Parshah of TERUMAH, Exodus 25:1-27:19

UNIVERSAL TORAH: TERUMAH

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: TERUMAH Exodus 25:1-27:19

ABOVE SHALL BE BELOW, BELOW ABOVE

From this week's parshah of TERUMAH onwards until the end of the book of Exodus -- five parshahs -- the central theme is the Sanctuary built by the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. The Sanctuary is the prototype of the Holy Temple destined to stand eternally in Yerushalayim.

This week's parshah explains the design of the Sanctuary and its vessels, while next week's parshah of TETZAVEH explains the garments that were to be worn by those who were to minister in that Sanctuary -- Aaron and his sons. TETZAVEH also explains the sacrificial rituals that were to inaugurate the Sanctuary and its priests.

After TETZAVEH comes KI TISA, which continues the explanation of the form of the Sanctuary vessels and the sacrifices. When this explanation is complete, KI TISA goes on to narrate the sin of the Golden Calf and how Moses secured atonement for the people through the 13 Attributes of Mercy.

Then come the last two parshahs of Exodus, VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY, which explain how Bezalel and the other craftsmen actually constructed the Sanctuary and made the priestly clothes. VAYAKHEL and PEKUDAY repeat practically word for word some of the corresponding passages in TERUMAH and TETZAVEH. PEKUDEY then concludes the book of Exodus with the account of the inauguration of the Sanctuary and the priests on the New Moon of the first Nissan after the Exodus. This was exactly one year to the day since Moses received the first commandments while still in Egypt: the law of the New Moon and the Pesach sacrifice, prototype of Temple sacrifice.

At the close of TETZAVEH and Exodus, we read how G-d's Cloud of Glory dwelled constantly over the Sanctuary. Leviticus opens immediately with the Voice of G-d emanating to Moses from between the mouths of the Cherubs in the Holy of Holies, giving him the detailed laws of the Temple sacrifices.

From this overview of the remaining five parshahs of Exodus, we see that the subject of the Sanctuary -- central to the Torah and to the whole world -- is introduced in "sandwich" form. TERUMAH and TETZAVEH explain the intended form of the Sanctuary and priestly garments BEFORE they were executed, when they were in the "mind" and will of G-d. In the middle of the "sandwich" is the account of the sin of the Golden Calf and it's atonement through the 13 Attributes of Mercy. Then on the other side of the "sandwich" come VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY, which tell how the Sanctuary IDEA was brought from POTENTIAL TO ACTUAL through the thirty-nine labors of the craftsmen who made it.

At the very center of this "sandwich" structure is the account of the sin of the Golden Calf -- which changed everything for the Children of Israel. In the heady days of the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah, the Children of Israel were elevated to the greatest heights. Then suddenly, forty days after hearing the Voice of G-d at Sinai, in one single orgy they sank to the lowest depths of degradation. From then on they had to learn the terrible pain of retribution, suffering and contrition. This was a loss of innocence parallel to the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

But God had already prepared the remedy before the illness. Indeed, we might even say that the illness was sent with the very purpose of revealing the great power of the remedy. The remedy for sin is repentance, which saves man from himself and brings him back to the One G-d, bringing him atonement -- AT-ONE-MENT. The penitential "system" of the Torah is contained within the Sanctuary and its sacrificial rituals, which are a teaching to mankind about how man draws close (KaRoV) to G-d through his KORBAN ("sacrifice") -- literally, his "coming close". As the way of repentance for having elevated wealth to the status of a god, man is commanded to take gold, silver, copper and the richest fabrics in order to glorify and magnify the One True G-d. Man is taught how to configure the materials of this world so that instead of separating him from G-d through idolatrous uses and configurations, they will serve to draw him ever closer, until G-d Himself "dwells" with man.

TERUMAH and TETZAVEH present us the Sanctuary and sacrificial IDEA before we have even learned about sin. The lesson of the Golden Calf in KI TISA is harsh. But it is sweetened, because immediately after Moses secured atonement for Israel through the 13 Attributes of Mercy, the very next day he assembled the people and told them to bring gifts of materials and to get busy making the ACTUAL sanctuary, as told in VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY. Thus the bitterness of sin in KI TISA is "sandwiched" between the sweetness of TERUMAH & TETZAVEH (the Teshuvah IDEA in all its innocent purity) and VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY (the ACTUALIZATION of Teshuvah in the Sanctuary in this world.) [This "sandwich" is reminiscent of how in Temple times, Hillel would eat his Pesach sacrifice with the bitter herbs in a "sandwich" with his Matza.]

