Parshah of VAYAKHEL, Exodus 35:1-38:20

UNIVERSAL TORAH: VAYAKHEL

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: Exodus 35:1-38:20,
Haftara: I Kings 7:40-50 (Sephardi add I Kings 7:13-26).

GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE

The parshah of VAYAKHEL opens with the words: "And Moses gathered together all the Community of Israel." (Exodus 35:1). According to our sages, Moses' gathering of all of the Community took place on the day following Yom Kippur, when he had secured atonement for the sin of the golden calf.

This gathering consisted of all of ADAS YISRAEL, the Community of Israel. The Zohar (beginning of VAYAKHEL) states specifically that this Community was made up of all who remained faithful to the true Covenant of Israel, accepting no deviation from the Torah and no prophet other than Moses. The Zohar emphasizes that they could only build the Sanctuary after being purged of all the Mixed Multitude who went astray after the golden calf, which was half ox (Edom, Christianity) and half donkey (Ishmael, Islam). Both deviated from the finality of the Torah and the supremacy of Moses as G-d's true prophet, seeking to displace them in different ways by erecting new prophets and intermediaries standing between man and G-d. They and all the nations are excluded from membership of ADAS ISRAEL and from contributing to the Sanctuary.

The materials and manpower for the construction of the Sanctuary for the One G-d were to be contributed only by this Community of true Israelites, those willing to abide by the Law of Moses. This accepts no intermediary between man and G-d and permits no form or idol in worship. The only forms permitted in G-d's Sanctuary and Temple and nowhere else are those of the two golden Cherubs over the Ark of the Covenant and the other Sanctuary vessels. The only scriptures are the Sefer Torah.

The commandment to build the Sanctuary was addressed to the whole Community of Israel. Each member of this community was to have his or her personal share in this joint national project of building the Sanctuary that Moses was to announce. For the true Israelite, there is no intermediary between man and G-d. Man faces G-d directly. Each one contributes -- and each one has responsibility for his own actions. Only one who truly INTENDS to do what he does can be said to be responsible for what he does and, if he does good, fairly take the reward. Only then is there merit in his contribution.

How can one INTEND what he does? Taking precedence over all the commandments about contributing to and building the Sanctuary addressed to the Community of Israel is the commandment to observe the Shabbos -- to spend one entire day every week WILLFULLY ABSTAINING from many kinds of actions and activities.

Moses' discourse to the Community of Israel about the building of the Sanctuary opens with the following words:

"Six days labor shall be performed, and on the seventh day you will have a holy Shabbos of rest in honor of G-d: anyone who performs a labor on Shabbos shall be put to death." (Ex. 35:2).

It is a commandment to labor -- "Six days labor shall be performed". Part of that same commandment is the commandment to observe the Shabbos by willfully abstaining from labor when so commanded. So stringent is this commandment that its willful infringement is punishable by execution. The example of forbidden labor given in the Torah text is that of kindling fire on the Sabbath day, which is infringed by acts as simple as flicking on a light-switch, lighting a cooker or starting a car ignition.

The ability to observe Shabbos and the ability to engage in truly meaningful labor on the other days of the week are bound up together. Only when a person can consciously abstain from action and willfully NOT perform a particular range of actions as instructed by G-d on Shabbos can he be said to have true INTENTION when he does perform the action in honor of G-d on the six days of the week. Only then does his action have true merit.

Only the observance of the commandment to abstain from labor on the Seventh Day in honor of G-d gives true meaning to the building of the Sanctuary in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem in G-d's honor.


PRAXIS

The greater part of our parshah of VAYAKHEL is devoted to a detailed description of how Betzalel and his fellow craftsmen made the Sanctuary and its vessels in accordance with the plan whose details we studied three parshahs earlier in TERUMAH. While TERUMAH taught how they were to be made when they were still on the level of thought -- BE-KOACH, in POTENTIALITY -- our parshah of VAYAKHEL teaches how they came to made BE-PHO'AL, in ACTUALITY, on the level of ASIYAH, action.

