Parshat T’ruma
In a Shana M’uberet (what some call a Jewish Leap Year – a year that has 13 months, with two Adars – which this year is not), Parshat T’ruma is read on a Shabbat during Adar Rishon (a.k.a. Adar Alef) on the first of the month. In that case, two Torahs are used, one for T’ruma and one for the maftir for Rosh Chodesh, (frequency: 6.66% of the time). Alternatively, Parshat T’ruma is read on the third, fourth, sixth, or eighth of the month, in which case only one Torah is needed (frequency: 30.17%). Add the two percentages together and you get 36.83%, which is 7/19, reflecting the seven leap years in every 19-year cycle.
In a Shana P’shuta (12 months, one Adar), T’ruma can be on Shabbat Parshat Sh’kalim which is also Rosh Chodesh Adar – a three-Torah Shabbat (frequency: 3.31%, the rarest of all year-types). Or it can be on Shabbat Parshat Zachor – using two Torahs (frequency: 4.33%, the third rarest year-type.) That accounts for another 7.64% of years.
Then there are five year-types of 12-month years when T’ruma is read on the Shabbat between Mishpatim–Sh’kalim and T’tzaveh–Zachor (frequency: 55.53%); that is the majority situation for Parshat T’ruma. And this year is one of those.
A Parshat HaShavua that is within the time period of the Four Parshiyot but not on one of the four is labeled a Hafsaka, a break or recess.
Before we get into the Hafsakot, let’s sum up T’ruma’s situation. This sedra can be read from the one Torah of a Shabbat (frequency 85.7%), or from the first of two Torahs on a Shabbat (frequency 10.99%), or from the first of three Torahs (frequency 3.31%).
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When I was a kid, a guy in my shul (Chovevei Torah on Eastern Parkway and Albany Avenue in Brooklyn) showed me something in an old Chumash and asked if I knew what it was. What he showed me was four sets of letters:
Bet/Vav, Dalet/Dalet, Vav/Bet,Yud-Vav, and Zayin/Tet-Vav.
Translated into numbers, that’s: 2/6; 4/4; 6/2,16; and 7/15.
I had no idea what they all meant, but he taught me. And I always remembered.
But first a comment on Dalet, Tzadi, and Tav. If you learned the Alef-Bet the same way I did, you probably said these three letters as Daled, Tzadik, and Tuff. However, the fourth letter is Dalet (not Daled). The Tzadi picks up the Kuf at the end because of the way we recited the Alef–Bet – when we got up to Tzadi followed by Kuf, we heard wrong and repeated Tzadik–Kuf. And the last letter of the Alef–Bet is Tav (not Tuff).
Now back to those four mysterious sets of letters in the Chumash. The first letter of each one of those codes above is the day of the week of the first of Adar (or the second Adar). Bet is Monday; Dalet is Wednesday; Vav is Friday; and Zayin is Shabbat.
The first of Adar cannot be on a Sunday, a Tuesday, or a Thursday. That is coded LO AGAH and is one of the seven possibilities of the three days of the week a date cannot fall on in the LO ADU ROSH system. (Previous columns have explained this. All dates from 1 Adar through to 29 Marcheshvan – 295 dates in all, out of 385 possible dates in the Jewish calendar, have four days of the week on which they can fall and three days of the week on which they cannot fall.)
The second letter (or letters) in the four codes above is/are the dates in Adar of a Hafsaka, a Shabbat within the span of the Four Special Parshiyot that is not matched with any of the four.
This year, Rosh Chodesh Adar is Tuesday and Wednesday. That means that the first of Adar is on Wednesday. That’s the fourth day of the week – Dalet. The code Dalet–Dalet means that when the first of Adar is on Wednesday, then the fourth of Adar (Dalet) will be on Shabbat between Sh’kalim and Zachor – a Hafsaka.
When Rosh Chodesh Adar is Sunday-Monday, then 1 Adar is on Monday (Bet). The Hafsaka is on Vav, the sixth of Adar – also between Sh’kalim and Zachor.
When Rosh Chodesh is Thursday-Friday (that puts the first of Adar on Friday – Vav), then there will be two Hafsakot: on the second of Adar (Bet), between Sh’kalim and Zachor, and on the 16th of Adar (Yud–Vav), between Zachor and Para.
The final situation is when Rosh Chodesh is Friday-Shabbat, the first of Adar is Zayin (Shabbat) and the Hafsaka is on the 15th of the month, between Zachor and Para. Usually, we read from only one Torah on a Hafsaka. But in that case, in Jerusalem, we are celebrating Shushan Purim on that Shabbat, so we read from two Torahs, unlike the rest of the Jewish world elsewhere in Israel and around the world.
Side note: In our time, 15 in Hebrew is written as Tet-Vav and 16 as Tet-Zayin. That was not always the case. Way back when (I don’t know how long ago), Yud-Hei for 15 was changed to Tet-Vav because Yud-Hei is one of Hashem’s Names. Sometime later, 16 was changed from Yud-Vav to Tet-Zayin (again, I don’t know when). My guess is that since HaShem’s full Name has a Yud and a Vav, 16 became Tet-Zayin instead. Thus, the codes for the Hafsakot must have first been presented when 15 had already become Tet-Vav but 16 was still Yud-Vav.
