We find something striking about the flow of the topics in Parshiyos Terumah and Tetzaveh. Parshas Terumah begins with a discussion of the mishkan. Hashem commands[i] Moshe to build a mishkan, “v'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'socham.” The Torah then describes how each of the keilim of the Mishkan are supposed to be built. The Torah then describes the mishkan itself. That is in Parshas Terumah. In Parshas Tetzaveh the Torah moves on to discuss the kohanim. First, the Torah discusses the bigdei kehuna and how they are supposed to be made. Then the Torah[ii] describes the process of the initiation and consecration of the kohanim, “this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to serve as kohanim.” So at this point, we have the mishkan itself, the keilim of the mishkan, the begadim of the kohanim, and the initiation of the kohanim. At this point, one would think we are ready to have the shechinah dwell in the Mishkan and dwell in our midst, as the Torah describes earlier at the beginning of Parshas Terumah.

But we find something else. The Torah[iii] then describes the Korban Tamid. Every day we offer two korbanos on the mizbeach - one in the morning and one in the evening. Then, immediately after the description of the Korban Tamid, the Torah[iv] describes, “vi’shachanti b'soch B'nei Yisroel v'hayisi lachem l'Elokim,” “and I will dwell in the midst of B'nei Yisroel and be their G-d.”

This is very striking. The Torah puts the description of the Korban Tamid here, before the pesukim describing Hashem's Shechinah dwelling in the Mishkan and dwelling among us. Why? What is the message? Rav Hirsch[v] explains as follows. The promised goal of the mishkan is Hashem's presence in the Mishkan and in the nation. The pesukim are teaching us that,

This goal is only achieved by the priests expressing … on behalf of the nation. The daily devotion of the lives of the people to the ideals of Judaism as represented by the sanctuary... is the meaning of the Tamid-offering.

In other words, Rav Hirsch is explaining, it is not enough to have the building, it is not enough to have the holy vessels, it is not enough to have the holy garments, it is not enough to have the kohanim ready to do the avodah. The shechinah does not dwell in the mishkan until the mishkan becomes the place of service of Hashem.

Rav Hirsch[vi] writes,

The constant devotion of the people to the ideals of the divine Torah, that is the necessary condition for the shechinah to rest… The shechinah will only dwell in the Mishkan when the sanctuary becomes alive and active through the acts of devotion of the people. These acts of devotion are supposed to symbolize the heartbeat, the central driving force of national life.

This is a major yesod in Torah hashkafa. The goal of the Mishkan is the daily service of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and when we do serve Hashem on a daily basis, then the shechinah will dwell in the mishkan and amongst Am Yisroel in general.  The Korban Tamid in the mishkan is symbolic, as Rav Hirsch explains, of the daily devotion of B'nei Yisroel to avodas Hashem.

This explanation of Rav Hirsch fits well with Rav Hirsch's general approach to the mishkan. Rav Hirsch explains in many places that the purpose of the mishkan is to be a source of inspiration to serve Hashem well in our ordinary daily lives. It is not enough to just be dedicated to HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the Beis HaMikdash, we have to also serve Hashem in our ordinary, daily lives. To teach this idea, the Torah delays the description of the shechinah dwelling in the mishkan until after the mishkan itself becomes a source of avodas Hashem. If one wants to have the shechinah in his life, he has to have daily devotion and commitment to avodas Hashem in his daily life. This is Rav Hirsch's beautiful explanation of the flow and the order of Parshiyos Terumah and Tetzaveh.

The lesson for us, of course, is to live up to the challenge, this charge of the mishkan. We do not have the mishkan nowadays. But we have other sources of inspiration- we have yeshivos, seminaries, Torah classes, etc... The goal of every Jew has to be that he is inspired by his years and his time in these institutions, and he takes the inspiration with him as he enters the outside world. Every person has the ability to bring the shechinah into his home, but the only way to do it is with daily commitment to avodas Hashem.

[i] 25,8

[ii] 29,1

[iii] 29,38

[iv] 29,45

[v] Shemos p. 564

[vi]  Shemos p. 565