Haftorah This Week
Welcome to Haftorah This Week, the place where you will find thoughts and
reflections by CLAL faculty and associates on this week's Haftorah.
HAFTARAT TERUMAH
(I Kings 5:26-6:13)
In this week's portion, the Torah recounts the details of the Tabernacle which the
children of Israel were to build, a place for God's spirit to dwell. And over the course
of the next many generations, from the desert to the conquest, through the period of the
Judges, and finally to the early monarchy, God's dwelling-place in Israel would remain
portable, impermanent. But this condition would come to an end--so the Haftarah tells
us--as Solomon would call upon his great wealth and manpower to build a fixed structure
for God's presence in Jerusalem. This project would consume seven years and millions of
man-hours--a vast cost, to be sure--but the product would be the magnificent Temple of
Solomon.
Was this permanent structure necessary? Was it worth the immense investment described
in the biblical text? In the short term, the answer to these questions must be yes. More
even than God needed a dwelling-place did Israel need evidence of God's presence. The
Temple was testimony to God's relationship with Israel, to God's concern for and
protection of this period. At this early stage of their peoplehood, Israel could not have
survived without such a monument to her God.
But, in the long term, the Temple was unnecessary. Nay, its very destruction was
necessary to make room for a "new" religion, one centered not on Temple and
sacrifice but on Torah. When the "permanent" monument to God's presence had
outlived its purpose, it was replaced by a far more important monument to God's love of
Israel, that is, the revelation of God's word. With this portable testimony to God's
presence and concern (again, like the Tabernacle!), Israel could survive her many
wanderings, bringing God's good teachings to the many peoples of the Earth.
(David Kraemer)
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