This week’s parsha describes how the Children of Israel create a space for God. They construct a Mishkan, a Tabernacle or portable temple. The word Mishkan means residence. But God doesn’t need a house; in the words of King Solomon as he dedicates the Temple in Jerusalem: “Does God truly dwell on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built!” (I Kings 8:27)
If this is not God’s “residence” in the plain sense of the word, what is the purpose of the Mishkan?
Click here to read more from Rabbi Alex Israel in this week’s Parsha Discussion: Teruma: Meeting God.
