The question which we must answer on a weekly basis is how can we find something practical from the seemingly mundane, especially this week in the lengthy, detailed description of every single vessel in the mishkan (Tabernacle)? What can we extract from this parsha that is meaningful to our lives?
Each one of the vessels that Hashem commanded Bnei Yisrael to make in this Parshat Terumah were instructed to be made with poles in order to facilitate transport through the desert. This being said, regarding the Aron Kodesh (ark), Hashem commands in 25:15, ?In the rings of the ark shall the poles remain, they shall never be removed from it [the Aron].? The question we must ask is, why are these seemingly routine transportation poles designed to be positioned eternally, as opposed to every other vessel in the Mishkan ?
In order to fully understand this differentiation, we must first investigate the unique characteristics of the Aron Kodesh. The only other time in the Torah where specific building requirements are enumerated, aside from those of the Mishkan and its accompanying vessels, is by God?s command to Noah to build the ark in Sefer B?reishit (Genesis 6:14). In that circumstance, God provides instructions about the logistics of the Aron Kodesh, detailing specific requirements for length, width and height precisely as was done by the vessels of the Mishkan. Likewise, Noah?s ark was required to be made from wood, just like the vessels. Noah?s ark also shares special characteristics exclusively to the Aron Kodesh. Textually, both share the unique phrase, ?Mibayit U?mibachutz? ?[material should be placed] on the inside and the outside.? Additionally, the purpose of both these objects was containment; Noah?s ark was designed for people, animals, etc. while the Aron Kodesh was designed for the Luchot (tablets). There is an obvious comparison between these two structures (arks!) but the question remains; what is the importance of these blatant similarities?
It is easy to understand that the containment purposes of Noah?s ark were temporary; after God washed away the entire world, Noah was then to empty his ?mini-world? from the boat?s confines and reestablish the world. With the Torah?s purposeful comparison to Noah?s ark, we are therefore also ?told? that the confinement purposes of the Aron Kodesh were, in fact, also temporary. This raises a seeming difficulty as the Luchot were to remain eternally within the Aron Kodesh. Doesn?t this exemplify permanence? This is exactly the misunderstanding the Torah?s comparison is preventing of us from reaching. While the contents of Noah?s ark were enclosed in their wooden confines, this purpose was not the final goal of the boat; similarly, while the physical tablets were enclosed within the Aron Kodesh, the national contract which they represent was not defined or relegated to that one particular place. Just as God spoke from ?atop the Aron? (25:22), but, of course, His presence and rule was omnipresent, so too, the tablets, although they remained in the ark, their message and meaning was universal ? the confinement was only ?temporary?.
It is with understanding that reflects Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch?s explanation as to why only the removal of the ark?s poles was prohibited. The Torah which the ark represented was not permanently defined in one place, relegated to a singular location; rather, the Torah never settles, its poles representative of always ?traveling? even when the ark, the physical box they are carried in, is at rest.
While a Torah may be kept in shul, this does not allow our disrespecting of its messages and teachings outside of that building; even though Torah is learned formally in a Beit Midrash, this does not and cannot preclude its learning and following even outside of those particular walls.

Another message that can be drawn from the seemingly odd combination of having ?transitory? poles affixed to Aron Kodesh is that of eternality of our Torah. Many believe that the Torah is out-of-style and that the laws and stories of the Bible have no practical meaning in the 21st century. The Gemara says that one of the things that we will all be asked when we pass on is ?Kavata Itim La?Torah? often translated as ?Did you set aside time for Torah?? Literally, it can be translated as ?Did you fix the times to the Torah?? We often hear the claim that the Torah must fit the times and be shaped and modified to meet modern day conditions. Judaism however, is precisely the reverse. It is our mission to shape the times to the Torah by transforming our environment to fit the Torah?s parameters. It should be our goal to elevate our lives rather than lower the Torah.
This is another powerful message that the poles affixed to the Aron represent; we know that the Torah must be forever maintained within the Aron Kodesh, but simultaneously ?carried? through modern times. We should not break the glass casing which surrounds God?s instruction of how to live our lives, rather it is our mission to look within that clear glass to apply it to our daily lives.