It is significant that all of the laws of what constitutes forbidden MELACHAH, labor, on Shabbos are learned from the 39 archetypal forms of labor that were involved in the making of the Sanctuary on the six days of the week. It is only when we abstain from performing forbidden labor on Shabbos BECAUSE IT IS SHABBOS that performing those labors "for G-d" on the six weekdays can be said to be truly intentional and meritorious. The labors that are forbidden on Shabbos are called MELECHET MACHSHEVET, a labor that involves MACHSHAVAH -- i.e. it is intentional.

When we observe the Shabbos FOR G-D, abstaining from forbidden labors because that is His command, this gives the intentional labors that we perform on the other six days of the week in pursuit of our livelihood and all our other needs the sanctity of BUILDING THE SANCTUARY. Our intention in pursuing all these needs is that we may serve G-d, pray and keep the commandments. Our going about our daily lives in our homes, at work and elsewhere is all part of BUILDING THE TEMPLE, a dwelling place for G-d's presence. For each one of us has our own contribution to make to the construction of this Temple. Each person's mitzvah and good intention help to draw G-d's Indwelling Presence into this world and within the sanctity of our homes.

According to a tradition handed down by the Kabbalah, Betzalel accomplished the "labors" required to build and construct the sanctuary vessels through manipulations of the 22 Hebrew Letters of Creation, as taught in Sefer Yetzirah. Successful manipulation of the letters to produce actual physical constructions in the world without performing any physical action requires the greatness of a Betzalel or the Maharal of Prague, who created a Golem. Nevertheless, even a simple Israelite has the power to "manipulate" the letters of creation by using them to compose prayers to G-d to bless his material efforts in the actual world of Asiyah with success. With the help of G-d, our very words themselves have the power to serve as vessels within which G-d's presence can dwell in this world. Through our words we contribute to building the Sanctuary -- the House of Prayer -- to G-d.

May we soon be worthy to contribute to the Building of G-d's House in Jerusalem quickly in our days. Amen.


Shabbat Shalom!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

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

Parshah of KI TISA, Exodus 30:11-34:35

UNIVERSAL TORAH: KI TISA

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: KI TISA Exodus 30:11-34:35
Haftara: I Kings 18.1-39 (Sephardi ritual: I Kings 18.20-39).

PROVIDING THE MEDICINE BEFORE THE ILLNESS

The lengthy first section of our parshah of KI TISA (the entire first Aliyah in the synagogue Torah reading, up to Ex. 31:18) starts with a number of commandments concluding the account of the Sanctuary, its vessels and the daily services of its ministering priests. Then, with a reiteration and amplification of the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath, its seriousness (violation is punishable by death) and its holiness as an eternal sign between G-d and Israel, Moses' Forty Days on Mt. Sinai after the giving of the Ten Commandments come to an end. G-d gives him Two Tablets of Testimony, but as he readies to go down the mountain back to the people, G-d tells him that the worst had just happened: the people had already violated the Covenant by making a molten idol.

Even before the sin occurred, the commandments with which KI TISA opens provide precisely the remedy for the coming illness, which was rooted within the dark depths of selfish material lust and craving. The Sanctuary as a whole is a remedy for material craving and the lust for wealth. This is particularly true in the case of the mitzvah with which the parshah opens, the HALF SHEKEL which each Israelite was required to contribute to the Sanctuary and for the purchase of the daily sacrifices so as to put food on the "table" of G-d's House, the Altar. The HALF SHEKEL is symbolic of charity and the will to GIVE, as opposed to the selfish desire to acquire and consume. The HALF SHEKEL is the remedy for the appetite for material wealth in itself.