The Torah never wastes a word or a single letter. It is therefore a great wonder that many of the passages about the Sanctuary, its vessels and the priestly garments that we read this week and next in TERUMAH and TEZTAVEH are, as mentioned, repeated almost word for word in VAYAKHEL and PEKUDEY. The "mirroring" of the explanation of the IDEA in the account of its ACTUALIZATION comes to communicate something that is at the very core of the Temple-Sanctuary idea. The Temple or Sanctuary are a "replica" and "mirror" of the Heavenly Sanctuary, which is in the "mind" or will of G-d. They are a "replica" in which the materials of this world -- metals, wood, fabrics, etc. -- are used to bring a "reflection" of heaven into the minds and consciousness of ordinary people.

In this way, what is "above" -- "in heaven" -- actually dwells and exists in material form in this world "below". And through this, "below" becomes "above". "And they will take for Me an offering. And they will make Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell WITHIN THEM" (Ex. 25 vv. 2, 8).


JACOB'S CEDARS

"And you shall make THE boards for the Sanctuary from the wood of cedar trees STANDING upright" (Ex. 26:15). On this, Rashi comments: "It should have simply said, 'you shall make boards' in the same way as was said of everything else. What are 'THE boards'? These were boards from those that were STANDING ready for this. Jacob our father planted cedars in Egypt and before he died, he instructed his sons to take them up with them when they left Egypt, and he said that the Holy One was going to command them to build a Sanctuary in the wilderness" (Rashi ad loc.)

In the Midrash which Rashi here brings about the wood of the standing boards or beams of the Sanctuary -- the "bones" that enable the entire structure to stand up -- he underlines the conceptual connection between the Sanctuary idea and Jacob.

As discussed in UNIVERSAL TORAH commentaries on the parshahs in Genesis dealing with Jacob, it was he who made synthesis, order and structure out of the opposing polar tendencies of the two fathers and teachers in whose tents he sat -- Abraham (CHESSED, kindness and expansiveness) and Isaac (GEVURAH, power and restraint).

Jacob was the house-builder who built the House of Israel. And Jacob was a genius house-builder precisely because he understood domestic life perfectly. In his first appearance in the Torah (at the beginning of TOLDOS, Gen. 25:29) he is cooking lentil soup -- using the round lentils as a hint to his father Isaac (who was in mourning for the loss of Abraham, see Rashi) that life and death go in cycles. Jacob's grip on the heel of Esau indicates that Jacob possessed the power to take the simple things of this world (ASIYAH, Esau) and transform them into communicators of G-dliness.

Thus the components of the Sanctuary-Temple are the same as those of a home. It exists within a defined space, a court-yard, where curtains of modesty separate between what is outside (profane) and what is inside (holy).

The Sanctuary contains different areas. Its very heart is the hearth, the "kitchen". This is where the food is prepared (slaughter of animals) and cooked (on the "oven", the Altar). Within the "domestic quarters" of the House itself, there is a secluded, intimate living area with a lamp (the Menorah) and a table (the Show-bread Table), and a pleasant aroma (from the Incense Altar). Most secluded and intimate of all is the "bedroom", to which no-one except the most trusted has access. This is the Holy of Holies, where the "faithful of His house" may come "face to face" with the King in the height of prophecy.

The Sanctuary and Temple are replete with messages to us about how we must try to build our private homes and structure the lives we lead in them in ways that "reflect" G-dliness and enable G-d to dwell with us here in this world. This is how we lift up and elevate this world.


TERUMAH - LIFTING UP

The sin of the Golden Calf pulled the Children of Israel down to the depths of degradation. But the remedy existed already from before: TERUMAH -- the elevation of mundane objects and materials, gold, silver, wood, fabrics -- through the service of G-d in "homely" ways.

