Parshat Terumah, 5785

Parshat Terumah, First Aliyah

Listen up, Israelites, bring terumah for HaShem

There’s much that we need - whether metal or gem

So should you heart be so moved, please come and donate

From this long list of items we’ll use to create

A new holy place, where God’s presence will dwell

So what will we need?  Here, let me tell:

Zahav vachesef u’nechoshet, gold, silver, and copper

Yes only the finest of metals is proper

And colorful yarn: crimson, purple, and blue

Fine linen, and goat hair, and special skins too

Such as those from a dolphin, or those from a ram

(In the desert I wonder where those dolphins swam)

And acacia wood - we’ll need much to construct

The mikdash as precisely as God will instruct

We need oil for lighting - shemen la’maor

And spices for anointing and incense and more

Special rocks and stones for the choshen and ephod

Which the High Priest will wear in God’s holy abode

Quote: V’asu li mikdash - make a sanctuary for me

V’shachanti b’tocham - dwelling with you I shall be

I shall show you the way, with a pattern most exact

Be most precise as My design you enact:

Make with acacia wood an ark of precise dimensions

Measure in cubits and make no extensions

Overlay it with gold, both inside and out

And add more gold as molding on it round about

Make four rings of gold then put two on each side wall

These will hold poles, so the ark doesn’t fall

The gold should cover those poles as well

And what inside of this structure shall dwell?

The Presence of God, of course, you might say

But also the eidut God gave to us to convey

That we are God’s people, and HaShem is our God

This testimony we accept with more than a nod

We kept it inside the mikdash as we went on our way

Just as the Sefer Torah lives inside of the aron today!

So if you heart is thusly inclined

Give generously, to support what’s inside!