When G-d spoke to Moses, He "showed him a kind of coin of fire, the weight of a half shekel" and He said to him: "THIS shall all who pass through the count give -- a half shekel" (Ex. 30:13 and Rashi there). This fiery HALF SHEKEL COIN, which made every single citizen an equal partner in the Sanctuary and its upkeep, was the remedy for material lust and the appetite for wealth. Everyone was to join and be a partner in an enterprise that elevates material wealth -- the finest vessels of gold, silver and copper, the finest fabrics, choicest animals, flour, oil, wine and spices -- by incorporating them in the worship of the One G-d. This is where the display of wealth is truly fitting, a place where each may take a just pride in having a share. Having a joint share with everyone else in the national treasure, the Temple, keeping one's eyes focussed on its splendid golden vessels and their implicit messages -- these are the medicine for the selfish lust for wealth for its own sake.

Differences in wealth and assets were of no significance in this annual half shekel tax that made each citizen an equal partner in the Temple enterprise. The rich could not give more nor the poor less. Souls cannot be quantified and counted -- each soul has its own unique significance that would be violated by trying to quantify it or assign it a number. What counts is that each person adds his or her own SELF and WILL, and is willing to play his or her part by paying the "head tax" and "casting a vote". Numbers and wealth do not count in the eyes of G-d. What counts is each person's WILL to make a contribution -- to have an equal share with everyone else, without pride and without shame, in being part of the whole, feeding the Altar and bringing the fire of G-d's presence into the world.

An integral part of this remedy for the sin of worshipping material wealth and splendor is the keeping of the Sabbath, with which the account of the Sanctuary and its vessels concludes. Observance of the Sabbath is more important even than the work of building the Sanctuary, which must also cease for one day every week. The race to work, build, make and create wealth must stop for one day out of every seven in order to remember that it is not work and material wealth that guarantee security but only G-d's enduring Covenant. What is of prime importance is not our wealth but our soul. One day a week must be for the soul. "And on the seventh day, He rested, VAYNAFASH -- and became ENSOULED" (Ex. 31:17).


THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE

To get a faint grasp of how, forty days after hearing G-d speak from heaven at Sinai, the people could worship a golden calf, it is necessary to understand that the ERUV RAV -- the "mixed multitude" who went up with the Children of Israel out of Egypt -- were by no means a mere rabble of fellow-travelers who jumped on the wagon together with a band of runaway slaves. The Exodus was far more than a slave breakout. It was a religious revolution, in which the entire idolatry-based worldview of Egypt together with its hierarchy of king, priests and wizards was publicly overthrown and defeated. According to the Zohar (beginning of KI TISA), the shattering of the existing culture and its assumptions caused some of Pharaoh's leading magicians (the great scientists and philosophers of the time) to join Moses (who was "very great in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants", Ex. 11:3), on this new venture out into the wilderness in search of the One G-d. The Midrashim note that some of these magicians even brought their idols with them when they crossed the Red Sea.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, commenting on the two golden calves made later on by Jeraboam, first king of the Northern Kingdom, asks how it is conceivable that he could have deceived a great multitude with such nonsense as worshiping cows. "Certainly this matter contained very deep and profound reasoning. And if a single page of the philosophical writings on which it was based had survived, it would distance many people from G-d and it would be impossible to come close to Him at all. And for this reason, it is a great benefit to the world that the works justifying this idolatry have been lost." (Likutey Moharan II:32). [Likewise it is told in Sanhedrin 102b that the soul of King Menashe appeared to Rav Ashi, who asked him, "Since you were all so wise, why did you worship idols?" The king replied, "If you had been there, you would have picked up your robes and come running after us." See also Taanis 25b, where the angel of the rains is compared to EGLA, a "calf". The root EGLA is also related to IGUL, a circle or cycle, hinting at how the image of the golden calf was bound up with representing fundamental cosmic cycles.]

"They have turned aside quickly from the path that I commanded them, they have made for themselves a molten EGEL and they are prostrating to it and sacrificing to it and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." (Ex. 32:8).

