Terumah | Rabbi Baruch Taub | February 19th 2026

Parat Truma. Uh, today's shar is dedicated uh by the Jewish Legacy Foundation of Toronto. So, um, start out with Ashish, our old friend, who we haven't seen in a while. Um, and he's talking about the construction of the Mishkan and some symbolism about the construction of the Mishkan. Very technical part about this week and next week the construction of the of the Mishkan. Next week is the big day kahuna. So, uh, a lot of technical stuff. So, it's kind of hard to pull something out that's uh that with a kind of muser angle. So here he is never fails uh to give us wonderful Torah. So so I don't have the I should have taken a doesn't matter. So there's five um curtains covers of the five drapes on one side and five drapes and five drapes on one side five drapes on the other side. In other words, there were hooks and things to connect five five uh things and five things. You had five on one side, we don't have a picture here, and five on the other side, but they were connected together. It could have been, why not just make 10 long uh curtains? They were big as it is anyway. So, so why make five and five of the of the uh curtains? What what's what was the understanding for that? So, we he said we have to understand why they did that. Why didn't they say make 10? We wouldn't need the hooks and the connection connectors. I've spoken about this, but I found something in the very interesting It's the this whole it's all about Torah, right? So this is this is the of the Torah and he continued it. You had afterwards you had on top of it you had goats hair goat skin urotin were 11 on top right so what's that so now he is picking up the is picking up from the balim and he's saying what about the goats is 11 could have been tied together also Ahot five are to attached together right separate. So he had five and six not could have done them all together. So the under um c the under covered was um you you'll see in the if you go through the kish with rash you'll see beautiful colors and karuim and and on diagrams on them from made all these colors and so not to be outdone by the top l that were not together at five and five the urot So what's the what's the five and sixish tora? So the five goats hair coverings were the kish what's six shisha sidra Mishna the six orders of the Mishnayas. So everything everything is Torah, right? Everything is is Torah. Everything that's the based on this. So now let me move further. The crushing the beams the beams that were um we're going to go into into the beams. We're going to spend a lot of time on the beams tonight. Today that's really going to be our topic. So the schm about those shaman shab says mishk now the beams you have a you know bake you start with a frame of a house so first you have all the beams you know you see if you go by a wood a building place you'll see all the wood beams right so the gammor chabas makes a comment the mishkan is is mishkan the crashim are crashim the mishkan is not called the crashim the crashim is not called Mishk. Now what does that mean? What is it? What is that? So kind of you know Mishkan who what's what is the Gabbor trying to say that the purpose of the Mishkan the the finished building and the foundation of the building have two again two different meanings for us in terms of Torah. Right? This is the Torah, the completion, the Torah, right? Oel and it's called an oel, right? A tenth. But he wants to say kamosha pirish rashi and shabus shahiano a halo we say in English. It's that it it the the light of the Torah is like a halo over us. It supports us, right? That's so the Mishkan is a is a halo, right? Roshi that Roshi that the the light of the Torah is over us. So Mishkan is that's Mishkan Torah. So since the Mishkan is called an O, this halo, this light shining beaming over. So only the yuriat of the mishkan are are rem tora which is tora or halot vraaval. So you see how everything picks up. He starts with this balaturim the five and five not tied together. Why not 10 the two and then then the the theim the goats coverings five and six could have been tied together. No. Torah and Mishna that's then continues. He says why is Mishkan is not called you need a Mishkan and you have and you have right so the Mishkan represents Torah that's an O. It's called an O which Rashi explains is is a halo. It's the light. It's everything. So now the Mishkan is all of these things together right both it's a it's everything right? It's Torah. So he says here now next that's the Okay. Now what about the boards? What about the foundation boards? These are the sockets that they were standing with so in sockets. They couldn't stand without being put in sockets. Lian adnoot. That's from the word adanim. Why do we call sockets, excuse me, adanim? What's adan? Adonut? It's adan. Um, master mastery. It's a it's a so he says his father explained this. This is accepting the raon the the are like kind of the mitzvah right the theas that we that's what we do every day when we say we're the malus the adnoot the dominion the mastery the ad of right that's what the crushim stand for okay So he says this makes sense. This is the doing of the mitzvot. The represent the mitzvot, right? The o is the Torah, the learning of the Torah, how and everything the Torah is. But now the actual do, right? The crushim is the mitzvot. The po the actual that's what the crush represent. That's the essence of accepting the kingship of the is doing his you're an EV. There's two parts to an EVID. Number one, you submit to the EVID. Number two, then he gives you what you're supposed to be doing. That's by the way was he made us his he made us aim and then he took us to Hari and he gave us our Magna Carta. He gave us our