Rabbi Sacks: The Gift of Giving

I listened to this pod cast earlier in the week and I was truly humbled by it.

You can read Rabbi Sacks' commentary on last Shabbat's Torah portion Terumah, here. 

The whole thing is lovely and I was profoundly moved by this commentary. Do read the whole thing.

"...God does not live in buildings. He lives in builders. He lives not in structures of stone, but in the human heart. What the Jewish sages and mystics pointed out was that in our parsha, God says, “Let them build me a sanctuary that I may dwell in them” (Ex. 25:8), not “that I may dwell in it.”

"How do we come to sense the presence of God? It isn’t difficult to do so standing at the foot of Mount Everest or seeing the Grand Canyon. You do not have to be very religious or even religious at all, to feel awe in the presence of the sublime."

"But how do you feel the presence of God in the midst of everyday life? Not from the top of Mount Sinai, but from the plain beneath? Not when it is surrounded by thunder and lightning as it was at the great revelation, but when it is just a day among days?"

"That is the life-transforming secret of the name of the parsha, Terumah. It means “a contribution”. God said to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to take for Me a contribution. You are to receive the contribution for Me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give” (25:2). The best way of encountering God is to give."