Israel on Hold 5785: Terumah – Bringing Terumot, Building Another Mishkan

Terumah relates G-d’s directions to Moses for building the portable sanctuary, the mishkan. The Children of Israel were on hold, as Moses received instruction atop Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights. We, too, are on hold. They did not know what next steps would be, out in that wilderness, and neither do we in this, our present wilderness.

We don’t know if the second stage of the hostage release will happen. There was talk of the first stage, set to expire this weekend, being extended. Discussions between Israel and Hamas have resumed, but the outcome is unknown. Should hospitals prepare for more patients who will surely need treatment? Should those who perform autopsies and arrange funerals be on call? Should soldiers prepare to renew the fight? What should the families of the remaining captives expect?

We don’t even know how to feel from one minute to the next. Joy and relief at the return of some of our dear souls, at long last, alternate with rage and grief at the unspeakably cruel murders of two small children and their mother by savages. Sometimes, overwhelmed, we just feel numb.

Without a definitive defeat of Hamas and Hezbollah, many Israelis hesitate to return home. And while the war is at a standstill in Gaza and Lebanon, it rages in the West Bank, spilling over into Israel with the recent miraculous avoidance of a major casualty event of bus bombings and now, a car-ramming attack in Pardes Hanna. And Jews in the Diaspora know the next antisemitic attack can happen any time.

Like our ancestors in the land so many centuries ago, we are in a holding pattern, physically and emotionally. But being on hold doesn’t mean we are stuck. Like our ancestors then, we must bring a terumah, a raised-up portion (Exodus 25:2), and with our terumot build a sanctuary, that the Holy Presence may dwell among us. (Exodus 25:8) Actually, we already started building it, on October 7, 2023.

I started blogging right after that October 7th with the idea of relating the weekly Torah portion to events in Israel. In February 2024, my blog began appearing on the Times of Israel website. This first TOI blog was on parshat Terumah. And now, here we are, back at Terumah and the mishkan again.

I never imagined that this war would still be going on close to a year and a half later. Nobody (except maybe Hamas) imagined that there would still be hostages held in Gaza. We are still in a slow-motion nightmare that started on that Black Sabbath.

In that Terumah blog of a year ago, I wrote that the cherubim atop the ark cover were described as ish el ahiv, or “a man to his brother” (Exodus 25:20) while the connection of hanging woven panels was worded ishah el achotah, “a woman to her sister.” (Exodus 26:3 and elsewhere)

As we hear the stories of our returned hostages, it is plain that these brothers and sisters have built another mishkan. In the howling wilderness of Gaza captivity, a place of human snakes and scorpions, they built it. The female observer soldiers gave each other love, encouragement, and strength, sharing their meager grains of rice, defending Amit Soussana as she was tortured, braiding hair so they could still feel like women. They wove a holy sisterhood, as our ancestors wove holy hangings.

And the men. Such men. Recently freed hostage Or Levy told his family that Hersh Goldberg-Polin, z”l, saved him by telling him, “If you have the why, you’ll have the how.” Or took the words to heart and survived to return home. Like the pillars of the mishkan, our men stood straight and tall, even when they could not walk.

Some of the captives observed Jewish ritual, fasting on fast days, chanting Shabbat kiddush on Shabbat, and reciting the blessings for putting on tefillin daily.

And not only the hostages. All through this wilderness walk, Israelis and Diaspora Jews alike have supported the families of the kidnapped, the soldiers, the murdered—both those murdered on October 7th and those murdered since, in Gaza. We have supported the fighters and the stolen and the scarred, those who have returned and those still there. All of us together have brought terumot, gifts from the heart of money, labor, time, prayers, and mitzvot. With them we have raised another mishkan. And was not raising it for each other also raising it for Hashem? For what does He require of us, but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. And the world stands on three things: Torah, service of G-d, and deeds of lovingkindness.

Even the gut-wrenching return of Shira, Ariel, and Kfir — oh, how we longed for their return, but not this way, never this way — could not stop us from this holy work. Israelis filled the streets and, with one heart and one purpose, manifested unbreakable love and unity. Diaspora Jews wore orange the day of their funeral, to show these souls will not be forgotten.

May all the families of all those taken from us be comforted. May they feel enveloped by love, for all we have to give to them, as Netta Barzilai reminds us, is a big love.

Can anyone doubt that these pure souls have built a mishkan like the first, or that G-d will not dwell there?