God commands us to build Him a home so that He can dwell among us. What God really wants is for us to have a just society. That we treat each other with respect.
Rosh Chodesh Adar and Parashat Terumah.
There is a quiet but very radical shift happening in the Torah at this moment.
Up until now in Sefer Shemot:
- God breaks nature (the plagues)
- God breaks history (the Exodus)
- God breaks physics (the sea)
- God speaks from heaven (Sinai)
Human beings are basically spectators.
Then suddenly — everything changes.
“וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ — Build Me a sanctuary,
וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם — and I will dwell among them.”
Not in it — among them.
The Revolution of the Mishkan
In the ancient world, temples existed everywhere — Egypt, Mesopotamia, Canaan — but they all worked the same way:
You brought offerings → you appeased the god → the god left you alone.
The deity lived there.
Human beings lived here.
The Torah introduces a completely different theology:
God does not want a residence.
God wants a relationship.
The Mishkan is therefore not God’s house.
It is the training ground for humans to learn how to live with the Divine presence.
Why Humans Must Build It
If God split the sea, He can assemble furniture.
But that would defeat the purpose.
The Mishkan is the first place in the Torah where holiness is not created by miracle —
it is created by human behavior.
Gold, wood, wool, skins — none of these are holy.
They become holy because a human being says:
I choose to give.
I choose to restrain myself.
I choose to act for something beyond myself.
Holiness enters the world when humans act differently than nature.
The Order Matters
Notice the Torah’s sequence:
- Sinai — Revelation
- Mishpatim — Civil law (how to treat people)
- Terumah — The Mishkan
You cannot build a sanctuary before you build a society.
God will not dwell in a structure built by people who cheat each other.
So the Mishkan is not the introduction of religion.
It is the result of ethics.
Prayer and Ritual — For Whom?
We often wonder:
Does God care which nusach I use?
Did I pronounce the words perfectly?
Did I stand at the right moment?
But the Mishkan already answered that.
The korbanot were not feeding God.
The incense was not pleasing God’s senses.
They were shaping the human being.
Ritual is not information directed upward.
It is formation directed inward.
We don’t pray to change God’s will.
We pray to change who we are — into people capable of living with God.
Why This Fits Adar
Adar is the month of hidden miracles — the Book of Esther, where God never appears.
Because once the Mishkan exists, God stops splitting seas.
Now the question becomes:
Can humans behave in a way that allows God to be present without spectacle?
The Mishkan teaches:
God is not found in heaven-breaking events.
He is found in everyday conduct.
The Real Sanctuary
So the Torah’s message becomes incredibly practical:
If you want God in the world —
not in heaven, not in theory, not in philosophy —
then holiness is measured by:
- honesty in business
- dignity toward others
- kindness in ordinary encounters
Smile at a neighbor → you built a beam of the Mishkan.
Act fairly → you lit the Menorah.
Control anger → you offered incense.
We were never asked to build a building for God.
We were asked to become a place where He can dwell.
Chodesh Tov — may we build it well.
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