פָּרָשַׁת תְּרוּמָה

Parshat Terumah tells of the command to build the Mishkan (the Tabernacle), the dwelling place for Hashem's presence among the people: "They shall make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them." Every man whose heart moves him brings the materials — gold, silver and copper, blue, purple and scarlet wool, linen, goat hair, skins, acacia wood, oil, spices and precious stones — and everything is made according to the pattern Hashem shows Moshe on the mountain.

The vessels come first: the Aron (the Ark) of acacia wood overlaid with gold inside and out, with its poles that are never removed, holding the luchot, and covered by the Kaporet with its two golden keruvim, from between which Hashem will speak with Moshe; the Shulchan (the Table) for the showbread; and the Menorah, hammered from a single piece of pure gold with its six branches and seven lamps. Then the Mishkan itself: ten woven curtains with keruvim, joined by gold clasps into one; curtains of goat hair over them, and coverings of ram skins and tachash skins; the walls of gold-covered acacia boards standing in silver sockets, held by bars; the Parochet dividing the Holy from the Holy of Holies, with the Aron behind it and the Shulchan and Menorah before it; and the embroidered screen at the entrance. Outside, the copper altar with its horns and grating, and the courtyard of linen hangings, a hundred amot by fifty, with its pillars, sockets and screen. The parsha gives the exact measurements and materials of a house for Hashem, built by the gifts of the people.