A House of Unity and Love
The greatest challenge is not just unity and love. It is achieving unity within diversity. TERUMAH TERUMAH
The Mishkan and the Shema
This week’s parsha, Terumah, opens with the command to collect contributions of the Jewish people for the purpose of constructing the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary in the desert. According to Rashi there were thirteen different items that were donated.
On the opening words of this week’s parsha, “And they shall take unto me an offering” the Midrash cryptically comments:
This is the meaning of “Hear o Israel, G- d is our G-d, G-d is one.”
What connection does the Shema have with the contributions for the construction of the Tabernacle?
The Significance of 13
TERUMAH
As mentioned, Rashi states there were thirteen items contributed for the Mishkan. The fact that Rashi specifies the number thirteen suggests that there is some significance to that fact that there were thirteen items—not twelve and not fourteen. It is not some arbitrary piece of information. The Mishkan had to be constructed from no more and no less than thirteen items.
If every detail of the Torah is precise, certainly a detail that concerns the most important structure, the Mishkan, about which the Torah declares that it would bring G-d’s presence to dwell within the Jewish community.
Moreover, the Mishkan’s construction was G- d’s way of telling the Jewish people that the sin of constructing the golden calf was forgiven. Its construction is deemed so important that the most minute details are mentioned; many of which several times.
It is therefore clear that every minute detail that surrounded the contributions for the building of the Mishkan is endowed with meaning. What then is the significance that TERUMAH there were thirteen items donated to this building project?
The number thirteen is a significant number. The most famous theme associated with the number thirteen is the “thirteen Divine attributes of mercy.” In addition, the number thirteen represents the twin ideals of love and unity. The Hebrew words for love and unity are Ahavah and Echad, respectively. Each of these words has the numerical value of thirteen.
13 = Love and Unity
At this point we can ask, what does the number thirteen have to do with love and unity?
The answer can be found in the narrative concerning Jacob’s last will and testament to his twelve sons. As he was about to reveal to them what will happen in the end of days, the Shechinah-Divine presence left him. At that point, he suspected that perhaps their faith in the unity of G-d had been compromised. When the sons of Jacob realized what they were suspected of, they TERUMAH said to their father: “Hear O Israel (Jacob’s other name was Israel), G-d is our G-d, G-d is one. Just as you have only one in your heart, so too, we have only one in our hearts.”
The question can be raised, how could Jacob possibly suspect his sons that they harbored a belief in more than one G-d?
Integrating Unity
In truth, Jacob’s concern was not about their fidelity to the belief in one G-d. It was about the way they integrated the notion of unity into their lives.
The twelve sons of Jacob represent the maximum number of categories within the Jewish people. Jacob was concerned that their differences and the lack of love that prevailed between them, as was evidenced by the sale of Joseph by his brothers, was a sign that the awareness of the unity of G-d did not permeate their existence. As such, they were not ready for the future Redemption.
TERUMAH
Surely, Jacob did not suspect them of being idolaters. His concern was that their belief in one G-d was not an integral part of their personalities and therefore had little effect on their own relationships.
In Jacob’s mind, he had twelve sons, each with a different conception of G-d that was at variance with his brothers’ conception. To Jacob that was a sign that their notion of unity was drastically different from his own.
When a person is imbued with the unity of G-d then it leads to loving G-d. And when one loves G-d, one also loves the one who G- d loves. Hence, when there is a lack of love between brothers that can be an indication that their love for G-d, which comes from a profound appreciation for G-d’s unity, is lacking as well.
E Pluribus Unum
They therefore replied to their father Jacob that just as there is none other in your heart, so too is the belief in the unity of G-d complete in our hearts. They suggested that their division into twelve was not a TERUMAH contradiction to their obsession with G-d’s unity. And just as Jacob, who had only one heart, and therefore a singular faith in and devotion to G-d, was able to translate this unity into all the diverse aspects of his life, so too, the tribes affirmed, the unity of G-d suffused all of their variegated “hearts.”
We can now understand the significance of the number thirteen. Thirteen is twelve plus one. This means that while the twelve tribes were indeed diverse personalities, each with his own interests and character, nevertheless, they also had One above them; the number thirteen that unified them and generated love between them.
This explains why the number thirteen is the numerical equivalent of the words for love and unity. The number thirteen expresses the ideal of unity within diversity. Despite the diffusion into twelve disparate directions, there is a unity that transcends them and guides them without compromising the legitimate and desirable differences.
TERUMAH
We can now understand why there were thirteen items specifically that were used for the construction of the Mishkan.
Objective of Mishkan
The purpose of the Mishkan was to enable the people to experience the unity of G-d, and the love that that experience of unity engenders. The Mishkan, a project of the entire Jewish nation, was intended to instill the unity within the diversity of the twelve tribes.
We can now also grasp the meaning of the Midrashic citation of the Shema in conjunction with the contribution of the thirteen items for the construction of the Mishkan.
The Mishkan was a physical expression of the Shema. The unity of G-d, and the command to love Him, and its corollary, the unity and love of the Jewish people, was manifested in the Mishkan. Indeed, even the thirteen items that were contributed for the Mishkan symbolized this concept of unity, even as it TERUMAH did not exclude the diverse interests of each of the twelve tribes.
Israel Divided into Thirteen Parts
The Talmud, basing itself on Biblical verses from the book of Ezekiel, states that in the Messianic Age the Land of Israel will be divided into thirteen tribes. The thirteenth section will go to Moshiach.
In light of the above analysis, it can be explained that in the Messianic Age, the significance of the number thirteen will be magnified. The Messianic Age is not just a utopia. It is the time when the unity of G-d and the unity of the Jewish people will reach its apex. Then we will clearly see how the thirteenth level is a part of the other twelve levels.
TERUMAH
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Terumah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