The great beauty of the way of repentance that G-d has provided is that it enables man to repent with honor. Despite having sinned, man is invited to become a contributor. He is asked to give a TERUMAH -- to take the gold and silver that he has, the very thing with which sinned, and "contribute" and "elevate" it so that now it too has its proper place in what becomes a Sanctuary. Then the proper order is restored, and everything sings out the glory of G-d.

One of the ways we "contribute" is through the words of our daily prayers and blessings. For in essence, the Sanctuary is a House of Prayer. So too our homes should be filled with our blessings and thanks for all the good things of life that we enjoy and with our prayers for all of our needs.

King David (who prepared the way for the Temple) instituted that One Hundred Blessings should be recited daily (Rambam, Laws of Prayer 7:14). These hundred blessings (made up of the morning blessings, the thrice repeated Shmonah Esray, the blessings before and after two daily meals, etc.) correspond to the hundred ADNEY KESEF, "sockets of silver" (Ex. 26:19; Shaarey Orah). These ADNEY KESEF were the solid bases in which the "standing" boards that made up the Sanctuary walls were planted. These "sockets" of solid silver are what kept the boards upright. This silver came from the 100 KIKAR of silver contributed by the Children of Israel in response to the command with which our parshah of TERUMAH begins: "Let them take an offering.and silver" (Ex. 25:3 and Rashi ad loc.; Ex. 38:26-7).

KESEF, "silver", is related to the word for "longing" -- as in KISUFin. Thus 100 ADNEY KESEF alludes to the hundred times we bless the name of G-d (A-D-N-Y), our Lord, with longing and yearning for His holiness to dwell with us! This small "contribution" on our part is what keeps the entire Sanctuary standing!

This Shabbat will also be Rosh Chodesh Adar I, New Moon of the month of Adar I (this year, being a leap year, we will add an additional month, Adar II, so we will enjoy the special providence of Adar for two months!!!)

MESHENICHNAS ADAR, MARBIN BESIMCHAH!!! "When Adar arrives, we maximize SIMCHAH!!!"

Shabbat Shalom UMevorach

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org

The Tzaddik HaDor

by Reb Nati

There is confusion regarding the idea of the Tzaddik Hador, the righteous leader of the generation. There are many tzaddikim, many righteous men, rabbis, teachers, and hidden ones. But there is only one tzaddik hador, and if we merit he becomes the Tzaddik Emet.

Tzaddik Emet is the soul of "Moshe - Moshiach", the redeemer. Throughout history there has been and only will be seven times, 7 gigulim of the neshomah (7 re-entries into this world of the essence of the soul) of Moshe Rebbaynu (Moses our Teacher), the soul of the Moshe Moshiach (Zohar Parshat Mishpatim and Ari Zal - Sha'arei Gigulim). These times have been: Moshe Rebbaynu (Moses our Teacher), some count Dovid HaMelech (King David), Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi), the Ari HaKodesh, the Baal Shem Tov, some count Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, some count the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Chabbad. We are presently waiting for the the last manifestation - in Moshiach.

(According to Breslev, Rebbe Nachman was 5th in this line. His Torah is the Torah of this, the last generation. He said his fire would burn until the Moshiach, and that Moshiach would be a decendant of his. See Chai Morahran, in English the books Tzaddik and Until Moshiach by Breslev Research Institute.)

But we were discussing the Tzaddik Hador. The last know widely accepted (by the majority of Jews) Tzaddik Hador was the Rebbe of Chabad.

Mordechai was the Tzaddik Hador in the time of the Purim story. Reb Nosson of Breslev teaches us some awesome details about this in Likutey Chalchot, hilchos Purim... The tzaddik hador is the most spiritually awake person alive. He not only has the ability to find and wake up the souls of Am Israel, he can if we help him. Can wake up the Divine presence. The Purim story is not just a story of Mordechai and Ester, but the story of the tzaddik HaDor and the Shechina, the Divine Presence. (More on this in a future post, Hashem willing.)

