terumah

The posuk says ועשית שלחן עצי שטים: make a table of shittim wood. We need to understand why the command to build the שלחן came before the command to build the מנורה. In reality, the מנורה should have been built right after the ארון, for like the ארון it symbolizes Torah & it was also situated closer to the ארון in the mishkan. So why list the שלחן first? The sefer 'אמרות ה brings down the gemara in חגיגה that tries to prove from the posuk of המזבח עץ שלש אמות גבוה........ זה השלחן אשר לפני ה that the שלחן was made of wood. The gemara asks, why does the posuk start off by calling the שלחן  the "מזבח"?  The gemara answers by quoting ר יוחנן and ריש לקיש who both say that it's teaching us that at the time of the בית המקדש the מזבח was there to gain atonement for people. However, now that we don't have the מזבח, one's own table can grant him atonement. How does that work? There's a story that occurred with the אריז"ל, told over by ר' משה חאגיז, who heard it from the elders of that generation. In one of the shuls in tzfas there was a rov who was giving a drasha about the לחם הפנים & how it was brought every שבת, and was bemoaning the fact that we no longer have this special bread. Amongst the people who were listening to the drasha was a man from Portugal who settled in tzfas. This man was not learned, but did whatever mitzvos he could to the best of his understanding, with a pure heart. When this man heard how upset the rov was that there was no more לחם הפנים, he decided that he was going to prepare the best & finest challos every friday & put them in the ארון הקודש, and hope that 'ה would accept his offering and eat his challos. The next friday his wife prepared exquisite challos, & the man went & put them in the ארון, and stood there davening that 'ה accept his challos & eat them. When he finished his prayer, he left.   When the shamash came into shul to prepare for shabbos, he saw the beautiful challos, & without asking any questions he took them for himself. Later, when the man came to shul and saw that his challos weren't there, his happiness knew no bounds, for he thought that his offering was accepted by 'ה. This continued on every week until one week when the man went & put his challos in & was saying his prayers unaware of anything around him. The rabbi happened to be there and was watching what was going on. The rabbi got angry at him & said, are you a fool? Do you think 'ה is eating your challos?? The shamash is definitely taking them! It's a great sin to give food to ה like He's a physical being! As the rabbi went on & on, the shamash came in to take "his" challos, & readily admitted that he was the one who took them every week. When the man heard that, he broke down crying, asking the rabbi to forgive him, for he thought he was doing a mitzva, when in reality it was a sin. As this was going on, a messenger from the אריז"ל came & summoned the rabbi to come to the אריז"ל telling him that tomorrow at the time he usually gives his drasha he was going to die. The rabbi, alarmed & shaken, rushed to the אריז"ל and asked him, what did I do? What's my sin? The אריז"ל answered, you took away the greatest נחת רוח that 'ה had. From the time of the destruction of the בית המקדש He has had no greater satisfaction than this man bringing his heartfelt offering, & now you ended it. We know that the קרבנות are the way 'ה normally gets a נחת רוח from us , and nowadays the only way to get credit for the קרבנות is by learning about them, so the נחת רוח that 'ה gets nowadays is from us learning Torah. Maybe this is how we could understand what the 'אמרות ה said. The way our tables can be מכפר is if our tables are pure, & when we're around the table we talk about Torah and not gossip. That's why the שלחן is after the ארון, to teach us that the way our table can be מכפר is by talking Torah around them, and by doing so, giving 'ה a נחת רוח from us!