Parashat Teruma tells about the Mishkan , the portable sanctuary which Beneh Yisrael built at Mount Sinai, and which they took with them as they traveled through the wilderness and crossed into the Land of Israel. It was eventually replaced by the Bet Ha’mikdash in Jerusalem. The main area of the Mishkan featured three furnishings: 1) a menorah , which was kindled each evening; 2) a mizbe’ah (altar); 3) a shulhan (table), on which bread was displayed. The commentators explained that these three pieces of furniture in the Mishkan allude to the three ways in we are to turn our homes into “sanctuaries,” into places of holiness, worthy of Hashem’s presence. First, we need to have a menorah – the “light” of Torah. The pasuk in Mishleh (6:23) states, כי נר מצוה ותורה אור – Torah is likened to light, as it illuminates our path, showing us how to live our lives. The menorah is the symbol of Torah learning, and its presence in the Mishkan teaches us of the need to make our homes places of Torah study. Secondly, our homes need to feature a mizbe’ah – representing the service of Hashem. The offerings brought in the Bet Ha’mikdash are substituted today with prayer. This, too, must be a regular fixture in our home. If we want Hashem’s presence in our homes, we need to bring Him there by regularly calling to Him in prayer. The final piece of furniture in the main area of the Mishkan was the shulhan . The table, where we have our meals, represents hesed (kindness), using our “bread” – our livelihood – for dispensing kindness. This is the third thing we need to do so our homes become a sanctuary – make them places of hesed , where we give to other people. As the famous Mishna in the beginning of Pirkeh Avot teaches: על שלשה דברים העולם עומד – על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמילות חסדים . The world rests on the three “pillars” of Torah learning, service of Hashem, and kindness. Correspondingly, we make our homes into places of kedushah (sanctity), worthy of Hashem’s presence, by using them for these three “pillars.” Many of us probably think that we already do this. They proudly display Torah books on the shelves, they make time for Torah classes, they pray, and they give charity. If we do this, does this mean that we’ve succeeded into making our homes into a Mishkan ? The story is told of a school which told its students before parent-teacher meetings to write on a piece of paper the most important rule in their homes. The school wanted that when the parents arrived for meetings that night, they would see what their children feel is the most important rule enforced in the home. The parents arrived, expecting to find notes such as, “Say a berachah before eating”; “No lashon ha’ra ”; “Say Shema before bedtime.” Instead, they found notes such as, “Don’t walk with shoes on the carpet”; “No hands on the shades.” These parents were shown that while they certainly paid lip service to Torah and mitzvot , the message they were giving their kids was that the house’s physical appearance was the most important thing. When parents speak to their children about their future, how much time do they spend talking about college and employment, and how much time do they spend talking about religious observance, about allocating significant time for Torah, and for praying with a minyan ? How much time is spent at the table talking about celebrities, such as sports players and politicians, and how much time is spent talking about great Rabbis and what we can learn from them? How much time is spent talking about sports and politics, and how much time is spent sharing divreh Torah ? There was one more piece of “furniture” in the Mishkan – the sacred aron (ark), which contained the tablets which Moshe Rabbenu brought from Mount Sinai, as well as the first Torah scroll. The aron was kept behind a curtain, and nobody ever went inside that section of the Mishkan , except the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur. The aron represents the essence of what the Mishkan was about. It wasn’t seen, but everyone was aware that this is what was kept inside the Mishkan , and it defined the building’s core identity. If our children would be asked, “What is the aron of your home? What is its core essence, its identity?” – what would they answer? In order to turn our homes into a Bet Ha’mikdash , we need to strive to ensure that “deep inside,” the thing that our homes are all about, is Hashem. Torah, prayer and hesed must not merely be things that we do from time to time, activities that we fit into our schedule. We need to make it clear to our children – and to ourselves – that these are the essence of the home, the “pillars,” the foundations upon which we build our homes. If we can do this, then we will turn our homes into a Mishkan , worthy of Hashem’s presence and Hashem’s endless blessings.