The Uplifting Gift

Giving is more than the exchange of an item from one person to another. The word for giving in the Torah, Terumah, suggests the notion of sacrifice and uplifting. TERUMAH TERUMAH

Exercise in Translation

Frequently we hear the discussion about the need to study the Torah in its original Hebrew. A translation, no matter how good—and there are some very good ones— is incapable of conveying the subtleties and multiple layers of meaning contained in the original Hebrew.

A good example of the richness of the original Hebrew is the word Terumah, the name of this week’s parsha.

The word Terumah is translated as “offering,” and it is mentioned in the following context:

G-d spoke to Moses saying: “Speak to the Children of Israel that they shall TERUMAH take unto me Terumah.”

The Torah then goes on to enumerate the various items that they were requested to contribute for the building of the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary in the desert.

If all the Torah meant with the word Terumah is that the Israelites should offer their gold, silver etc. to the Mishkan fund, why couldn’t it have simply stated: “Speak to the Children of Israel that they should give Me gold, silver, etc.? Why the need for the word Terumah.

Second, the Torah uses the expression, “take unto me Terumah-an offering.” Shouldn’t it have said “give Me an offering?”

Separate and Elevate

The answer lies in a more fundamentally accurate translation of the word Terumah. Terumah, in fact, does not mean a gift or an offering. It derives from two separate roots that mean “separate” and “elevate.”

In essence, the contributions to the Mishkan were not just a means to an end. Many would TERUMAH view this narrative the way we would a modern day fund-raising campaign: There was a need for a Temple. Moses conducted a fund drive and made a pitch for contributions and the Jews gave.

This was not the case; it was much more than that. The process of giving here was not just a means to an end; there was intrinsic importance in the process of giving itself.

The Israelites were asked to do, at least, two things:

Giving Your Most Cherished Possessions

First they were to separate their own gold and silver and all that was precious to them, and give it away. This constituted much more than just giving a gift. A gift usually connotes giving something that one purchases specifically for someone else. Occasionally one will give away something that one already owns that is either, financially or emotionally trivial, or one has more than one such an item, or it is of no more use to you. A gift does generally not require separating something you own, which is on par with TERUMAH your other possessions. How many people will take an expensive heirloom and give it away to a friend as a birthday present? Obviously, the routine gift or offering does not entail such a sacrifice and does not uplift the giver of the gift.

Here, by contrast, the Israelites were asked to do much more than just giving a gift; a token of appreciation; they were commanded to bring Terumah that involved separating something of great sentimental or monetary value from one’s treasured possessions and parting with it.

Moreover, the Midrash teaches us that, in fact, gold was intended by G-d to exist only for the purpose of the Temple, however G-d in His infinite kindness allowed us to benefit from it as well.

The word Terumah was intended to inculcate the attitude that what we give to G-d — either by contributing to G-d’s causes or to needy people for whom, G-d assumes responsibility — should involve truly the most important possessions we own, and that it is the very purpose why we were blessed TERUMAH with these possessions in the first place.

Another Dimension of Giving

But, the simple translation of the word Terumah also provides us with yet another dimension of what it means to give.

When one takes his material possessions and separates them for G-d, one uplifts those very possessions. These items of gold and silver are no longer just gold and silver; they are now holy, objects that have become uplifted.

Indeed, not only are these objects elevated to a higher plane of existence, but, in addition, we the people who have parted with our items and have given them to a holy cause are likewise elevated, We are no longer plain mortals, we have achieved the level of angels, nay, we have even surpassed the level of any of G-d’s creations and have assumed a relationship with G-d that transcends everything else in the universe.

Give or Take?

TERUMAH

The Torah, therefore, does not simply state “Give Me an offering,” but rather “take unto Me Terumah.” By giving in the manner of Terumah described above, one “takes G-d.” By giving a contribution one is just giving, by doing Terumah one uplifts himself or herself to the point where they can “take G-d,” as it were.

And all this is contained in the simple five letter word Terumah.

Torah 40

The word Terumah, our Sages tell us, is also a composite of the word Torah Mem, which alludes to the Torah as it is connected to the letter Mem.

On one level this refers to the Torah that was given in the 40 days (mem is the numerical value of 40) that Moses was on Mount Sinai.

On another level it refers to Moshiach, which begins with the letter Mem, Furthermore, the Talmud states that the name of Moshiach is Menachem, which begins and ends with a Mem and in whose time, and through his TERUMAH effort, we will experience the ultimate state of “uplifted-ness.” By doing Terumah, not just giving, we hasten the process and prepare the world for the Messianic Age.

TERUMAH

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Terumah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.