​Parashat Terumah 5786, 2026: "Standing Before the King"

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Our parasha contains the mitzvah to build the Aron Kodesh: “They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.” (Sefer Shemot 25:10, this and all Bible and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach, underlining and brackets my own) Intriguingly, the beginning of the mitzvah is written in the plural in the original Hebrew formulation: “v’asu aron atzai shittim.” Subsequently, however, the pasukim pertaining to the actual construction of the Aron Kodesh are written in the singular (25:11-17). This leads us to ask, “Why is the overall mitzvah of building the Aron Kodesh written in the plural construct, whereas the details pertaining thereto are composed in the singular?”
 
The Ramban (1194-1270) channels Midrash Shemot Rabbah 34:2 in his answer to our question:

And it is possible that the text deployed the singular grammatical construct in order to teach that the entire people were joined together, as if one, in the building of the Aron Kodesh, since it was “the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High,” (Sefer Tehillim 46:5) and everyone strongly desired to have [a portion in] the Torah [which was symbolized by their involvement in the construction of the Aron Kodesh.]
 
Fascinatingly, the Ramban subsequently maintains that personal choice was a singular characteristic of our nascent nation’s activity in the construction of the Aron Kodesh:

One manner of participation in this process may have been the individual’s donation of a golden vessel for the Aron Kodesh. Alternately, someone may have chosen to directly help Betzalel in his task [of designing and fabricating the Aron Kodesh]. Then, too, someone may have had special intention [to connect himself/herself to the process of creating the Aron Kodesh, even though they did not actually do anything financially or physically.]
 
This individual mode of participation in building the Aron Kodesh parallels the highly personal nature of the tefillah that took place within the Mishkan itself, and afterwards in the Beit HaMikdash. My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993) explicated this idea in one of his public drashot:

The Beit ha-Mikdash as a locus for prayer is one of Judaism’s central themes. Even though the Talmud tells us that tefillah corresponds to korbanot (offerings), there is a fundamental distinction between the two. Korbanot may be offered through a proxy, while tefillah may not. The difference lies in the fact that the efficacy of a sacrifice is a function of compliance with its halachic norms. If Halachah is followed, God will accept the sacrifice. On the other hand, tefillah must include a personal experience of closeness to God. This experience cannot be fulfilled by proxy. Since Judaism defines tefillah as standing in the presence of the King, prayer presupposes closeness to God. (Darosh Darash Yosef: Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parashah, Rabbi Avishai C. David, editor, page 175, underlining my own)
 
With Hashem’s help, may our tefillot ever be “a personal experience of closeness to God,” and may they soon be uttered in the third and everlasting Beit HaMikdash. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom,
 
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