Parshas HaShavua Parshas Terumah

Parshas Terumah

The Ark

by Rabbi Efraim Sprecher, Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva, Jerusalem

"And they shall make an ark"
(Exodus 25:10)

The most important article of furniture in the Sanctuary was the Ark. This
housed the tablets of testimony, just as the Ark in present-day Synagogues
houses the Scrolls of the Torah. More verses are devoted to the Ark than to
any other article of furniture in the Tabernacle, and, although it was not
the first article to be made, it is the first of the Sanctuary's contents
about which instructions are given.

Compared with the other contents of the Sanctuary the Ark is distinctive in
a number of respects, and these suggest meaningful lessons. The measurements
of the Ark and the Ark-cover alone are not in complete cubits. Its length
was two and a half cubits, and its width and eight a cubit and a half. The
implication may be that in holy matters, represented by the Ark , one can
never achieve perfection. There is never an end to Torah study, and the Jew
should also strive after perfection in piety and observance. Nor can a man
say that his mind, personality, or character have reached their highest
pinnacle and that there is not need for further development. Growth should
end only with death. One who strives for the stars will not reach them but
he will reach higher than one who sets himself lesser goals.

The Ark was overlaid with pure gold inside as well as outside. This teaches
that a person should be within what he is without � sincere, genuine, not
speaking one thing with his mouth, and meaning another thing in his heart.
No one is responsible for what he thinks, but if his words do not agree with
his thoughts it is better that he remain silent. Of all human qualities,
integrity in a person is perhaps the one quality by which character is best
judged and the one, which is the most highly valued by one's fellows.

In G-d's command to Moses to make the other articles of furniture for the
Sanctuary the singular is used, "and thou shalt make". In the case of the
Ark alone is the plural used, "and they shall make". Because the Ark housed
the tablets of the Law all Israel had to be involved in its making: the
Torah is the heritage of all Jews and all should share in furthering the
ideals of Judaism. According to the Torah, G-d Himself is sanctified in the
midst of the children of Israel (Leviticus 22:32). Even today in the
Synagogue service there are prayers which may be recited only with a minyan,
the quorum required for public worship; and in the Jewish tradition more
merit is attached to prayers recited with a congregation than to those
recited by the individual who prays alone. All Jews are considered to be the
one entity and to have a collective responsibility for each other.

An unusual requirement was that the Ark should have poles attached to it
which were never to be moved. Why were the poles fixed permanently to it?
According to Sefer HaChinuch, the reason is that in an emergency the Ark
could be carried without delay. Chizkuni says that the Al-mighty wanted to
minimize the handling of the Ark because of its holiness. The key to a
deeper meaning, however, is suggested by those commentators who see in the
command a symbol of the mobility of the Torah which accompanies the Jewish
people wherever they live. The Torah has become the portable Sanctuary of
the Jew. Since Judaism is not dependent on any one place it was able to
survive even the destruction of the Temple , is central Sanctuary. By not
being rooted to one spot, Judaism's influence was extended and enhanced far
more that it would have been had theTemple not been destroyed.

Just as the poles of the Ark were never removed, so too has the Torah
accompanied the Jews in all their wanderings throughout history. It is the
cause of their survival as a distinct people to the present day.