Terumah uplifts the hidden good of Creation

במדרש כי לקח טוב נתתי.

In the Midrash: "For I have given you a good acquisition (lekach tov)."

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse describing the Torah as a "good acquisition" that Hashem has given to Bnei Yisrael.

כבר כתבתי במ"א מזה כי ע"י התורה יכולין למצוא הטוב בכל מעשה בראשית דאמרו חז"ל באורייתא ברא קוב"ה עלמא.

I have already written elsewhere on this, that through the Torah one is able to find the good in all of Creation, as Chazal said: "With the Torah HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world (b'oraisa bara Kudsha Brich Hu alma)."

Because Hashem created the world by means of the Torah, the Torah is the tool through which a person can uncover the inner good embedded in everything in Creation.

הביט בתורה וברא העולם.

"He looked into the Torah and created the world."

The Zohar's image: Hashem gazed into the Torah as a blueprint and brought the world into being accordingly.

ויתכן שהוציאו כן ממאמרו ית' בכל מעשה בראשית וירא אלקים כי טוב.

And it is plausible that they derived this from His blessed saying throughout the account of Creation: "And Elokim saw that it was good (vayar Elokim ki tov)."

He suggests Chazal learned that Torah underlies Creation from the repeated phrase "and Elokim saw that it was good" in the creation narrative.

וירא אלקים כי טוב.

"And Elokim saw that it was good."

He repeats the phrase to focus on the word "good," which is the key.

והיינו שהביט בכל דבר שנמצא בו ד"ת שנק' טוב.

That is to say: He looked into each thing [and saw] that there is found in it divrei Torah (words of Torah), which are called "good."

"And He saw that it was good" means Hashem saw the words of Torah embedded within each created thing — and Torah is what is called "tov."

ומקודם החטא הי' נגלה הטוב ואח"כ נתערב רע בטוב כי הנה הכל תלוי בזה האדם שהוא כלל הבריאה שנק' עולם קטן.

And before the sin the good was revealed, and afterward evil became mixed into the good — for behold, everything depends on man, who is the totality of Creation, called a "small world (olam katan)."

Before the cheit the inner good shone openly; the sin mingled evil into it. Everything hinges on the adam, who is a microcosm containing all of Creation.

והוא המקיים התורה ועל ידו נמצא הטוב בכל מ"ב דכ' וירא אלקים א"כ אשר עשה והנ"ט מאוד.

And he is the one who upholds the Torah, and through him the good is found in all of Creation (maaseh bereishis), as it is written: "And Elokim saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good (tov meod)."

Man, by keeping the Torah, reveals the good throughout Creation; the summarizing verse "very good" comes only at the completion that includes man.

דרשו חז"ל מאד זה אדם.

Chazal expounded: "very (meod)" — this refers to man (adam).

The added word "very" alludes to the adam, whose presence completes and intensifies the goodness of Creation. (The letters of "meod" rearrange to "adam.")

ואח"כ ע"י החטא הי' תערובות.

And afterward, through the sin, there was an admixture.

After the cheit, good and evil became intermingled, obscuring the revealed good.

ובקבלת התורה הותקן הקלקול.

And at Kabbalas haTorah the damage was rectified.

The receiving of the Torah at Sinai repaired the corruption introduced by the sin.

וכ' מקודם ויהי משה בהר מ' יום ומ' לילה שקיבל כל התושבע"פ.

And first it is written, "And Moshe was on the mountain forty days and forty nights," for he received all of Torah she'baal peh (the Oral Torah).

During those forty days Moshe Rabbeinu received the entire Oral Torah.

והוא הציור פנימי של כללות בנ"י.

And this is the inner form (tziyur penimi) of the totality of Bnei Yisrael.

The Oral Torah is the inner spiritual form, the penimiyus, of the entire nation of Bnei Yisrael.

לכן הי' מ' יום כדי יצירת הולד.

Therefore it was forty days — corresponding to the [period of] the formation of a fetus.

The forty days parallel the forty days of a child's formation in the womb, because at Sinai the inner "form" of Bnei Yisrael was being shaped.

דכ' עם זו יצרתי כו' משמע שיש לבנ"י צורה מיוחדת וע"ז אמרו אתם קרוין אדם כו' שזה הציור אדם שכולל כל מ"ב נמצא רק בבנ"י שהוחזר להם הארה הראשונה שהי' קודם החטא.

As it is written, "this people I have formed (am zu yatzarti)," etc., implying that Bnei Yisrael have a distinct form; and concerning this Chazal said, "You are called 'adam'," etc. — for this form of "adam," which encompasses all of Creation, is found only in Bnei Yisrael, to whom the original illumination that existed before the sin was restored.

Bnei Yisrael alone bear the true "form of adam" that contains all Creation, because at Sinai the pre-sin light of revealed good was given back to them.

ובכח זה ויקחו לי תרומה כו' היינו להרים כל הבריאה.

And by this power, "Let them take for Me a terumah (offering)," etc. — meaning, to uplift all of Creation.

With this restored power, the command to bring terumah for the Mishkan becomes a means of raising up all of Creation. (The root of "terumah" means to lift up.)

ובוודאי אלו הי"ג דברים המנוין כאן הם שורש כל הבריאה.

And certainly these thirteen items enumerated here are the root of all Creation.

The thirteen materials listed for the Mishkan are the root-elements that encompass the whole of Creation.

ומה שנק' תרומה הגם כי מאלה המינים נתנו כל הנמצא אצלם.

And as for why it is called terumah — even though from these types they gave [only] whatever was available to them...

Though Bnei Yisrael donated merely the materials they happened to have on hand, the act is still termed terumah, an "uplifting."

רק שע"י זו הנדבה הי' עלי' לכל הבריאה.

...it is only that through this nedavah there was an elevation for all of Creation.

Because their willing donation raised up the root-elements, all of Creation was elevated along with them.

ע"י תרומה זו שהרימו הראשית ושורש הטוב הגנוז במעשה בראשית ניתקן כל מ"ב:

Through this terumah, by which they lifted up the "first" and the root of the good hidden within Creation, all of Creation was rectified.

By uplifting the root-good concealed in Creation through their terumah, Bnei Yisrael completed the tikkun of the entire world begun at Sinai.

Summary: Hashem created the world by looking into the Torah, so the inner "good" of every created thing is the Torah hidden within it. The sin mixed evil into that good, but Kabbalas haTorah restored the original pre-sin light to Bnei Yisrael, who alone bear the true "form of adam" encompassing all Creation. Empowered by this, their terumah for the Mishkan — lifting up the thirteen root-materials — elevated and rectified the root-good hidden throughout Creation.