In this week's Torah portion, Terumah, the Jewish people are each instructed to bring forward a contribution (Terumah) to the construction of the Mishkan, or Tabernacle. The Mishkan was to become the central site of sacrificial and ritual worship, the holy place of the Jewish people up until the building of the Beit Hamikdash.
The second Passuk (verse) of the Torah reading has G-d saying to Moses,
דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כָּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃

"Tell the Israelite people to take contributions for Me, from every person whose heart so moves him, you shall take this contribution of Mine."
Rashi asks the obvious - why does G-d need contributions from humanity? The answer is that the act of giving allows anyone of means or desire to ally with G-d in sacred activity -- in this case, building the Mishkan.
The recounting of the design and construction of the Mishkan, its vessels and utensils, and the garb of the Kohanim who served there, form the major part of the last half of the book of Shemot. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z"l explains that the Mishkan constituted the first collective project of the Jewish people. It was a mass movement -- not in an act of flight from oppression, but mobilization towards a common, unified, sacred goal. Rabbi Sacks notes that the constant strife that marked the Jewish people's journey in the desert seemed to be absent during the building of the Mishkan; they found harmony in their pursuit of a collective project.
How noteworthy that the Jewish people rallied around giving. A subtle message is conveyed here: community is formed when people are each giving of themselves. We form our most meaningful bonds when we bring our strengths, gifts and resources towards common pursuits.
I have remarked in recent weeks on how wonderful our Saturday evening Havdalah programs have been precisely because they have been homemade. With the organization and recruitment done by Ora Major, our members have shared with one another divrei Torah and discussions, presentations on humour, a travelogue, facts and anecdotes about coins and stamps... All of these have added to the do-it-yourself ethic that has added so much to the intimacy and participatory nature of this community. We all have our gifts to share, and when we do so with one another, in the context of a Kehila, we evoke Hashem's presence among us. This coming week, as we celebrate Purim, Ora and I continue to welcome creative ideas for celebrating this occasion and coming events.
May we continue to find inspiration and connection with Hashem and one another as we share our gifts meaningfully together.

This is a very, very special Shabbat. This weeks parasha, Yitro, contains the Aseret Hadibrot – the Ten Pronouncements (often mistranslated as “Ten Commandments”) fundamental not only to Judaism, but to nations throughout the world.
The opening word of the Dibrot is simply, אנכי – anochi – ’I’… as in, “I am the L-rd your G-d”. It is said that in that one word anochi is encompassed the entirety of the positive mitzvot. What is so distinctive about this pronoun?

My great-grandfather was a Karliner Hasid, meaning that he was an adherent of the Hasidic dynasty founded by Rav Aharon of Karlin (1736-1772). It is told of Rav Aharon that he was learning in his study one day, when there came a knock at the door. The Rav called out, “Who is it?” And the man at the door replied, “It’s me” (ich, literally, ‘I’). Rev Aharon did not respond. A few minutes later, the man knocked again. Again, the same question, “Who is it?” and the same answer, “Ich”. Again, the Karliner Rav did not answer. After several rounds of the same, the Rav finally opened the door.
The man at the door exclaimed, “Why wouldn’t you open for me?! You know and recognize me well from all the time we studied under the Maggid of Mezeritch! Why did you keep me waiting outside like that?”
The Karliner Rav slowly answered, “There is no ‘I’. The only anochi is that of Hashem, who said, ‘Anochi Hashem Elokecha’, I am the L-rd your G-d who brought you out of Egypt. Everything and everyone is subject to Hashem’s unity.”
The man sighed in response, “You’re right, Rav Aharon. There is more for me to learn about humility.” And the man left and headed back to Mezeritch, so he could study more under the Maggid’s guidance.

The term anochi itself is no longer in common Hebrew parlance -- today, Hebrew speakers use the word ani for ‘I’. In biblical Hebrew, however, both terms were used, and the simpler ani appears twice as often as anochi.
Anochi is a pronoun, to be sure, through which Hashem articulates divine Presence. But the word is not just used by G-d. People in Torah, including Cain, Avram, Sarah, and Rivkah, all made use of the term.
The Malbim holds that the term anochi is a specific term referring to just oneself, meaning ‘I and no other’. Indeed, the Aseret Hadibrot specify Hashem’s distinction from all other entities that people erringly worship. Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch states that the pronoun signifies something yet further – a desire to attain closeness with the person with whom they are speaking. Just as there are both formal and informal ways of addressing someone in the second person in languages like French and German (“tu” vs. the more formal “vous”; “du” vs. “sie”), here too, R. Hirsch suggests, there is the more formal pronoun ani and the more intimate one of anochi.
It seems that Hashem wishes to draw close to the Jewish people, and wishes the Jews to draw closer to G-dself (yet another unusual pronoun, an English one that has come into usage in modern Jewish theology). At Mount Sinai, the entire Jewish people heard G-d’s voice directly. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l, in an essay published posthumously this week, emphasizes that that the Jewish relationship with G-Hashem is meant to be decentralized and democratized. This is part of Hashem’s desire for the Jews to become “a nation of kohanim (priests)” (Shemot 19:6). Rabbis in Judaism do not wear a distinctive garb, to signify that no person is more inherently elevated in holiness than another. We all have the capacity for a deeply personal relationship with G-d.
In following the ways of Torah, we fulfill a sacred mandate that enables us to become a “treasured nation” (19:5) to Hashem. In these challenging times, amid the isolation imposed on us by the pandemic, it is heartening and important to remind ourselves that we are each individually beloved in Hashem’s eyes.
Previous Dvar Torah compilation
For those who missed previous Dvar Torah's, they can now be found online at https://www.kscalgary.org/blog. David Craimer, the creator of Kehilat Shalom’s website, has meticulously compiled past Dvar Torah articles, and you’re invited to visit the site and read through it for Torah learning.