Whatever this EGEL was intended to represent, it was a deviation from the pathway of absolute monotheism taught at Sinai, which proscribed any kind of graven image. Unlike the path of Sinai, which was intended to lead to the holiness befitting a nation of priests, the festivities around the EGEL ended up in "play" (Ex. 32:6) -- the three cardinal sins of idolatry, sexual immorality and murder (see Rashi ad loc.). The molten image, with its sophisticated associated "theology", was at root a wizardly rationalization for material lust.

How it came about that Aaron, Moses' older brother, played a part, albeit unwillingly, in the manufacture of this calf is one of the profound mysteries of the Torah. The two previous parshahs dealt with the elevation of wealth through the incorporation of gold, silver and other symbols of wealth into the Temple service. In TETZAVEH we saw that at the very center of the Temple service is the High Priest, with his beautiful garments (expressing "splendor", HOD, kabbalistically the characteristic quality of Aaron). Yet suddenly we find that Aaron himself took the gold offered by those who wanted to make the calf, symbol of the ultimate degradation of wealth! This implies that there is a "fatal flaw" in HOD -- that splendor, even in the service of true religion, may lead to corruption.

[And thus it was that in the time of the Second Temple, the priesthood became corrupt. The "fatal flaw" in Hod corresponds to the sciatic nerve that "jumped" when the angel who struggled with Jacob touched his thigh.]

While Moses was "blotted out", as it were, from the previous parshah of TETZAVEH (as discussed in last week's commentary), he is the central figure in our present parshah of KI TISA. In the previous parshah we saw that the role of the Priest, as epitomized in Aaron, is to secure atonement. But how can atonement come when the priest himself is in need of atonement -- when the splendor of religious service itself has become corrupted because of the inherent "flaw" in this-worldly glory?

KI TISA teaches that ultimately, atonement can come only through from the Sage, as epitomized in Moses (whose characteristic quality is NETZACH, "Victory" -- as when he "argues" with G-d when pleading for forgiveness, see Likutey Moharan I:4). Moses alone "found favor" in G-d's eyes, eliciting the revelation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Ex. 34:6): Both before the sin and after the sin, G-d does not change. He is always the same: "loving and gracious, patient, and abundant in mercy and truth." True atonement comes from practicing these same virtues: "And you shall go in His ways" (Deut. 28:9).

Repentance is not very glorious -- it is hard to admit that one did wrong, to have to accept the consequences, atone and struggle to change while living with shame and contrition. In order to escape the ignominy of sin, practitioners of religion are sometimes tempted to present an outer face of sanctimony and irreproachability to others and even to themselves, thereby blinding themselves to their own flaws.

This is not the path of religion and repentance taught by the Torah, which gives naked exposure to people's real flaws and shortcomings, including even the errors of an Aaron, a Moses or a David, none of whom were spared from criticism.

The Talmud states: "It was not really consistent with what David truly was that he should have sinned with Batsheva, and it was not really consistent with what the Children of Israel were that they sinned with the golden calf. Then why were they made to sin? It was a decree of the King in order to give penitents an excuse" (Avodah Zarah 4b and Rashi there). They were made to sin in order to teach others the ways of repentance ("I will teach sinners your ways", Psalms 51:15). If they could sin, and still bear the pain and repent, then so can others.

While the sanctimonious nations of the world never cease berating and criticizing the Jews and Israel for their supposed sins, the actual followers of the Torah continue with the inglorious work of Teshuvah, scrutinizing themselves for flaws and striving to correct them instead of denying and papering over them. "And He, being compassionate, will atone for sin".



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

Shabbat Shalom!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum


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

Parshah of TETZAVEH, Exodus 27:20-30:10

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: TETZAVEH Exodus 27:20-30:10
Haftara: Ezekiel 43:10-27.

LIFE IN THE HOUSE

In last week's parshah of TERUMAH, the Torah taught us the form and shape of the House of G-d with all its vessels. In this week's parshah of TETZAVEH, we receive instructions about the daily activities that are to take place in that House. The central core of the parshah is taken up with detailed instructions about the making of the garments of those who are to be the ministering attendants in the House -- Aaron and his sons, the priests -- and about the sacrifices that were to be offered during their seven-day initiation.