ANYK (and now you know)!
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Parshat T’ruma by the numbers: T’ruma is the 19th sedra of the Torah, the 7th of 11 in Sh’mot. It is on the small side as sedras go, as you will see.
It ranks 43rd (of 54) in the number of lines it is written on in a Sefer Torah (154.8). It has 96 p’sukim (average is 108.26 p’sukim per sedra) and ranks 38th.
Trivia: 96 in letters is Tzadi–Vav, which spells Tzav. In Chumashim which have the count of p’sukim at the end of each sedra, we are told that the sedra of Tzav has Tzav (96) p’sukim. But if you count them up, you will find that Tzav has 97 p’sukim, making T’ruma more Tzav than Tzav.
T’rumah has 1,145 words and ranks 45th in the Torah. There are 79,976 words in the Torah, which averages out to 13.68 words per pasuk. T’rumah has 11.93 wpp (words per pasuk). It’s a short sedra with very short p’sukim.
Following the barrage of the 53 mitzvot in last week’s sedra of Mishpatim, this week we have a sedra with only three mitzvot – but what a set of mitzvot it is!
“V’asu Li Mikdash” – And they shall make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst (Sh’mot 25:8). The command to make a Mikdash is the Rambam’s 20th mitzvat asei (Rambam numbers the 248 positive mitzvot and the 365 prohibitions separately) and the Sefer HaChinuch’s 95th mitzvah (he has one long list of the 613 mitzvot).
The sedra contains many commands regarding the construction of the Mishkan and its furnishings, but as for the counting of mitzvot, all the details are considered part of “V’asu Li Mikdash.” This is the Rambam’s style of counting the mitzvot; other mitzvah-counters do not fully agree to count by the same guidelines.
All the details of the Mishkan are part of this one mitzvah – except for two things that the Rambam and the Chinuch count separately. (I’m discussing Parshat T’ruma only; other sedras show different exceptions to the rules and guidelines for counting mitzvot.)
I should point out that there is not only one set of guidelines. The Rambam created 14 rules for the counting of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. These rules are called shorashim (roots) and form the introduction to the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot, which presents and details the mitzvot according to his rules of counting.
This might sound weird, but the fact is that aside from a very old tradition that the Torah contains 613 mitzvot, we have no list of guidelines from the Talmud. It was only in the post-Talmudic periods (the times of the Geonim and Rishonim) that we have several lists and treatments of the mitzvot – and those lists do not match with one another on a good number of occasions.
Rambam and the Chinuch (who was two generations after Rambam and who follows his count almost perfectly) are the most popular of the mitzvah-counters. Ramban is the best-known challenger to the Rambam’s count, on well over 10% of the Rambam’s list. For example, the Ramban counts the command (in our sedra) to make the Aron (Ark) as its own mitzvah.
Back to the mitzvot of T’ruma. The command to donate materials for the Mishkan is not counted as a mitzvah, because it was directed to the people at the time and is not an ongoing command, and because it is preparatory to the actual building of the Mishkan. Yet the joyful volunteerism of those who contributed materials and skills to the Mishkan project serves as a lesson and inspiration for all of us, even to this day. When there is a communal project – shul, school, chesed organization – we should be ready, and enthusiastic, about participating, financially and personally.
According to the Rambam, even though all the details of the Aron are subsumed by the mitzvah to build the Mikdash, one detail is singled out for mitzvah-hood: Once the carrying rods are made and inserted into the rings at the sides of the Aron, they may never be removed. This prohibition is counted among the 365 mitzvot lo taasei.
Differently, the command to make the Shulchan (Table) includes many details – all of which are part of the overarching mitzvah of Mikdash – but there is one thing in the account in T’ruma that is a mitzvah on its own. Namely, the mitzvah to bake Lechem HaPanim (the Showbreads) and place them on the shelves of the Shulchan each Shabbat.
As an aside, according to the Shabbat z’mira “Ki Eshm’ra Shabbat,” it is because of the Lechem HaPanim that our Sages forbid fasting on Shabbat (with the exception of Shabbat Yom Kippur).
Those are the three mitzvot in T’ruma – building the Mikdash, not removing the carrying poles from the Aron, and the Lechem HaPanim.
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The details of the Aron include its dimensions – 2½ amot long, 1½ amot wide, and 1½ amot tall. (An ama ranges from 18.9 to 23 inches – 49-58 centimeters, depending on differing opinions.)
The message of the Aron’s inclusion of three half-measures is that on its own, it is incomplete. We, the Jewish People partner with it (so to speak) and become whole.
Another dimension, just for perspective: The courtyard of the Mishkan was 100 x 50 amot. It covered an area from 2.6 to 3.9 times the area of a basketball court.
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The mitzvah is to make a “Mikdash.” We call the temporary structure built in the Midbar the “Mishkan.” But the Mishkan is kodesh – it is holy. This can be seen numerically: Mishkan = 40 + 300 + 20 + 50 = 410. Kodesh = 100 + 6 + 4 + 300 = 410. Of course, the number-match is not why the Mishkan was kodesh, but numbers are fun to play with.
Want a more serious Gematria Match for Parshat T’ruma? Check out the GM link on philotorah.co – there are two nice ones there.
Mi-she-nich-nas Adar marbin b’simcha.
Shabbat Shalom.