The Stanton Street Weekly Newsletter: Parshat Terumah
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Parshat Terumah Week of February 20, 2026 3 Adar 5786 Wishing you and your family Shabbat Shalom & happy Adar!
The month of Adar represented in the Mazalot in our Sanctuary.
Friday, February 20, 2026 • 3 Adar 5786
Candle lighting at 5:19pm
Shabbat, February 21, 2026 • 4 Adar 5786
9:30am - Shacharit services in the Beit Midrash
12:00pm - Kiddush - all are welcome! Kiddush is sponsored by the house. (If you would like to sponsor kiddush, please email info@stantonstshul.com.)
Havdalah at 6:19pm
We have security for all services from 9:30am to 1:00pm.
Join us for a community Shabbat dinner on the Friday before Purim, February 27!
We’ll begin with services and then sit down together for a Persian-inspired Shabbat meal. It will be a night at the shul with great food, familiar faces, and a bit of Purim in the air.
Have a friend or neighbor who might enjoy joining us? This is a great night to bring them along!
The dinner is free with prior registration, but we encourage sponsorship so that we can continue to offer these events! Registration closes Wednesday, February 25 at noon.
This week we read Parshas Terumah. Moshe has gone up the mountain to receive furthe instruction along with the tablets of testimony, upon which are inscribed the ten commandments. God then starts commanding Moshe regarding the construction of the Mishkan. Derived from the Hebrew root for “dwelling”, God tells Moshe “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). Once built, the Mishkan will be the physical and spiritual center of Israelite life, where sacrifices are to be brought and where God’s Presence and the people can meet.
In addition to the structure of the Mishkan, our parshah focuses a lot on the various vessels and implements that are to be used in its daily operations. I would like to focus on and distinguish between four of them. There are four components of the Mishkan that are to have rings attached to their corners. Additionally they are each to have two poles which would be passed through the rings in order to carry them. These four components are the Aron (Ark of the Covenant), the Shulchan (table for the showbread), and the Mizbachos (altars). The Mishkan is portable by design and so carrying these large vessels on poles makes a lot of sense but there is an interesting discrepancy between how the poles are used for the Shuchan and Mizbachos and how they are used for the Aron.
As might be expected, when it was time to pack up the Mishkan and relocate, the poles were attached to the Shulchan and the Mizbachos and people would carry them thus. When the Mishkan was unpacked, the Shulchan and Mizbachos would be set up in their spots and the poles would be removed. When it came to the Aron, however, Moshe is told explicitly that “The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark: they shall not be removed from it” (25:15). Even when the Israelites are not on the go and the Mishkan is set up and operational, the poles of the Aron remain attached in the rings.
To better understand this discrepancy, let us better understand the Aron. In the parshah itself, we are told of two purposes that the Aron serves. For one, the aron will contain the tablets of testimony. Additionally, God will speak to Moshe from on top of the Aron and reveal further commandments. Seemingly for these reasons, the Sages identify the Aron with Torah itself. This leads a number of commentators to hash out a number of approaches but in short, the Shulchan and Mizbachos serve their function strictly in the context of the Mishkan. They are the purview of the Kohanim and they are only allowed to function as part of the sacrificial service. Not so with Torah. Torah transcends time and place and we all have our share in it. We carry it wherever we go and we are all free to grab it at any point. This reality has sustained us through the ages and perhaps this reality is alluded to by the Aron that always has its handles.
Join us 10:30am-12:00pm for free play, davening, parsha, songs, movement, a hands on activity, and delicious kiddush! Here is our schedule for the rest of the 5786 school year:
February 28 March 14, March 28 April 18, April 25 May 9, May 16 June 6, June 13
Women's Tefillah Group Programming Schedule
Come Daven With Us in 5786!
Megillat Esther Reading - March 2 Parshat Emor - May 2 Parshat Nasso - May 30 Parshat Korach - June 20
If you would like to layn, lead services, or give a d'var Torah with us, or if you have questions, please be in touch!
We remember: Irene Rottkov Stein, mother of Mona Klaber (5 Adar) Jacob Goldstein, father of Alvin Goldstein (9 Adar)
Misheberachs (we wish a full recovery to):
Arella Hana bat Haya Liba Ashlynn Elizabeth Helen Coffman Barry Feldman Cecile Cohen זיאסל מלכה בת אסתר Chaim Tzvi ben Leah Chaim Yonah ben Dubrah Chana Mera bat Fruma Henna Chaya Malka bat Esther Leia David Menashe HaLevi ben Rochel Efraim Ben Sore Eliyahu Natan ben Shayndel Ella bat Leah Gitche bat Honcha Hiam Zelig Ben Sarah Rifka Israel Yakov ben Esther Jim Lee Leah Zahava Bat Elka Liba Miriam bat Channah Devorah ליבה מרים בת חנה דבורה Manny Kaplan מאיר ראובן בן לאה Moshe Asher Ben Esther Sarah Nolan Rhodes נתן צבי בן פרידה Rachel Devorah bat Elke Reuven ben Rochel Risha bat Sarah Rivka bat Miriam Sara Rochel Ben Chaya Gitza Shayna bat Chana Kayla Shimon Sumer HaLevi Ben Malka Shoshana bat Esther שושנה בת אסתר Yaacov Ben Chaya Gitza Yisroel ben Edlah Yitzhak Calev ben Leetza Tzvia
We pray that all who are sick may have a full recovery. We are especially sending prayers to those who are wounded and in need of healing.
To add a name to our communal misheberach prayer list,email us. If you have a Yahrtzeit, birthday, anniversary or other milestone coming up, please reach out! We'd like to update our Yahrtzeit database. Pleasesend us your yahrzeit details. If you don't know the exact Hebrew date, just let us know the date of passing, and we will figure it out and add it to the Shul Cloud calendar.
For those of you who have not yet renewed your membership with us, kindly pay your dues online or mail a check to: The Stanton Street Shul P.O. Box 1008 NY, NY 10002
YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED!!
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If you missed services this past Shabbos, or arrived too late to hear the drasha, you can go to our archives and read a copy! Click here for an archive of shiurim Clickherefor an archive of drashot Clickhere to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of all of our ZOOM classes
