Parshas Tezaveh - can you get the light?

Last week’s Torah portion was focused on the details of the construction of the Mishkan, the traveling sanctuary. This week’s Torah portion is focused largely on the creation of the clothing for the kohanim, the priests of the Mishkan, and the details of their investiture ceremony.

Yet in the middle of all this, there are three verses at the start of this week’s Torah portion that are concerned with securing olive oil and setting up the eternal light in the sanctuary. Why? With all the major details in front of us, why is our attention diverted to the lighting system?

Nehama Leibowitz, echoing earlier commentators, draws a parallel between the instructions for the creation of the Mishkan and the story of the creation of the world. In both instances, light plays a prominent and early role in the respective  narratives. Nehama Leibowitz notes, as well, that light is often employed as a metaphor for Divine wisdom and instruction: “The Lord is my light and salvation” (Psalms 27:1), “For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah a light. (Proverbs 6:23).  We see then that the description of the eternal light is placed here to deliver an essential message - that we should not get lost in the description of a grand structure and the awe-inspiring nature of its attendants. While these details are important, the ultimate objective is to develop a greater awareness of, respect for, and commitment to God’s glory.

I welcome comments on this Dvar Torah. The best way to reach me is through this email address: donlegofzechut@yahoo.com   

Parshas Terumah - mystery supplies

God instructs Moshe to take up a collection, from among the people of Israel, for items needed for the construction of the Mishkan (the portable sanctuary the Jews used in the desert, for 40 years). “This is the offering that you shall take from them: gold, silver and copper. Greenish-blue wool, dark red wool, crimson wool, fine linen, and goats’ hair. Red-dyed ram’s skins, tachash skins, and acacia wood. Oil for the lamp, spices for the anointing oil, and for the incense of aromatic spices. Onyx stones and filling stones for the ephod and breastplate.” (Exodus 25:3-7).

Of all the requested donations, one strikes the commentator Rashi as problematic – the acacia wood. He asks: Where did they get this wood in the desert? He answers the question by quoting from the Midrash Tanchuma, which asserts that the patriarch Jacob prophetically understood that the Jews would build a sanctuary in their desert journey centuries later. So Jacob brought cedar trees with him when he relocated his family to Egypt (towards the end of the book of Bereishis/Genesis), planted the trees there, and instructed his children to take them when they left.

Though the midrash answers an apparent discrepancy quite neatly, I’m left with more questions. One problem I have is that there is another element on the list of donations that is also puzzling, which Rashi does not address. We learn later in the parsha that the artisans working on the Mishkan were to make a large menorah out of one solid block of pure gold (25: 31, as explained by Rashi). Where did the Jews get such a large block of gold? While it is true that the Jews requested and received from their Egyptian neighbors all sorts of valuables, including “gold articles,” right before they departed Egypt (Exodus 12:35), it seems unlikely that any Egyptian would have a large block of solid gold in his home to offer. So where did the Jews get this block of gold?

There are other items on the donation list that may appear as unlikely supplies of a people that rushed into the wilderness after centuries of slavery (such as the incense). The fact that none of the other items receive the same attention from Rashi accentuates the question: Why does the acacia wood alone get this attention from Rashi and the midrash? One possible answer – the wood represents the framework, of both the ark that carried the tablets and the walls of the Mishkan itself. The midrash illustrates the value of our leaders exercising foresight, to plant the seeds (both literal & figurative) for the framework of the next generation’s basic needs.

That answer may work. But are there others?

I welcome comments on this Dvar Torah. The best way to reach me is through this email address: donlegofzechut@yahoo.com   

Parshas Mishpatim - a word to teachers

This week’s Torah portion, which is largely composed of civil ordinances, begins with the phrase (said by God to Moshe): “And these are the laws you shall set before them.”

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, echoing Rashi, notes the unexpected clause: “… you shall set before them.” He suggests that a more fitting choice of words would seem to be: “And these are the laws you shall teach them.” So why, instead, is the clause “you shall set before them” used?

Rabbi Hirsch cites Rashi, who explains that it is not enough to teach students Torah. Rather, a Torah teacher must make sure the matters discussed are understandable, and accessible, to all the students so that the subjects presented are ‘set before them’ – like a set table, ready for a meal.

Coming just after the section that chronicles the very public presentation of the Ten Commandments, this introductory phrase makes a strong statement. Just as God made sure that His will could be heard clearly by all the people, so too do our Torah teachers need to take special care that their message reaches all their students. This is a message that speaks to all of us, not just teachers, who share the beauty of Torah with others  – as parents, at a Shabbat table, or even with colleagues in a secular workplace who ask "Why do you do that?"

Parshas Yitro - giving advice

Moshe’s father in law, Yitro, arrives at the Israelite encampment in the desert and observes that Moshe spends an entire day adjudicating disputes between people, “from the morning until the evening.” Yitro tells his son in law: The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear away both yourself and this nation that is with thee, the thing is too heavy for you; you cannot do all this alone. Now, listen to my voice and I’ll give you some advice, and may God be with you; you should be for the people before God and bring the matters before God. And you should instruct them on the statutes and the laws and let them know the way that they should go and the work they should do. And you should arrange from all the people able men, God-fearing, truthful, and honest; and you should place them as officers over thousands, officers over hundreds, officers over fifties, and officers over tens. Let them judge the people at all times and every great matter they should bring to you but every small matter they shall judge and they will bear (the burden) with you. If this idea you shall do, and God commands you so, then you’ll be able to endure, and also all this people shall come to its place in peace. (Exodus 18: 17-23). Moshe accepts the advice and promptly implements it.

I suggest that Moshe’s easy acquiescence to Yitro’s advice was not merely smart family politics but, rather, was a product of the wisdom of Yitro’s ideas as well as his wise manner of delivery.

Can we learn from Yitro’s success as an advice giver? There may be a few principles worth gleaning from the situation:

1)     Only offer advice to someone with whom you have a close personal relationship

(Moshe had already affirmed the closeness of his bond with his father in law, by greeting him warmly on his arrival; 18:7-9).   

2)     Delineate the danger first, clearly, yet without exaggeration. (“You will surely wear away both yourself and this nation that is with thee.”) Then offer suggestions.

3)     Offer a solution that includes specific, practical ideas.

And, perhaps most critically, as Rabbi Yeroham Levovitch noted …

4)     Be the kind of person who demonstrates a healthy capacity for self-criticism and growth

(Note that before he offers advice Yitro, who the text describes as “the priest of Midian” (18:1), heard the news of the Exodus and remarked: “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods.” The priest of another nation readily admited the superiority of the Jewish God, demonstrating his openness to change his perspective in the face of new evidence.)

I welcome comments on this Dvar Torah. The best way to reach me is through this email address: donlegofzechut@yahoo.com