As our teacher, Rav Berg, explained, the Torah was never meant to be an accumulation of stories merely describing something that happened 3,400 years ago, but rather the code for the secrets of the universe and life itself.
In the portion of Terumah, we read about the construction of the Tabernacle, which acted as a physical antenna to connect with the Light Force of the Creator. The Creator said: Make for Me the sanctuary and I will dwell among them.
What does this mean, and how does it relate to us today?We might alsoraise the question, how come the Creator didn’t say: “Make for Me the sanctuary and I will dwell within it”?
In order for the Light Force of the Creator to be revealed in our lives and “dwell” within us, we must build our own “tabernacle” within ourselves.
How do we accomplish this? There is only one requirement: we must have the same essence, both inside and out, being truthful with ourselves and others. We cannot behave in a way that doesn’t correspond to the feelings in our hearts. This is the reason why the Torah offers a description of how the Tabernacle was constructed, covered with gold inside and out.
When we try to show how good we are on the outside, but neglect the inside, we are actually destroying an aspect of our temple within. For example, if we offer an hour of our time to someone in need but our minds are someplace else, inside we are not what we appear to be on the outside – and this lack of honesty damages our internal tabernacle.
It is not just about how much we do; it is about the heart that we put into what we do. The amount of work we are doing is not important; what is important is the completeness of what we are doing.
Let’s say you find yourself giving an hour of your time to someone who needs you. If your mind is in a different place, this one hour of sharing will be empty of Light. On the other hand, let’s say you only have 20 minutes to give to someone who needs you, but in those 20 minutes you commit 100% of your energy and heart to that person. Because of your heart, energy and focus, those 20 minutes will be full of Light.
To build our tabernacle within and create a strong vessel for the Light to dwell in, we cannot focus on how much work we are doing, but rather on how complete our work is.
This is a choice we must make in everything we do or get involved with, because this is what will determine if we will connect to the Light of the Creator or not. It doesn’t matter how great or small an accomplishment is; what is important is the quality of the work that we are doing. In the end, the truth always comes out!
So we must ask ourselves, are we completely in the moment, putting our heart and soul into each of our actions?
The energy available to us this week can help us identify the areas in our lives into which we should invest more effort in order to increase the quality of our actions. Doing so will strengthen the foundation of our temple within and will make room for the Light of the Creator to “dwell” and grow in our lives.