instructions. How did what was it mean to be my heaven? Right? So, Right. The the hoga, the philosophy, the the tent, the oh, the halo over us. That's um that's honey. That's, you know, that's beauty, right? But it's not it's not a hard work kind of a thing, right? call. But the bottom line, it's very nice that Torah is a wonderful thing and I love Torah and it's a beautiful thing and we sing, but the mastery of Torah is getting down, rolling up our sleeves and getting to the crushim, getting to getting to the mitzvot. So he says an example. You have an architect is planning a building, right? He makes a building. You can't. He says the dream. He has the picture of what it's going to look like, right? That's the advertisement. You see what it's going to look like even though it's not built yet, right? But then you can't have that if you don't have the crushing. You have to have the you have to have the foundation. So you see, I don't know if you see every week in the magazines, and the newspapers advertising all the borashem, the new the new neighborhoods in init, right? These beautiful buildings which aren't even up yet. You know, there's actually a new place uh 7 minutes from from Natana from our house where they're private homes, private homes or maybe two private homes. Every every home has a swimming pool or the two family home and every home has a swimming pool, right? And of course there's a base medish and a shul and you know it's obviously going to be it's it's geared to um a religious a religious group of people who have a little bit more they're more religious in terms of their money also they so they can go there. Okay. >> South Africans >> swimming pools >> or what? >> The swimming pool. Swimming pools. >> Swimming pools. Yeah. But when they come here that's not so simple, right? Okay. So, you have to have the crush. Okay. So, therefore, so you can't have that beautiful building, the beautiful total concept of Torah without the the the foundation. That's the crushing, the kerish. Example, let's say you know you're to put on fill in the morning and you think about how the philosophy of fillin right the philosophy fill is an amazing thing you know that fillin of the handstand for doing mitzvot and next to the heart right and uh and the sha rush is the acceptance of the the the intellectual acceptance of boru and the emotional acceptance next to the heart. Right? You think about that's very nice. You can s sit and talk about all that. You can talk about that all day. You can have a you can sit and get mish so inspired about how fantastic are right but if you don't do the mitzvah of at the end of the day or before the end of the day you haven't done anything. and you have transgressed the mitzvah of so you had kind of the mishk of tin but you didn't have the keresh of fillin is a person who didn't put fillin on right which is um which is a terrible thing right um so that's the whole idea here the mishkun beautiful y urot and colorful and so on but if there's no beams building it up that's the the foundation is the carriage m But still let's understand there's a big you have to these two concepts now have to come together right the halo the the curtains the riot and the uh and the crashim have to come together these two concepts to do the mitzvah without that um ura awareness without the awareness ness of the halo aspect. You know, without that, you said you have to have both. You have to you have to do the you have to appreciate the greatness of the concept of Torah and then do the mitzvah. But also when you do the mitzvah, you have to appreciate the greatness of the Torah. So that's the purpose of the They are a way, a directive. So you've got the crashim, the beams, the middle between the urat, the um the curtains, right? The coverings and the adanim, the sockets, the connecting. That's why there's adanim. The adanim connect the crushim to the yuriot. They connect the mitzvah masi the doing of the mitzvah actually doing the mitzvah doing Torah and to the intellectual and emotional acceptance of the concept of Torah in our heart right that's why that's why the that's to the other name so and by the way he ends off here and he says verishes o ker if you take the word keresh meaning beam and just switch the letters around It's kasher. It's a connection. Kesher means connection. So it's all it's connecting the adanim and the yuri. Beautiful idea. Okay. Now we go to Ryaku Kineski in number two and he takes this idea of the crushing a step further. Uh it's a little long but it's it's good you know. Um it it moves very smoothly. Rebu and you should make the crashim they should be made from woodim and standing right let's say cedar wood and they have to be standing no okay okay purish rashi what's omim what does it mean that they were standing of course they were standing right using beams right what does it mean that they were omim so rashi says those that were were originally standing and were set aside by Yakov au Jacobu natim Yakov planted cedar trees in Egypt right we're going to have a Mishkan we're going to Israel we're going we need we need wood right and when he died he commanded his children to take them out when they leave is going to command making a Mishkan in the desert. Right. From cedar wood, right? So be sure. So they're going to be a couple hundred years. They're sitting, they're standing here, right? He planted them, right? But you're going to take these when you leave me try, you know, you don't just leave with the matzah, right? You got to leave with the that's what it means. They're standing from way back then. This is a medish rabb, right? But now he's taking it a step further back. And why did this right? There was no shortage. There was no lumber yard in Mitim. They could