Parashat Terumah: Where does Hashem reside?

ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם (כה:ח) 

“And they shall build for Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them.”

This week’s Parasha describes the building of the Mishkan, Hashem’s dwelling place in the desert. Much of the remaining portion of the book of Shemot will describe the details of the vessels that were placed in the Mishkan and the special garments that the Kohanim would wear while serving in the Mishkan.

A few questions come to mind about the purpose and function of this dwelling place. Firstly, why does Hashem need a dwelling place, is He not comfortable everywhere else? Moreover, doesn’t placing His presence in this physical dwelling place limit His omnipresent nature? Is His presence really only found here? Isn’t He everywhere?

My friend, Jeff Kirshblum in his book, “Thinking Outside the Box,” points out that many people misunderstand the word Shechinah to be another name for Hashem. This is a mistake; Hashem has many names, but Shechinah is not one of them. Shechinah represents the spiritual force that allows us to feel and be aware that Hashem is present. We might know in our minds that Hashem is everywhere at all times, but do we really feel it? As opposed to the magnanimous occasion of receiving the Torah at Har Sinai, where every Jew felt this holy presence, most of us do not feel that on a daily basis. In fact, after giving the Torah, Hashem removed his Shechinah from the Jewish people and they quickly came to miss His presence. It is for this reason that Hashem told Moshe to build a Mishkan where His presence could reside and the Jews could come anytime to connect to it. So it is not that Hashem Himself resided in or only in the Mishkan, but this was the place where His presence was most palpable. (It is not a coincidence that the word Shechinah and Mishkan come from the same root word, which means dwelling.)

Returning to our first question, Hashem did not need a resting place as He has no physical needs. The pasuk says ויקחו לי תרומה- כה:ב or take for Me an offering. What could we possibly give Hashem? And why does it say “take for me” as opposed to “give me?” The commentators explain that the purpose of these contributions was for our benefit; it was to give us meaning; to give us a cause to connect to. In other words, our giving was really for us to receive and to gain. In fact, the Nesi’im did not understand this at first as they volunteered in earnest to donate everything that was still needed after the Jews brought their donations as if to say there was some shortage for Hashem. Rather, the giving was an opportunity for self-development and connecting to Hashem. The Mishkan was a place for us to come, give of ourselves in an effort to grow from the experience. 

When we read this Parasha, we must remember that our modern day shuls are all מקדשי מעט, smaller versions of the original Mishkan. We must remember these two lessons: we can always come to shul to reconnect to Hashem’s presence, and at the same time we must give and donate to make our shuls beautiful. This is not because Hashem needs it to be beautiful, but it is because we need to feel compelled to give. Through this giving, we can all feel the presence of Hashem in a tangible way and this will hopefully allow us to merit the rebuilding of the original Beit Hamikdash speedily in our days.