Terumah
Ever hear the story about the contractor who built himself a home, custom-designed to his tastes, with all his favorite luxuries—only to be locked out by a couple he had hired to take care of the place?
Eventually, as a sort of interim agreement while negotiations continued, they built him a temporary structure, then a more permanent solution—sort of a boarding situation within what really is his own house. As you can imagine, that didn’t last too long.
The contractor is still homeless. His name is G‑d. You can read more about His story in this magazine, as well as about some of the current initiatives to resolve the entire affair. It’s been a long haul.
—Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, just another of your friendly editors at the Web’s most popular Jewish educational website, Chabad.org
The Torah devotes one chapter to its account of the creation of the universe, three chapters to the revelation at Mount Sinai, and no less than thirteen chapters to the making of the Mishkan . . .
“My design for A New Home for the New Millennium may seem revolutionary,” explained the architect, “but only because we have drifted away from the home’s initial, primal function . . .”
Let’s take a look at the Holy Temple. I see a magnificent structure bedecked with silver and gold. “What is this all about?” I wonder. Is G‑d so high-maintenance?
G‑d instructs Moses to construct a Menorah of gold fashioned with intricate design work of cups, flowers and buttons. But Moses finds this too difficult . . .
Indiana Jones discovered the Ark of the Covenant. Can we uncover the valuable message in this week’s Parshah?
Rabbi Kadoozy reports on the portable Temple the Israelites used in the wilderness, and Jono tries to build one
Generally translated as trust, bitachon is a powerful sense of optimism and confidence based not on reason or experience . . .
A general introduction to the spiritual nature of the problem of addiction and its treatment.
I pushed a lot of envelopes, personal and social. I challenged the rules of life. I became addicted. Each day, I knocked down another fence and another.
Learning to “make deposits” in your child’s “emotional savings account” as a way of finding balance between being too permissive or too overbearing.
My daughter is always complaining that “all the other mothers” always do their children’s projects and homework for them . . .
I always thought crying was, well, shameful. At best, a sign of weakness and deficiency; at worst, a symptom of immaturity and petulance. Several life experiences have since changed my perspective . . .
She looks at me with those large brown eyes. There’s a hint of sadness, doubt, and even fear. She averts her gaze, trying to deny her act, as if she’s trying to take it back.
Is the glass half-full, or is it just half-empty? Do the bad times define a person, or just how we we handle them?
We must focus on appreciating ourselves as we are. Maturity means that we do not allow others to determine our sense of self-worth . . .
Do the ritual washing of hands, say a blessing on the food and then dig in, to elevate all those carbs and proteins into a divine experience . . .
As they walked, they came across a group of children playing in the sand. The Baal Shem Tov went over to them and said to the nearest one, “What is your name?”
How could a Jew be so indifferent to the needs of his brothers and sisters? People started referring to the rich miser in their midst as “Israel Goy,” and the epithet stuck.
There is nothing as irresistible as a piping bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day . . .
The sages say that all is in the hands of heaven except for the awe of heaven.
Which puts all the power in your hands.
Because if there is no awe of heaven, heaven is bankrupt. It owns nothing—not you, not your world, not anything at all.
That being so, the greatest power you have is your ability to surrender the delus...
