We continue Parashat Teruma, today around the Aron (the Ark). Everything rests on one principle: for Hashem to make His Shechina dwell within Israel, there must be a foundation of humility.

"They shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them" — inside the hearts of the people of Israel.

A recap from earlier this week: the Tachash is colorful (Sas Gona), rejoicing in its colors. But those colors are Avraham and Yitzchak! Yaakov says: "Without my father and grandfather, I am nothing." Thus the Orot Techashim covering the Mishkan proclaim: Anava, Anava, Anava.

"And they shall make an Ark of acacia wood." Everywhere else it is written "Ve'asita" (and you shall make), singular. The only vessel in the plural — "Ve'asu" — is the Aron.

Priesthood is hereditary; kingship is reserved for the line of David. But the crown of Torah was given to no one in particular: it belongs to all Israel, and whoever wishes to come and study, let him come! That is why the Aron's command is plural: there is room for the whole people.

"Two and a half cubits its length, one and a half its width, one and a half its height."

The message is the same: if the Aron represents the Torah, then to acquire Torah one must always feel "half," incomplete. Again and again we return to Anava.

Sefer Vayikra is the middle Chumash. It holds the Torah's midpoints: half in words, half in letters, half in verses (304,805 letters; 79,976 words; 5,846 verses).

Exactly between "Daroch" and "Darash" falls the halfway point of the Torah in words. The message: even if you have already "Darash" (studied), Droch! — keep investigating. You are always only half.

The halfway point in letters falls on the Vav of "Gachon" (the serpent's belly) — a Vav Rabati, an enlarged letter. This letter bears the whole weight of the Torah, so it must be humble.

"You shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without." Betzalel made three nested arks, like stacking cubes: a small gold one, a larger wooden one, a large gold one — hence an Aron gold inside and out, with acacia wood in the middle.

The Talmid Chacham — meaning a good Jew — represents Hashem in the world. That is why a stain on his garment is a serious matter: looking unkempt would be a Chillul Hashem. We must appear as children of the King: this is the gold on the outside.

But inside, we must remain in simplicity — this is the wood. On one side holy boldness (Azut diKedusha), on the other Anava: a constant balance of being.

The whole Mishkan illustrates this: inside, everything is gold — Aron, Kaporet, Keruvim, Menorah, Shulchan, Mizbe'ach HaKetoret. Yet the whole is covered from outside by goat skins and the Orot Techashim. A very lofty interior, an exterior of apparent simplicity.

Inside the Aron were: the Luchot HaBrit (the intact second Tablets), the Shivrei Luchot (fragments of the first Tablets Moshe broke), the Mateh Aharon that blossomed and produced almonds, and the Tzintzenet HaMan (jar of Manna). According to some, the Sefer Torah of Moshe rested on a ledge beside the Aron.

Thus when the Babylonians came, they carried off the ordinary vessels of the Temple, but not the Aron, nor Moshe's Menorah, nor the rest: all was hidden below. In the Second Temple there was no longer an Aron in the Kodesh HaKodashim, only the Even HaShetiya (Foundation Stone), on which the Kohen Gadol placed the incense on Yom Kippur.

On the day of revelation, the whole world will suddenly see that everything written in the Torah is truth. May we merit it soon, in our days, Amen.