As our 11 year old often says, "The Torah is stingy with words" so when there is a repetition, we know that it's highlighting something important. God says to Moshe that the Israelites should construct "a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." Of course, as Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus says, "God did not need the sanctuary in order to dwell among the people. After all, does the God who created the universe and split the sea need a human-made dwelling place? No, what God is saying is that some human effort is required if the people want God to be among them....As magnificent as some of our sanctuaries are, and as inspiring as our places of worship are, we still understand that it is not the place where we find God that is of primary importance. The physical space is but one tool, one means of reaching the sacred."
This tool of a beautiful physical space can be helpful to put us in a frame of mind that's more open to spiritual experience, very often inspired by the grandeur of a place. The mishkan (tabernacle) that God describes must have been quite a dazzling sight.
In the plans laid out in our parsha, gold/golden is said 25 times, silver is said 5 times, and copper is said 13 times. The repetition of these words emphasizes the feeling of opulence. There is gold overlaying the main box, overlaying the poles that are used to carry the box, the rings that the poles go through and more. There's silver sockets, copper horns on the altar, copper utensils, etc. So, this week's parsha inspired menus is a Metallic Menu where all the foods are chosen for their gold, copper, or silver color.
Gold - My family's chicken soup always aims for a golden broth, something that shimmers and shines. It's not so much something with a recipe as a general guide, which I'll include below. Also, a chicken baked with curry and/or paprika could yield a lovely golden color too.
Copper - I just received the gift of a new cookbook, Adeena Sussman's Shabbat (Thanks Amy and Craig!) and as I browsed it's beautiful pages, I found something that struck me as coppery - Sweet Potatoes with Miso Tahini Butter. Sub in plant butter for real butter to make this pareve. The key to the copper color is the combination of looks from the orange inside, coppery brown outside skin and the sumac sprinkled on it. (see pic below)
Silver - there are not a lot of silver foods. One idea to do here is to serve whole fish, using a fish with a silver skin.
I happen to be allergic to fish, so that's not what I'll be doing. I will have to stick with something less naturally silver - silver sprinkles!
Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!
Chicken Soup Guide: I put cut up chicken (with bones) and sometimes even add an extra bag of bones (you can get at butcher) in a pot. Then I fill the pot with water so that the water is about a half an inch over the top of the chicken. Add in salt and pepper and an onion or two and sliced up carrots. Put the pot on the stove and turn it onto high heat until the water boils. It’s important to keep an eye on it because as soon as it boils, you want to turn down the heat to a lower temperature so that it continues to cook without boiling. You do this for a couple of hours until the liquid turns golden and the chicken is cooked. I often add in fresh dill usually about halfway through the cook time so it doesn’t get too soggy.
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