It may help us to grasp the overall structure of TETZAVEH by again using the "sandwich" idea. In this case, the top and bottom of the "sandwich" would be the opening and closing sections of the parshah, which give instructions about the "daily life" in the House. TETZAVEH starts by introducing in its two opening verses (Ex. 27;20-21) the daily lighting of the Menorah candelabrum in the House using the choicest oil -- this opening section would be one side of the "sandwich". Then at the end of TETZAVEH (Ex. 29:38-45; 30:1-10) we come to the other side of the "sandwich". This consists of the sections dealing with the daily animal sacrifices, meal, oil and wine offerings on the outside Altar, the pleasing fragrance (the incense burned in the House on the golden Incense Altar) and finally (returning to the parshah's opening theme), the daily lighting of the Menorah.

In the middle of this "sandwich" are two considerably lengthier sections. The first gives instructions in fine detail for the making of the garments of those who are to minister in the House -- Aaron and his sons, the priests. The second gives the detailed instructions for what was to be a one-time event in the Wilderness: the 7-day initiation of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood that was to lead up to the permanent induction of the Sanctuary on 1st Nissan. (Because of the central importance of this day in the Torah, we will be returning several times in later parshahs to the description of its events - in PEKUDEY at the end of Exodus as well as in several parshahs in Leviticus and Numbers.)

THE ATTENDANTS -- AARON AND HIS SONS

A basic assumption underlies all sections of our present parshah of TETZAVEH, from beginning to end. The assumption is that the attendants conducting the daily life of the House, about whose daily activities, garments and induction-day we read in such detail, are to be none other than Aaron and his sons.

Throughout our parshah, the entire focus is upon Aaron and his sons, their activities, garments and induction. Indeed it is a fact that the actual name of Moses does not appear anywhere in our parshah from beginning to end, though he is addressed directly in its opening words, VE-ATAH TETZAVEH, "And YOU shall command..." and moreover, he was to be the central actor in the priests' induction. [It is said that one reason why Moses' actual name was left out of this week's parshah is because Moses was later to pray -- in next week's parshah Ex. 32:33 -- "blot me out from Your book.". However, that prayer had already been answered before it was said, since G-d "blotted out" Moses name by not writing it anywhere in this week's parshah!]

Addressing now the central assumption -- that it is to be Aaron and his sons who will play the role of ministers in the House of the dwelling of the Holy Presence:

It must be understood that EIN MUKDAM O ME-UCHAR BATORAH: "There is no 'before' and 'after' in the Torah". The reason for the appointment of Aaron and his sons and none other to be the priests ministering in the House does not become apparent in the Torah narrative until next week's parshah of KI TISA, with the account of the sin of the Golden Calf. Yet even before the reason became manifest, their appointment was already conceived in the mind and will of G-d prior to that event, as we see from this week's parshah of TETZAVEH.

The first-born of the Children of Israel were originally offered an opportunity to become the ones who would serve as the priests. Indeed at the Giving of the Torah, it was the first-born -- the "lads" (Ex. 24:5) -- of the Children of Israel who officiated at the sacrifices, as we read in MISHPATIM. However, with the sin of the Golden Calf (told next week in KI TISA), the first-born of the Children of Israel failed the crucial test. From that time on, the Priesthood was given to Aaron and his descendants as an hereditary gift for all time.

HEREDITARY PRIESTHOOD

In an era when public office in virtually all "advanced" countries is theoretically open to all citizens, the role of an hereditary priesthood, which is at the very center of the Torah's system of penitence -- the Sanctuary and Temple rituals -- calls for some explanation.