As the Zohar teaches us – everyone is against or afraid of the idea of there having to be a tzaddik. HaTzaddik, "THE" Tzaddik, HaDor - namely the Tzaddik of "THIS" generation. The Holy Zohar teaches (Zohar I, 28a): "Woe to the world for they do not provide help for the Shechina (Divine Presence) during the exile, or for Moshe (i.e. the Tzaddik), who is always with Her and never moves from Her… Moshe did not die. He is called Adam. Of Adam it is written (Bereishit 2:20), 'And Adam had no helpmate'. This applies to the last exile: Adam – the Tzaddik – has no helpmate. Everyone is against the Tzaddik".

May we all sincerely and wholeheartedly turn to Hashem in prayer and seek out, support and reveal the Shechina hidden within the exile along with Her helpmate 'HaTZaDDiK HaDoR' Amen.

This article is originally posted at Mystical Paths: http://www.mpaths.com/

Re-issue of this article at Journal Mitzvah with permission of Reb Akiva.

Parshah of MISHPATIM, Exodus 21:1-24:18

UNIVERSAL TORAH: MISHPATIM

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: MISHPATIM Exodus 21:1-24:18
Haftara: Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26

As indicated by its name of MISHPATIM, "the Laws", much of our parshah is made up of laws -- the basics of the Mosaic code as they apply equally to all Israelite men and women at all times and in all areas of life. These laws flesh out the details of the code for life implied in the Ten Commandments of which we read in last week's parshah of YISRO.

THERE IS NO "BEFORE" OR "AFTER" IN THE TORAH

One of the principles of rabbinic Torah commentary is that "there is no 'before' or 'after' in the Torah". This means that the order in which things are told in the Torah does not always correspond to the order in which they happened -- events may appear out of sequence.

Understanding this principle may help unravel some confusion that can easily arise from a casual reading of last week's parshah and this week's. On the surface, it appears as if the laws contained in our present parshah of MISHPATIM were given to Moses "after" the "main" event of the Divine revelation and giving of the Ten Commandments in the presence of all the people, as recounted in last week's parshah of YISRO. Thus, at the end of last week's parshah we read that "the people stood from afar and Moses approached into the darkness." (Ex. 20:18). Directly afterwards we read that G-d gave Moses a number of commandments, including those relating to the sacrificial altar in the Temple, with which YISRO concluded. Our parshah of MISHPATIM then follows on immediately with the words: "AND these are the commandments that you shall place before them." This makes it appear as if the detailed laws in MISHPATIM were given to Moses "after" the divine revelation to all the people at Sinai.

However, at the end of MISHPATIM, after all the laws, we read in Ex. 24:1-18 a narrative portion that recounts for a second time, and in a different way, the event of the Divine revelation at Sinai about which we already read in YISRO Ex.19-20:1-18. This concluding section of our present parshah goes back in time to Moses' "negotiations" with the people in the days PRIOR to the Giving of the Torah. "And Moses came and told the people all the words of G-d and ALL THE LAWS, and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words that G-d speaks we will do." (Ex. 24:3). The Torah then goes on to tell how, on the actual day of the Giving of the Torah, the first-born, acting as priests, offered "converts'" sacrifices on behalf of all the people, who affirmed their acceptance of the Torah in the words, "We shall do and we shall hear" (Ex. 24:7). Moses then sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on the altar and on the people to signify the striking of the Covenant.

Which WERE "all the laws" that Moses told the people PRIOR to the "Giving of the Torah" -- the laws of which they declared their acceptance??? Rashi (on Ex. 24:3) tells us that these are the Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah, Shabbos, honoring father and mother, the Red Heiffer and DINIM (laws between man and man) which were given at Marah (BESHALACH, Ex. 15:25).

In fact, these DINIM are none other than the very laws of murder, manslaughter, theft, robbery, damages, court procedure, etc. that take up the major part of our parshah of MISHPATIM. It turns out that these laws too are written in the Torah "out of sequence" -- for they were already given at Marah prior to the "Giving of the Torah" at Sinai.

If many of the laws contained in MISHPATIM were actually given at Marah, why are they written here in our parshah out of sequence, "sandwiched", as it were, between the main account of the giving of the Torah in YISRO and the second account, at the end of MISHPATIM?

