Terumah

In Genesis chapter one verse 27, the Torah tells us : וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקים | אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם Gd created Man in His image: In the image of Gd He created him; male and female He created them.

One thing always puzzled me. If human beings are created in Gd’s image, how come we all look different? 

When I mentioned this once to some of my students in Hebrew school, an eighth grader said, “Well, we all look more or less the same. Two eyes, one nose, a mouth, two arms, two legs...” But that’s a very dangerous way to solve the problem. First of all, are we saying that those of us who do not have two eyes, or two legs, look less like Gd than the rest of us? And even if we do have two eyes and two legs, if we say that Gd looks like us, there must be some people who look more like Gd and some people who look less like Gd. This means that some people will say they are better than someone else, because they look more like Gd. Does Gd have light skin? Blond hair? Is Gd thin? And are those of us who have dark skin, dark hair, who are not thin, are we further from Gd because of that?

No. Although people have tried to make that claim in the past, we know that Gd has no body, no form. Gd cannot be seen. Therefore, no one can claim to be holier than anyone else because of his or her looks, body shape, or ethnic background.

But this still leaves us with the question of what it means to be made in the image of Gd. The Torah portion for this week is Terumah, which means gifts, and it contains detailed instructions how to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle that the Israelites would use as a house of prayer in the desert. The Torah portion begins דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִי This is usually translated “Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts, from each person who is moved in his heart to bring me gifts,” gifts with which to build the Tabernacle. But it literally says “Tell the Israelite people to take Me...” Take, not bring. And the word for gift, תְּרוּמָה, is in the singular. So a more grammatically correct way to translate this line would be “Tell the Israelite people to take Me as a gift; from each person whose heart is so moved, take my gift.”

In other words, Gd Gd’s own self is the gift that we receive. But we don’t receive it from Gd. We receive it from other people. “From each person whose heart is so moved, take my gift.”  Each person who is moved in his or her heart.

My own opinion is that when we deal with people from the heart, with kindness and with love, it’s as if we are giving them a little piece of Gd. When we visit the sick, when we help someone who needs our help, when we give tzedaka, we are taking Gd to others as a gift, a gift from our hearts.

To me, this is the way in which we resemble Gd. Gd creates, Gd cares, Gd loves. Gd visits the sick, comforts those who are unhappy, and Gd blesses us. When we do these things, when we create, when we love, when we bless, when our heart so moves us, then we look like Gd.

There is another interesting line in this week’s Torah portion. It reads  וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם. This is usually translated “ And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” But בְּתוֹכָם, the word which is translated “among them,” is more usually translated “within them.” 

Where is Gd? Gd dwells within us, if we make a place for Gd. And if we do, we will truly be  בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים, made in the image of Gd.