Much of Genesis is taken up with disputes about who is to serve in the role of the "priest". Cain struggled with Abel. Ishmael fought against Isaac. Esau fought against Jacob. Reuven was the first-born, but Levi took the initiative, Judah, fourth in line, became the leader, while it was the righteous Joseph (against whom all the brothers struggled) who received a firstborn's double portion of two-tribes. And then Ephraim took priority over firstborn Menashe.

In Exodus: Levy's second son, Kehat, took priority over Levy's firstborn, Gershon. Amram was indeed Kehat's firstborn, yet while the priesthood went to Amram's older son, Aaron, the latter was secondary in prophecy to his younger brother, Moses. The firstborn of the Children of Israel had a brief taste of the priesthood at the time of the Giving of the Torah, 50 days after having been saved from the plague that killed all the Egyptian firstborn. However the Israelite firstborn were displaced from their "birth-right" -- hereditary priesthood forever -- owing to the sin of the Golden Calf.

This raises the question of the nature of the priesthood in Judaism, which is relevant to our parshah of TETZAVEH, all of which is devoted to the daily duties of the priests, their garments and their induction service.

It is true that the tribe of Levi (who did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf), and the Kohanim are in many respects separate hereditary castes. Nevertheless, it remains the case that the ideal social structure of the Israelites as envisaged in the Torah is remarkably free of the social hierarchies and inequalities that characterize even the most "democratic" societies.

In particular, Israelite society is envisaged as one that should be free of any kind of extensive hierarchical network of full-time religious functionaries who act as intermediaries between the people and G-d, and whose service before their passive congregants takes the place of the individual's personal relationship with G-d.

This is true, notwithstanding the fact that only the Kohanim (male descendants of Aaron), and members of the tribe of Levy could actually serve in the Temple, and only the Kohanim could perform certain vital ritual functions (such as purification from leprosy). Nevertheless, the Temple itself had a relatively small number of permanent priestly officials who were responsible for the maintenance of the House. The actual sacrificial services in the House were conducted by different priests every day. Each of the 24 contingents of priests into which the Kohanim were divided served for two weeks out of the year and on festivals, spending the rest of their time teaching Torah among the people in the localities where they lived. The only outstanding exception to this rule, besides the small core of permanent Temple staff, was the High Priest, who spent all his time in Jerusalem, most of it in the Temple itself.

It is certainly correct that the Kohanim were an hereditary priestly caste, who received TERUMAH, the first gift from everyone's crops, as well as portions of meat, wool and various other gifts. This is what they lived off. The purpose of providing the members of this caste with their material needs was to enable them to devote themselves to a higher-than-average level of devotion (as expressed in eating of Terumah and sacrificial portions in ritual purity) and to the study of the Torah. It was the Kohanim who were expected to be able to play the role of the Torah judges (see Deuteronomy 19:17) in cases of disputes. They were also to play the central role in the "diagnosis" and "purification" of leprosy and other maladies (Leviticus Ch. 13ff.)

Nevertheless, it remains true that despite their exclusive role in the Temple sacrificial services and in the purification from leprosy, the Kohanim were not religious intermediaries who in some sense REPLACED the personal connection of the individual with G-d.

The Children of Israel were envisaged as a nation of free, independent small land-owners, each farming his own and sitting under his vine and fig-tree. Only in dire circumstances would one be sold as a slave to another (as instituted in MISHPATIM). Even one who fell into slavery would eventually go free at the end of seven years or in the Jubilee year. In the seventh year, all debts were to be cancelled. Those who had sold their land would get it back in the Jubilee year. The vision was not of a country where most of the wealth is permanently concentrated in the hands of a small elite.

Just as all of the Children of Israel heard the First Commandment, so they were all commanded to serve the One G-d, each through his own prayers and acts of service. The Torah commands that all of the Children of Israel must be holy (Leviticus 19:2). Everyone must strive to go in G-d's ways. Becoming a Nazirite is considered an excess -- the Nazirite must bring a sin-offering! There are no monks in Judaism.