Rashi's opening comment on our parshah comes to draw out the lessons implicit in the placement of these detailed laws directly after the account of the Divine revelation at Sinai, immediately following the commandments relating to the Temple altar. "AND these are the laws" (Ex. 21:1) -- Rashi states: "The word AND comes to add these (ensuing) commandments to the first (i.e. the Ten Commandments). Just as the first ones came from Sinai, so do these come from Sinai. And why is the section of DINIM positioned immediately after the section dealing with the altar? To teach you to position the Sanhedrin next to the altar" (Rashi ad loc.).

The Sanhedrin is the assembly of Torah sages whose mission is to teach how the laws of the Torah apply in practice in their generation. The appointed place of the Sanhedrin is on the Temple Mount, in the "Chamber of Hewn Stone" (LISHKAS HAGAZIS) adjacent to the main Temple courtyard, with the sacrificial altar in its center.

The altar is where man offers his KORBAN -- his penitence and prayers, through which he comes close (KAROV) to G-d. But good intentions are not enough. Adjacent to the altar of prayer and devotion must be the brain-center of law and organization, through which the teachings of religion and the revelation of the divine are carried into our day-to-day life. This is accomplished through the practice of HALACHOT, "goings" -- ways of "going" in accordance with G-d's law as we go about our daily business in the world.


THE TORAH CODE

After the heights of G-dly revelation as recounted in last week's parshah, MISHPATIM plunges us into the intricate depths of the Torah code of law. The laws revealed at Marah prior to the "Giving of the Torah, together with those set forth in MISHPATIM and all the other laws hose written elsewhere in the Torah are all integral parts of the single unified code that was revealed at Sinai (see Rashi on Leviticus 25:1). Since G-d is perfect unity, the entire code was implied in a single flash with the first DIBUR ("word") "I am HaShem your G-d" (Ex. 20:2). Corresponding to the Ten Sefiros that underlie all creation, the Ten Words (ASERES HADIBROS, the "Ten Commandments") constitute the underlying fundamentals of the entire Mosaic code. In a sense, "All the rest is commentary" -- the six hundred and thirteen separate commandments that make up the code are all details implicit in the essential unity of G-d. All are necessary in order to reveal that unity to the world.

Many in the world pay lip-service to the Ten Commandments, but we do not have to look very far to see that practically all of them are violated in one way or another every day by people all over the world. Societies everywhere are rife with crime and violence, sexual immorality, slander, envy and jealousy. Hardly anyone in the world knows about Shabbos, one day a week of complete rest from technology and business, a day to be with G-d.

The many laws in MISHPATIM constitute the core of the Mosaic code, teaching us how to BE WITH G-D in ALL our involvements and activities in this world.

It is appropriate for the nation that came to Sinai from slavery in Egypt that the code of MISHPATIM opens with the laws of slavery. The law of MITZRAIM, Egypt, the place of METZAR, constriction, was that no slave could ever go free. But the first of the detailed laws of n the Torah code tells us that the opposite is the case. The Hebrew slave must work for his master for six years, but in the seventh year he goes free. If he chooses to stay on with his master after six years, he may do so, but only until the fiftieth year, the YOVEL ("jubilee"). Time goes in cycles. A person may fall low, but eventually the cycle swings around, and he comes up. The cyclical nature of time implicit in the fourth commandment (six days of work followed by Shabbos) is revealed in the laws of slavery in MISHPATIM to be a redemptive quality. The Sabbath day, the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee (after 7 x 7 = 49 years) all have the power to free man from the various kinds of slavery into which he falls.

Slavery in the literal sense is still widespread in many parts of the world. In addition, many who are supposedly "free" are also "slaves" in one sense or another, whether to their circumstances, to those around them, to deep-seated inner blocks, to urges and desires, to the dictates of the media, fashion, advertisers, etc. etc.

The Holy Zohar, whose commentary on MISHPATIM is exceptionally lengthy, reveals in detail how the laws of slavery in our parshah contain the laws and principles by which souls are re-incarnated in this world. Souls are obliged to "serve" in different incarnations order to pay off debts incurred through sins and failures in previous incarnations. All of the other detailed commandments in the Torah also contain mystical allusions. For the revealed code of Torah law, which applies to our lives and everyday business and other affairs, is one and the same as the code through which G-d governs the entire universe on all its different levels. All is unity.

