Terumah

In Parshat Terumah, G-d tells Moses to ask the people for a heartfelt voluntary offering to build the Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle that would house the Divine Presence during the years in the desert.

The parshah describes in great detail the materials required: gold, silver, copper, dyed wool, fine linen, goat hair, animal skins, acacia wood, olive oil, spices and precious stones.

It then sets out the design of the holiest vessels: the Ark of the Covenant with its golden cover and the two cherubim with outstretched wings, the Table of the showbread, the seven-branched Menorah of pure gold, and the structures of the Tabernacle itself.