RAKEL BERENBAUM PORTION FROM BY Contributor, Torah Tidbits THE PORTION
Trees, Visions, & Torah Scrolls
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couple of weeks ago I gave a lecture to a group of women. They asked what week I would be writing next in Torah Tidbits. When I told them that it would for T'rumah, some women gave me suggestions for possible recipes to include this week, most of them were very colorful. (BTW: I’m always happy to receive suggestions for recipes that would be relevant for a specific portion). They also were curious to know what I was going to write about in this week’s column. I must admit, that at the time I had no clue. Then I came across an amazing Rashi on the verse “ATZEI SHITIM OMDIM - And you should make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up” (26:15). The verse starts by saying “VASITA ET HKRASHIM – you should make the boards”. Rashi asks why the verse says to make the boards instead of just boards? With the added letter “H” it seems that there is something special about these boards. Rashi brings the Tanchuma that says, yes, these were special boards. 72
TORAH TIDBITS / T'RUMAH 5780
Yaakov, having descended into Egypt, knew that the slavery would begin soon. He also knew that the nation would be redeemed and they would eventually build the Mishkan. So he planted cedar trees in Egypt. Why? He was a visionary. He wanted those trees to be ready for the Jews to take with them during the Exodus from Egypt , to be brought along to be used for building the Mishkan. That’s amazing! Such planning for the future. Such a great way to instil hope into his children, before they even became slaves, that the nation would survive their time in Egypt, and that God would want to have a relationship with them. This Rashi really inspired me – especially when I heard the story of the Hachnasat Sefer Torah done in the yeshuv of Bruchin by a 15 year old boy, Nave Schindler. He was 10 years old when the three boys were kidnapped and murdered in Israel. In those dark days of despair he decided that he would have a sefer Torah written in their memory. But how would he pay for the Torah scroll? Then and there he started selling candies. It took him 5 years of hard work to raise the 100,000 NIS to pay for the Torah scroll– but just a few weeks ago Nave wrote the last letters to complete that Torah. The parents of the boys said it was the most inspirational memorial service they had ever been to
