Bar & Bat Mitzvah · Parent Speech Guide · Exodus

The Parent Speech for Parashat Terumah

If your child is reading Terumah, the speech you give that morning shouldn't be a book report on the portion — it should be about them, with the parsha giving your words weight. Terumah hands a parent three honest ways in: giving from the heart, building something sacred together, making space for what matters.

What happens in Parashat Terumah

God asks for offerings from every willing heart to build the Mishkan — a sanctuary so God may dwell among them.

Terumah opens with God telling Moses to collect gifts — but only from people whose hearts move them to give. The list is specific: gold, silver, copper, blue and purple yarn, animal skins, acacia wood, oil, spices, gemstones. These materials will build the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary the Israelites carry through the desert. Then the portion becomes a blueprint. God describes the ark that will hold the tablets, topped by two golden cherubim (winged figures); a table for bread; the seven-branched menorah; the curtains and wooden frames of the tent itself; and a copper altar outside. One line anchors it all: "Build Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them" — among the people, not in the building.

Why Terumah is good ground for a parent speech

Honestly, Terumah is a construction manual — cubits, clasps, sockets — and plenty of parents skim it and panic. But the dry parts sit on a warm foundation. The sanctuary gets built only from voluntary gifts, each person bringing what they actually have — "Giving from the heart" in action, and a natural frame for a kid who just spent a year preparing something nobody could do for them. And the portion's best line, that God dwells among the people rather than in the box, lets you say plainly that your child's Judaism lives in how they treat people. You can build a speech from a blueprint.

1. Giving from the heart

The offering is taken 'from every person whose heart moves them' — the willingness matters as much as the gift.

The story to findHow does your child give — time, help, encouragement — when their heart moves them?

2. Building something sacred together

The sanctuary is built from many people's contributions — gold from one, yarn from another. Everyone's piece matters.

The story to findWhat has your child contributed to something bigger than themselves — a team, a show, a project, this community?

3. Making space for what matters

'Build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them' — among the people, not in the building. We make room for holiness in how we live.

The story to findWhere do you see your child making room for what really matters — family, friends, tradition?

What it can sound like

Last spring our son gave three weekends to building the set for the school play. He can't act — his words, not ours. So he sanded plywood, painted a castle wall, and stayed late taping cables to the floor. On opening night he stood in the back, watching two hundred people look at a wall he built. We have never seen him prouder of something nobody clapped for.

A moment from a parent speech built on one of the themes above — yours would be built on your child's real stories.

How a real parent speech comes together

The speeches that make a room go quiet aren't essays about the parsha — they're two or three true stories about your kid, with one Torah moment placed where it lands hardest. Pick the single theme above that made you think of a specific dinner-table moment, answer its question honestly, and resist the urge to attach a moral to every story. End with a blessing in your own words — that's the part everyone remembers.

Nachas writes it with you.

A ten-minute interview about your child, and you get a speech plan that pairs their real stories with Terumah — then three complete drafts in different voices, for every speaker in the family.

Start with Terumah — see your speech plan

The interview and speech plan are free. No signup.