Dudaim ba-Sadeh Terumah

The 30th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Reuven Horowitz, Hasidic leader, author of Dudaim ba-Sadeh, commentary on the Torah. He died on February 4, 1810.

A king ordered his servants to lift and move a mountain. They realized that they would not be able to lift an entire mountain, so they each lifted a chunk until the mountain was moved.

So too, God created worlds and destroyed them into pieces. We are charged with picking up the broken pieces, the Sparks, and lifting them and elevating them until we can raise the entire “mountain.”

This is the idea of Terumah: We are charged with collecting all the sparks of holiness in the world and elevating them so that they can reconnect into a unity and whole, symbolized by the Mishkan, where all connects together.