“Terumah,” meaning donations or gifts was the D’var Torah Portion sermonized superbly by Terry Schettini at last Friday’s Shabbat Service. In this parasha, God instructs the Israelites on how to build a Tabernacle, an Ark, a Menorah and other things that are needed in order to worship God during their travels through the desert.
Terry draws many similarities from the parasha to our own situation when he states, “Members of our fledging congregation might be able to relate in some small way to what lay before the Israelites. And perhaps ask similar questions. A people in a state of transition, building a new community … or perhaps more accurately re-inventing a long-term community in a new context … teaching and worshipping in new places and in temporary spaces- with the hope of evolving and growing — in body, in spirit, in community.”
How true this statement is. In building this new community, we are asked to give or donate our time and resources … as much or as little as we can. Routine tasks that we may have taken for granted at our previous place of worship are now responsibilities assigned to an army of willing volunteers. Patience and perseverance become the new norm as we pioneer our way through each new and sometimes difficult roadblock. Generosity of wisdom and experience guide us through paths not yet taken. There are many ways we give and donate to this new endeavor.
In this spirit of giving, we learn just what we are capable of achieving. We not only build a Temple of worship, we sustain stronger ties to old acquaintances, develop close, personal relationships with new friends and we grow ever nearer to our religion and culture which ultimately defines the character of our spiritual community.
And in the giving we find a gift. The many blessings of a community coming together each Shabbat knowing that we all have a stake in the future of Temple Shirat Shalom.
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