Besides slavery, the code of laws contained in MISHPATIM includes the basic laws of marriage, murder, manslaughter, kidnap, willful injury, willful and unwitting damages of person and property, theft, negligence, loans, law court procedure, ritual and other laws. The code concludes with the laws of the Sabbatical year, the Sabbath and annual festivals, all of which bring redemption into the cycle of time.

At the end of the parshah we read: "And HaShem said to Moses, go up to Me to the mountain and be there, and I will give you the Tablets of Stone, the Torah, the Mitzvah that I have written to teach them" (Ex. 24:12).

The Talmud explains: "THE TABLETS are the Ten Commandments. THE TORAH means the written Torah ("MIKRA"); THE MITZVAH means the Mishneh (=Oral Law); THAT I HAVE WRITTEN -- these are the prophets and the holy writings (NEVI'IM and KESUVIM). TO TEACH THEM -- this is the Gemara, (the deductive principles of the Torah). Teaching that they were all given to Moses from Sinai." (Berachos 5a).

The written Torah, as we read it in the weekly parshah, is an integral unity with the oral Torah. Thus our parshah of MISHPATIM contains the foundations of the laws expounded at length in four out of the six orders of the Mishneh -- the Oral Law. Thus in MISHPATIM we encounter some of the main laws of the order of ZERA'IM ("Seeds" - agriculture), including Terumah, the tithe for the priest, and the Sabbatical year. We also encounter the fundamental laws of the order of MO'ED (the seasons and festivals), of NASHIM (marriage) and of NEZIKIN (damages, property, loans, legal procedure).

At the end of MISHPATIM we read "And Moses came into the cloud and he went up to the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights" (Ex. 24:18). Immediately afterward, in next week's parshah of TERUMAH, the Torah begins to explain the form of the Sanctuary, the prototype Temple, and how it was constructed and inaugurated in the wilderness. This will take up the remainder of Exodus, after which we enter Leviticus and the world of sacrifices and ritual purity. Sacrifices and ritual purity are the subjects of KODOSHIM (holy items) and TAHAROS (purity), the last two orders of the Mishneh.


This Shabbos, after the synagogue Torah reading, we bless the coming month of Adar I - a month in which the MAZAL of Israel is ascendant.

MESHENICHNAS ADAR, MARBIN BESIMCHAH!!! "When Adar arrives, we maximize SIMCHAH!!!"

Shabbat Shalom! Chodesh Tov UMevorach!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum


AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org

Parshah of YISRO Exodus 18:1-20:23

UNIVERSAL TORAH: YISRO

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: YISRO Exodus 18:1-20:23
Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:5-6 (Sephardi ritual: 6:1-13).

WE ARE ALL CONVERTS

It is fitting that the parshah which tells of the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is named after Yisro (Jethro), Moses' father-in-law -- a convert. Indeed, all those who witnessed the Giving of the Torah were "converts". Thus (as noted in the commentary on Parshas SHEMOS) the Covenant at Sinai was accompanied by the three components of conversion: circumcision (Rashi on Ex.12:6), ritual immersion in the waters of the Mikveh (Ex. 19:10) and burned offerings (Ex. 24:5). For before G-d, we are all converts -- GERIM, "dwellers" in a land and on an earth that is not ours but G-d's. We are all here only by the grace of G-d, utterly dependent upon His kindness and compassion.

Thus no one can claim that the Torah belongs to him by right through ancestral or other merit. There is no room for pride, arrogance or the exploitation of the Torah for worldly advantage. The Torah is not the property of an exclusive caste. It "belongs" only to one who keeps it. The Torah was given in the Wilderness, no man's land, on the lowest of all mountains -- Sinai, the eternal symbol of humility. For only through humility can we "receive" and accept the Torah, which belongs to G-d alone. Receiving the Torah means having the humility to accept it as it is, the way it has come down to us, without trying to "modify" it according to our own ideas and wishes.

And when we are willing to accept and follow the Torah as it actually is -- fulfilling NA'ASEH VE-NISHMAH, "we will (first) DO it and (then) HEAR (and understand) it" (Ex. 24:7) -- then we can come to understand how the Torah lifts us out of our slavery to this-worldliness, with its many false gods. Then we can hear the voice of redemption that calls to us every day: "I am HASHEM your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves" (Ex. 20:2).

