statues rise and fall. What remains are ideas and values.
That, to me, is the beauty of Judaism that however important it may have been then and may indeed still be for us to have centres as focal points, they are nevertheless so transient; synagogues and centres come and go into fashion and out of fashion. They are built and then decline and are replaced often in different locations. What survives is our spirit and that is what has enabled us to cope with all the challenges we have to endure.
Exodus 25:1-27:18
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.