have bought lumber in right. So Mr. Lumber or whatever the company's called, right? There was no shortage of that, right? Obviously in the desert they're not going to have them. So why, you know, why did he have to do the gum lama? It's it's more than that. Where did he get the the the little cedar and the planting in the and the shashim the original cedars that he planted? He didn't buy them in Mitraim. Where did he get the original cedars to plant in the to plant inva? He took them from the the trees that planted inva again. He could have bought them here in Egypt. No. So what what was this all about? Why did he have to take them from from aim there's the theim where the right so I spoke about this there's a psychological thing going on here. There's something psychological going on that the Torah is doing to us for us. Hashem promised don't worry about going down to right he tells you're going to go to Israel is going into but don't worry I'm going with you and I I'm going to take you out too I'm going to take you there I'm going to take you out So Yaga was afraid. Maybe the children will be stuck in right and they feel despondent and and depressed. It's not enough. Promises us we're going to go. I'm promising you. No, it's not going to be enough. There's a need for a sim. There's a need for for something that I can see, right? I can see something, right? Hearing something is not the same as seeing something with your with your own eyes, something physical. Right. Right. So even though says he says the Torah tells us from Yseph and from that this is this is the key word by the way God's promised us but they needed something real something real that they see every day when they're out there going to work when they're working when they're slaving for the making the bricks and making whatever they're doing there, right? So that they would see every day and they would they would have the hope of the ultimate redemption that they're getting out of here. That's what these beams are for. This is only temporary. Right? Egypt thinks they're building something. Wait till you see what we're going to build. Therefore, brought these cedars from. So, this is the tradition. Hello. They're chosen. These are this is what they these are the trees that these are the trees that are going to build the Mishkan when we are redeemed. They see it in their own eyes. By the way, PS says that's the important reason why we say in the morning in doning at the beginning of Shakra is we say the order of the sacrifices. Although unfortunately when when we're late for dvening and we're in a hurry, the first thing that gets sacrificed is carbonus, right? So um but it's important to say carbonas because it's as if you get this credit if you say the carbonas properly. It's as if you offer the sacrifice in the beta mikdash. So carbonaut are very special part of the det. Okay that's an aside. Okay next bay. Now it gets better. Okay. So we've got the trees that he took from au which he planted a planted in wherever he was right in basha. Then he took them and planted them in Mitsyan. And then these are the ones that they're going to take to the Mishkan to build a Mishkan in the desert. Right? All that's part of the plan. One more. Let's go back still according to this medish base. Now this gives us a new understanding of a Gmorra in Yuma and also it's a gora also. It's in two places. Why does it say again? Why does the P say you will use to build the Mishkan in our paraim cedar trees that are standing right now? We know what it means, right? No, he says Gomorrah adds to this. So we saidimar from the ones that were from Jacob. But now the Gmorrah says something else. What? Maybe we lost our hope. We lost our hope and we lost our longing for the Mishkanim. They were standing that we never lost our desire and they the the freshness the cedars were strong and they were getting bigger and they were getting stronger and andro was strengthened from them. In other words, the word standing means it stands something that stands eternally, right? It's still standing. It's standing, right? Something that's just a phrase we know in language and in when we speak to to stand means it stand something that's lasting. He set it up forever. Oh, the will be forever. Omade, right? The righteousness of forever. But the bottom line here is very strange. Why is this? What do we need this commandment for? Moshe, why does this depend on Moshe love? It means, you know, Moshe is promising that that this is going to be and we trusted Moshe, but maybe we're not going to be worthy of Mosha. What could Moshe do if we, let's say, we're not worthy of the Mishkan? What's he going to do with all this wood, right? And now, let me explain. What were these cedar trees that Ara planted? If you didn't figure it out already, he planted inva cedar trees went there to take them to build the mishk. What's the explanation again? He could get we could get the wood without's wood. We pointed out the says right all different I he talking here how he saved Torah from the Jew for the Jewish people. Children didn't know how to learn. So he went and he shucked it. He got he made nets from seals and from he shed animals to make the nets and he and he also made took the cloth from animals and made uh hide into cloth and and made pens and ink and he write wrote out the wholeish Torah and Mishna and he went from town to town and taught all the kids a different one town a different and another Mishna, right? And they shared it, right? Why did he have to do all of this? Right. I did I did everything. Right. I made the nets. I I I trapped deer to get deer skin. How great was that restored Torah to Jewish children. But the greatness was that he planted the flax and he and he took the flax