Outside of the Temple itself, Israelite life was intended to be free of an elite of religious functionaries. Although the Kohen and Levy are honored by being called first and second to the public Torah reading, the actual synagogue and its services are run by its members, the majority of them Israelites. The service can only take place if a quorum of 10 Israelites is present. There is no need for an official rabbi as long as somebody present -- any Israelite -- knows how to lead the service and read from the Torah. The "functionaries" in Israelite society are the "captains of tens", "captains of fifties", "captains of hundreds" and "captains of thousands". These must be "men of valor, G-d-fearing, men of truth, hating gain" (Ex. 18:21) -- but they do not have to be Kohanim. In the Torah vision of the Israelite state, membership of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the state, is not to depend on heredity or wealth but only on Torah wisdom and personal sanctity.

What then is the role of the hereditary Kohanim, whose Temple service, garments and induction are the subject of our parshah of TETZAVEH?

The key concept necessary to understand the role of the Kohen, particularly that of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), is the concept of KAPARAH -- atonement. This and related concepts recur several times in our parshah. The purpose of the precious stones that were attached to the High Priest's shoulders and bore the names of the tribes of Israel was that they should be "remembered" by G-d with favor. The wearing of the TZITZ, the head-plate inscribed "Holy to HaShem", was to secure atonement for impurity. The closing verse of our parshah speaks of how the High Priest must annually sprinkle the golden Incense Altar with the blood of the Day of Atonement sin-offering in order to bring about KAPARAH -- atonement.

The institution of the priesthood was not intended to replace individual attachment to G-d on the part of each person through his own devotions. While the Kohanim are charged with maintaining the Holy Temple as the central focus of Israelite and indeed world religious life (for "My House is the House of Prayer for all the Nations), their role in the devotional life of the individual is of significance primarily when the individual, independent "citizen" TURNS ASIDE from the path and falls into sin. He is then unable to help himself. If he is liable to bring a sacrifice, he needs a Kohen to offer it for him. If he has what he thinks is a leprous patch on his skin (a sign of a personal deficiency), he needs a Kohen to make the determination and a Kohen to purify him.

The Kohen can play his role as functionary in the Temple services and bringer of ATONEMENT only through standing aside from the rest of the people and demanding more of himself. The Kohanim were distinguished by their unique genetic inheritance as direct male descendants of Aaron, and they protected this inheritance by adhering to higher levels of personal sanctity (such as that a Kohen may not marry a divorcee, etc.).

The rich, colorful ritual garments of the High Priest embody this concept of separateness, sanctity and atonement. So too, the induction of the priests during their Seven Days of Initiation was characterized by separation, sanctity and the atonement accomplished through the offering of the ox sin offering (atoning for the sin of the Golden Calf) and the eating of peace offerings.

Atonement depends upon the priestly garments and the priests' consumption of sacrificial portions. The original sin of Adam -- of which the sin of the Golden Calf was a "repetition" -- came about through eating. After Adam and Eve sinned, G-d gave them CLOTHES in order to cover over their nakedness and begin the process of atonement. The priests continue this process of atonement through wearing their unique garments while eating their portion of the sinner's sacrifice.

The hereditary inheritance of the priesthood -- Temple SERVICE -- by the sons of Aaron is justified by the fact that Aaron joined himself to the Torah inheritance through his choice of a wife to mother his sons. For "Aaron took Elisheva the daughter of Aminadav, sister of Nachshon as his wife, and she bore him Nadav and Avihu, Elazar and Itamar" (Ex. 6:23). Elisheva's father, Aminadav, was the Prince of Judah, the tribe to whom Jacob entrusted with guardianship of the Torah, while her brother Nachshon was the first to jump into the Red Sea. Torah knowledge is indispensable for the proper functioning of the priesthood. Without Torah, the priest is helpless -- an ignoramus priest needs a Torah scholar to teach him how to make the correct determination in cases of leprosy.

Through the merit of our Torah study, may we see the Holy Temple rebuilt quickly in our times!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

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

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