This week’s parashah is deeply instructional, yet confounding. It discusses the requirements for the Mishkan, with the central items including the Aron, Menorah, Shulchan, Kerashim, Mizbe’ach, and the coverings of the Mishkan.
As I reviewed the parashah, two questions stood out. One is asked by virtually everyone, and the other is asked by virtually no one.
The parashah begins with the mitzvah of terumah, however the wording is strange:
וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה — “They should take for Me a donation.”
A bit later the purpose becomes clear when Hashem commands that they make Him a Mikdash, “so that I may dwell amongst them.”
There are 2 questions that are asked by the meforshim.
First, why does the Torah say, “Tell Bnei Yisrael to take for Me gifts”? Hashem is instructing Moshe to collect donations, and it seems it should say, “Tell Bnei Yisrael to give Me gifts.”
Second, why does the Torah say, “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (ושכנתי בתוכם)? It seems it should s…