and he worked it out and made the net and made nets and he he trapped the deer and he used made the deer skin and for cloth for parchment to write for these children to learn. So in other words, that's the way you do things. What we learned from that is if you're going to do a job, you know, don't start getting other everyone else to do the job for you. Do the whole work. You want to do something, you want the scar, you want to do this important thing, do the whole thing. Don't wait for somebody else. Right? So this what's going on here with the that's why he he planted went all the way back to a vid and the villagon explains he explains this gamorraum sha and by the way the there's the grow's brother wrote a safer malotra a beautiful safer and he quotes this uh from his brother in that safer mishuman that the whole task meet. It's going to be a mishkun, right? I'm not going to be there. I'll have been gone and I'm going to be in the mas when the mishkun is going to be put up. I won't be there anymore. But I want I want to have I want to do this thing right from beginning to end. That'll give it its sanctity and its purity. Yeah, I can hire some workers, right? I can get the Egyptian wood. I don't want that. I want this to be pure Jewish wood. Not just that I'm planting, but I want to go back to the first wood that the first Jew planted. Right. He did everything himself. Now he knew he'd be successful. So too. And this is the way this is how the grow is explaining what said, right? And this Torah that these little children are going to learn, this Torah will remain with them forever, right? Because it's it's it's infused from beginning to end from the planting of the flax, right? To the trapping of the and the shafting of the deers to and the making the deer skins and the writing of the right I did it all. It's all purity and that's why that Abraham or really I think maybe the the printer means that Yakov did not want to get st by purchase lumber from the from the from the lumber yard. Right. seem like these the whole planting of a his of his grandfather's cedar trees and what he did with them was why that's where a planted his ael Hel what it his four open tent on four sides right right also it's stands for akila sha sleeping food and lina or leavoya escorting a guest out right one of the most important parts of haknosis orim is is seeing them out sounds a little funny right but not doesn't mean getting rid of them it means to escort them that were not just getting rid of you or escorting you but also in the times of in certain times it was dangerous so you would escort them to to make them feel sense of safety so but that's what he did there these were the first tents that the first Jewish family that's what this is this cedar was the first Jewish family and senu right adam so that is now so in other words to hear that the Mishkan is being built from the first Jewish family's home. The same wood is being taken from Abrau's home to the Mishkarish. This is ideal. What else you going to use to build the Mishkan, the great tabernacle, the the the forerunner of the Bikdash? And that's what the Gmorra means. The command that Moshe was given. You have to use only these these cedar trees. Why will they live forever? Because everything is based on the Jewish family, right? This was Khan, right? The Greeks knew destroy the family, destroy Clra, right? Destroy Torah, the tradition of Torah, you'll destroy Claw Israel, right? And that's what they did. They made us have the Medish Khan says that they made our doors open up towards each other. They made the into everybody could see what was doing in everyone's house. There was no privacy anymore. No privacy, no no Jewish family, no Jewish family life, father to son, mother to daughter. That that is the essence of passing the Torah. That's the essence of Torah, right? And that is the essence of the Jewish people and that's the essence of the Mishka. It has to come. That's the these were not just any cedar wood that grew. They were built by to live in it and for mitzvah for kindness for love to reach out to people. Thousands and thousands of people were brought to monotheism to believe in the through these his grandson. Now he wants to prepare the Mishkanim. And he went and found those that were planted purely for purely for giving over for doing. You're not allowed to use any iron because iron is a sword. It's the death. When you build a Mishkan and the mikdash also, right, you would never hear the sound of of of hammer of a hammer and you know when they built a base. So therefore the beams of the Mishkim, the beams, the crashim, the sharim, right? The kesher again of the Mishkan is pure right pure love. So the existence of Hashem remember you're building this is going to with his halo he's going to live there right last forever. because the whole source was in that was the command from Moshe. You have to use these wooden planks that were standing forever from Jacob and from Abraham. And we know that no stranger was involved in the building of the Mishkan and its essence and its foundation and its source and its root kadusha. It was a mixture of and kadusha of love and and holiness. Now the PS I want to add to this one PS to this you know we always say we quote the novi the novi says that ahet is a miktach it's a miniature of the temple of the basikt right so here the kesish is that it's really the other way around that the bam miktash is a miniature is a is a is a grand creation of the Jewish home of the bayhoodi the bay which is the foundation of the beta the beta midash and the ba mikdash so it's that the beta mikdash the ba mikdash is really the Jewish home right a powerful concept so uh kind of okay something to think about okay thank you very much.