Slavery to the idols of the mundane world is ignominious. Yet the Torah accords the greatest honor to those who have the courage to leave this servitude behind and "go out into the wilderness" in search of G-d -- like Jethro. According to tradition, Jethro had investigated every conceivable way of interpreting and living in this world, every world-view and "lifestyle". Only when Jethro came to HaShem and His Torah did he know he had found the truth. "Now I KNOW that HaShem is great above all the gods" (Ex. 18:11). The Zohar comments: "When Jethro came and said, 'Now I know that HaShem is great.' then the Supreme Name was glorified and exalted" (Zohar, Yisro 69). In other words, the revelation of G-d's light and power is greatest precisely when it comes out of darkness and concealment. Only when we have seen evil and know its power can we understand the greatness of G-d's saving hand. Only one who was a slave truly understands what it means to have been freed. This is "the superiority of the light that comes out of darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:13).

Thus Jethro the Convert was accorded the honor of having the parshah narrating the Giving of the Torah named after him, and of contributing the hierarchical system of "captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties and captains of tens" through which the Children of Israel are governed. Jethro's name also contains and alludes to the name of another humble convert who was accorded the greatest honor: Ruth the Moabitess, who was the great grandmother of King David, MELECH HAMASHIACH.

TWO MILLION PROPHETS

Rambam (Maimonides) in "Foundations of the Torah", the opening section of his comprehensive Code of Law, explains the significance of the revelation at Sinai, which was witnessed by at least two million people:

"The people of Israel did not believe in Moses our Teacher because of the signs he wrought. For one who believes on account of signs always has some residual doubt in his heart that maybe the sign was brought about through magic and witchcraft. All the signs that Moses performed in the wilderness were performed to meet specific needs, not to bring proof of his prophecy.

"Then how did they come to believe in him? The answer is: At Mount Sinai, where we ourselves (not a stranger) saw with our own eyes and where we ourselves (not someone else) heard with our own ears the thunderous sounds and flashing lights and how Moses approached and entered the thick cloud. We heard The Voice speak with him as we listened: 'Moses, Moses, go and say to them.' From where do we learn that the Assembly at Mount Sinai and that alone is the final proof of the truth of Moses' prophecy -- proof that leaves no room for further doubt? As it says, 'Behold I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and also they will believe in you forever' (Ex. 19:9).

"It follows that the very ones to whom he was sent were the witnesses to the truth of his prophecy, and he had no need to perform any further sign, since he and they were both witnesses to the matter. It is like two witnesses who both saw the same thing. Each one is witness that his friend is telling the truth. Neither witness needs further proof of what his friend is saying. Similarly, all Israel were witnesses to the truth of Moses' prophecy and he had no need to perform any sign. For one who believes on account of signs still entertains doubts in his heart.

"Accordingly if a prophet arises and works great miracles and wonders and seeks to deny the prophecy of Moses our Teacher, we do not listen to him and we know clearly that those signs were brought about through magic and witchcraft. For the prophecy of Moses does not depend upon signs, such that we should compare the signs of one prophet to the signs of another. We ourselves saw it with our own eyes and heard it with our own ears. The prophets who deny the truth of Moses' prophesy are like witnesses who tell a person who saw something with his own eyes that it was not as he saw it. The person simply does not listen to them, for he knows for certain that they are false witnesses." (Rambam, Yesodey HaTorah 8:1-3).


"AND ISRAEL ENCAMPED"

"And Israel encamped there, facing the mount" (Ex. 19:2) -- the Hebrew verb VAYICHAN ("encamped") is in the singular. They encamped "as one man with one heart" (Rashi ad loc.) -- united. Observing today's rainbow variety of jostling Israelites -- ever-critical, argumentative, obstinate and apparently incapable of agreeing about anything -- it is hard to imagine how all the Children of Israel actually did unite at Sinai to receive the Torah.

This is particularly difficult to imagine for those who have delved into the intricacies of Talmudic law and reasoning, and who know how the Torah repeatedly seems to fly completely in the face of reason and good common sense. How could those two million Israelites collectively agree to accept this elaborate, complex, reason-defying code in all its minute details? What brought them to do so? And the fact is that today's observant descendents of those Israelites, despite the fact of having come from communities spread out all over the world, still all fundamentally agree to accept this code without changing a letter!

