Yonatan Kohn - Notes on Terumah

In a formulaic Torah reading that outlines the instructions for designing the Tabernacle and its major components, Gd tells Moses with precision and thoroughness exactly what he must do to fashion the structures of the Tabernacle building and all of its ‘furnishings’. The rare textual deviations in such a disciplined, systematic description jump out at the careful reader.

In her book of Scriptual studies, Nehama Leibowitz notes that the instructions for the building of the Ark are particularly conspicuous. Whereas the commands issued in the reading are dominated by the singular second-person form (*v’asita*, *v’tzipita*, *v’yatzaqta*- and you shall make, you shall cover, you shall cast, et. al.), the commandment to build the Ark is introduced with the plural third-person form, “And they shall make.” What’s more, whereas the Altar and the Table (see R’ S.R. Hirsch) both describe the need to form poles with which to carry them, it is only with regards to the Ark’s poles that the Torah orders that they are never removed. Though the poles are described as necessary “to carry the Ark by them” (25:14), which is hardly a frequent necessity or constant consideration, these poles must never be separated from the sacred Ark. Finally, it is only with regards to the Ark that Gd instructs Moses to plate both the outside and the inside with gold.
It would be telling at this point to recall the unique position the Ark holds in the Tabernacle. Of all the pieces of the Tabernacle, it is the Ark whose commandment is issued first. More significantly, it is to be the locus of all of Moses’s prophecy in the capacity of national guide and leader. “And I will be fixed [to meet with] for you there, and I will speak with you from above the cover, between the two cherubs, that is upon the Ark of the Testimony [concerning] all that I will command you, [for] the Children of Israel” (25:22). That this place, above the Ark, is to be the point of origin for Moses’s inspiration seems linked to the Ark’s role as Ark of the ‘Testimony.’ This title is clearly related to the earlier verse, “You shall place in the Ark the Testimony that I shall give you” (v. 16). What is meant by the term Testimony, and how does it influence the Ark’s central spiritual position in the Tabernacle?
Though the nation as a whole plays no specific role in its physical construction or design,* they do play an integral role in shaping the spiritual place of the Ark. It is only through their involvement with the Ark that it endures, that it bears a message, that it holds significance. For this reason, a natural condition of the Ark is that it is always positioned to be carried, even when at rest. Even while the Ark sits dormant and untouched, in its remote sanctum behind the Curtain, the poles must be in place at its sides. The Ark serves its purpose properly only when it is in touch with, accessible and reaching out to, the people who are expected to bear it and the message that it represents.
Rashi understands that the term Testimony refers to the written Torah. The Torah testifies to an ongoing and enduring relationship between Israel and Gd. But a testimony is meaningless if there is no one to receive it. The very name Testimony reinforces and underscores the necessity of an open relationship between the people and the Torah. And this also explains why the Torah emphasizes that Moses is to receive prophecy from that place. “And I will be fixed [to meet with] for you there, and I will speak with you from above the cover, between the two cherubs, that is upon the Ark of the Testimony [concerning] all that I will command you, [for] the Children of Israel.” Gd’s influence flows most freely when the people of Israel, in companionship and brotherhood (one of the symbols of the cherubs), live upon the foundations provided by the Torah. It is for this reason that the Ark must be inlaid with gold from with and without; the lives that the people must lead outside the Ark, among themselves and in the interpersonal realm, must reflect the pristine and pure values of the theoretical and exclusively spiritual Torah.

* The Torah states explicitly that Betzalel made the Ark (37:1), and the same language and expression are used with regards to the other furnishings as well.