~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha - Teruma

“They shall make an Aron (Ark)…” (Shemos 25:10), “You shall make a Shulchan (Table)…” (ibid. 23), and “You shall make a Menorah…” (ibid. 31).

The Chasam Sofer cites a commentary from the Terumas HaDeshen (in his ביאורי מהרא"י על רש"י) that the Shulchan always precedes the Menorah because first the talmid chacham needs parnasa ( livelihood) – symbolized by the Shulchan – and then he can learn Torah – symbolized by the Menorah. Similarly, Zevulun always precedes Yissachar because Zevulun created the possibility for the Torah of Yissachar.

Nowadays there is so much money in the world so there is more opportunity to learn Torah.

Why does the Aron come first? I think that since the Aron was נושא את נושאיו – it bore its bearers – the Aron did not need help with parnasa.

Similarly, Chazal tell us that the first luchos were free from parnasa issues. Even though the second luchos were not on that level, it still was נושא את נושאיו, so it itself still didn’t need parnasa. The Aron represents the level of Torah that doesn’t need nor want the standard parnasa.

One hundred words on Parshas Terumah

ועשו לי מקדש

They shall build a בית המקדש.

Chazal say that the בית שלישי will come down from heaven. If so, we won't be able to build the בית המקדש as per the mitzvah here. R' Ralbag (דמשק אליעזר) says that it will come with defects that will necessitate our repairs. For instance, if the מזבח is chipped it will need to be fixed. Through these תיקונים we can still be מקיים the mitzvah of ועשו לי מקדש.