This week, in parashat Terumah, we dive deep into the detailed instructions for building the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary the Israelites carried with them in the desert. As per usual, I'm writing about it for Radical Torah. Here's a teaser from this week's post:

As Anatomy of a Dwelling reminds us, no fewer than thirteen weeks' worth of Torah portions in the book of Exodus are devoted to the details of how the Mishkan, the tabernacle, was meant to be built. ("In contrast," the folks at Chabad point out, "the Torah devotes one chapter to its account of the creation of the universe and three chapters to the revelation at Mount Sinai, and conveys many complex laws by means of a single verse, or even a single word or letter.") It's easy for the modern shul-goer to glaze over during these weeks in the Torah reading cycle. Types of wood, colors of thread, bells and breastplates: what relevance can we find in these long instructions for creating ritual items we outgrew so many centuries ago?

For my answer to that question, head over to Weaving Terumah into our lives. Enjoy!

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