Terumah

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They shall make for Me a Sanctuary,
and I shall dwell amidst them.

Imagine going to Ikea
and only buying the instructions.

The materials themselves come
from what you brought out of Egypt,

from what your heart
inspires you to give.

And it ain’t gonna be cheap!
Everything plated in gold!

Do you know how expensive
acacia wood is?

What are cubits anyway?
Is that metric?

To make a holy space
we must give the best we have.

We must create with
an artist’s sensibility

and a craftsman’s hands.
This thing we build

has to last decades
in the desert.

And in the end, the final product
is lost to history except

in famous movies and
ancient descriptions.

You can make any place
into a sacred space.

But if you want the Holy One
to dwell in your new cabinets

it’s gonna cost ya.
Be an artist.

Don’t skimp on materials.
And generations later

they’ll watch movies about
what you made.

These poems are offered free for your enjoyment. If you use them as part of an event, meeting, educational or liturgical setting, please consider tipping the author.

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