The very faith of Jews in the Torah for thousands of years in the face of almost constant adversity and persecution is itself proof of the uniqueness of the Assembly at Sinai, when we all collectively witnessed the same one truth of G-d and agreed to accept the Torah. Only a completely unique divine revelation could have been powerful enough to instill in two million people a faith that has lasted for thousands of years, a faith for which, over the generations, many millions laid down their very lives.

It is ironic that many people today question the historicity of the revelation at Sinai. We live in an age that prides itself on instantly recording its own daily history in the form of incessant news in the press, on TV, radio and Internet. And we are witnesses to the way in which the media have become manufacturers of endless streams of idolatrous images that totally distort the meaning of the world they supposedly reflect.

If we are to begin to internalize the magnitude of the Giving of the Torah, which took place without media coverage, we must try to think ourselves out of our own noisy, sophisticated world. We must try to project ourselves back into the stark, awesome, silent grandeur of the "wilderness", the MIDBAR, where man's existential reality as a GER, a wanderer and a stranger in this world, is writ large. Out of the silence of the MIDBAR spoke a voice: MEDABER. And the voice was forever inscribed in the hearts of those who heard it and taught it to their children from generation to generation.


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PERSON AND A STATUE

In the above-quoted passage from Rambam about the uniqueness of Moses' prophecy, he states that "the prophets who deny the truth of Moses' prophecy are like witnesses who tell a person who saw something with his own eyes that it was not as he saw it."

The prophets to whom he is referring include those who founded the two major world religions which are rooted in and yet deviate from the Torah: Christianity and Islam. Both drew the bulk of their teachings from the Torah. Yet both implicitly and explicitly deny the finality of Moses' prophecy, seeking to "undo" the laws of the Torah (such as circumcision, the dietary laws, complete Sabbath observance and many others).

The relaxation of the stringencies of Torah law by these man-made religions made them more acceptable to the non-Israelite nations. As Rambam states at the very end of his Code of Law (Hilchos Melachim 11:4 uncensored version): "Man does not have the power to grasp the thoughts of the Creator of the Universe. For our ways are not His ways, nor are our thoughts His. All that happened in the wake of Yeshu of Nazereth and that Ishmaelite who arose after him came only to straighten the way for Melech HaMashiach and to rectify the entire world to serve HaShem together. Thus it is written: 'And then I will turn to all the nations a pure language so that all of them will call upon the name of HaShem and serve Him with one accord' (Zephaniah 3:9). The whole world has thus become filled with the knowledge of the Torah and the commandments. This knowledge has spread to the farthest islands. And when the true MELECH HAMASHIACH arises and succeeds, they will all immediately know that 'their fathers inherited falsehood' and that their prophets and their fathers deceived them."

Despite the attraction of the two new religions for non-Israelites, neither one of them ever made serious inroads among the Jews. Indeed it was precisely because the founders could not attract the Jews that they turned to the non-Jews for recruits.

In Rambam's IGERET TEIMAN (letter to the Jews of Yemen written in 1172 C.E. encouraging them to reject the forced conversion to Islam to which they were being subjected), he explains why the two new religions held no attractions for those who understood the intricate depths of the Torah:

"Their only wish was to compare their lies to the Law of HaShem. But the work of G-d bears no comparison to the work of man except in the eyes of a little child who has no understanding of either. The difference between our religion and the other religions that seek to compare themselves to it is like the difference between a living, conscious man and a statue. The statue is carved out of a piece of wood overlaid with gold or silver or chiseled out of a piece of marble and made to look like a man. An ignorant fool does not know the difference between G-dly wisdom and this artifact made in the form of a man. The statue looks like a man in its structure and outward appearance. But it only seems like a man because the ignorant onlooker doesn't know what is inside either a man or a statue. However, the wise man knows the difference between what is inside the two. The wise man knows that inside the statue is nothing, while the inside of the living man, ADAM, is filled with truly amazing wonders and works that testify to the wisdom of the Creator -- the nerves, the flesh, the bones, the bodily limbs and their all their interconnections."

Shabbat Shalom!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org