Every detail matters.
A friend of mine was starting her career as an interior designer. She was awarded a plum job and excitedly began her work.
She measured diligently.
She chose fabrics with care.
She studied color palettes until she had created the perfect kitchen and all its components.
Before her eyes, she saw her vision coming together. Then the day came for appliance installation. The gleaming fridge was rolled in to be placed in the appointed spot and to her horror it did not fit. Somehow, the measurement had just been a “tad” off. All the cabinetry surrounding the fridge had to be reconfigured.
Just an inch made all the difference.
This week’s Torah portion is called Terumah which means donation. In the first capital campaign in Jewish history the crowd funding worked and there were too many donations brought to help build the Tabernacle!
That is something every Jewish organization has hoped to replicate since.
The Torah portion speaks about the creation of the Tabernacle and all its vessels in exquisite detail. Every inch is recorded.
Each technical detail is accounted. There is a robust list of materials and colors, nothing is left to chance.
Sivan Rahav Meir collects the wisdom of the Sages to give light to the need for such detail.
Judaism is not only focused on the big picture, the details are crucial. Jewish law is called Halacha which speaks to the fact that it is a road map for living, the manual on how to find our way. Therefore the details are provided, as even the smallest one can make all the difference.
Our Sages notice that when the Torah narrative describes the creation of the world, it is chronicled in 30 verses. All the information regarding the creation of the Universe, is shared with us in those 30 sentences. However, when the Torah describes the construction of the Tabernacle, the narrative is told in an immense amount of verses, 450 to be exact.
The commentaries explain that the Torah’s purpose is not to narrate what Gd does in the world. The focus is on people and what their job is in this world.

Therefore, the job we do matters and the attention to the little things can make a huge difference.
An artist was once commissioned to create a piece of art for a synagogue.
The rendering that was approved by the committee contained a verse from the Torah that would be carved out of wood and as a free standing piece would wrap around the center of the synagogue. The day of unveiling arrived and when the artist triumphantly removed the cloth the congregation gasped. Unfortunately this was not due to the beauty of the work. Half of the verse was written properly and the other half was written backwards. The artist was not proficient in Hebrew and perhaps while he was tracing the letters the paper flipped over.
A small matter.
But the outcome was literally backwards.
Lest we think that the details of creating the edifice was the main thrust of the Torah portion, we have to remind ourselves that just as every detail makes a difference, every person is a world. So every person matters.
We need to learn from the preponderance of details that every small action matters and therefore every person matters.
Sivan shared the famous story of a little boy walking on a beach that was littered with beached starfish. These starfish had washed onto the beach with the tide and were now helpless and unable to return to the lifesaving ocean. The little boy could not stand by and watch this travesty. So he began retrieving starfish, and one at a time, throwing them back to the ocean.
A practical, maybe somewhat cynical adult, observed this seeming exercise in futility and finally could not hold back any longer. He asked the child what he hoped to accomplish. There were thousands of starfish on that beach and he could not possibly save them all.
“What difference will it make?” the adult asked in exasperation.
The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and replied
“For this one it will make a difference”.
Life has its way of turning us into exasperated adults. We have perhaps constructed one too many edifices where the pieces do not quite fit.
The message of Terumah is details are important.
Every donation, no matter how small, makes a difference,
each person is consequential.
We may be a work in progress, but we are built of hues and dimension substance and texture.
All the components which create a world.
A world in which our actions, both large and small are meaningful.
My dear friend became quite successful in her work. She is known for taking meticulous measurements. And the gift she gives to every new employee is a tape measure and a rendition of her story.
She used that experience to catapult to a new level of expertise.
That is truly the measure of a woman.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love from Jerusalem.